Getting the facts: Using a local community health survey for community mobilization around HIV/AIDS

Community-based organizations (CBOs) have been the foundation of community organizing and community mobilizing efforts to address HIV/AIDS, but CBOs often lack the data and information to justify and evaluate their efforts. This presentation describes two examples that illustrate how a CBO used data from a county-wide community health telephone survey of 1,800 residents to help mobilize community resources and institutions to address sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and HIV/AIDS. The first example, YOUR Blessed Health, is a program designed to build the capacity of faith-based institutions and faith leaders more effectively address HIV/AIDS in youth, and change the norms of churches related to sexual health that utilized survey data to help the faith community recognize the need to address HIV/AIDS and sexual risk. The second example demonstrates how community survey data was used through a series of town hall meetings to raise awareness of the impact of HIV/AIDS and STDs on men, women and teens in the African American community, and to motivate community residents to “Get Educated, Get Tested, Get Involved”. These efforts demonstrate that CBOs can effectively utilize local health survey data to educate and mobilize the community and for program development and evaluation. CBOs can engage other organizations and institutions in a way that empowers them to apply their own unique strengths and resources to build community capacity that promotes sustainable change. This type of information can bring together the “trench” expertise of CBOs and the “bench” expertise of researchers to address HIV/AIDS and other critical health issues.