Assessing the Feasibility of Hairdressers as Sexual Health Champions

Clinicians working within sexual health services feel there is a theme of later diagnoses of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and the lack of uptake of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) use among women, particularly black African women in the United Kingdom (UK). This is supported by evidence from the annual report on HIV in the East of England (1). In view of this investigators will explore the feasibility of hairdressers acting as sexual health champions in the region. This may include equipping hairdressers with knowledge about HIV prevention or just providing information about services available at local sexual health clinics to their clients. The project will also assess whether this would be acceptable to current clients, including those people living with HIV (PLWHIV).