Mapping a message for faith leaders: encouraging community health promotion with local health data

This study reports the use of a community-based health survey to share local health information with faith leaders. Geographical information systems software identified survey respondents within 2 km (1.25 miles) of places of worship. Results were tabulated for the community surrounding each place of worship and were compared with city- and county-level data. Faith leaders were presented with community-specific reports describing the health attributes of residents who lived in the surrounding area, in order to assist with the identification issues of concern and opportunities to develop health ministries to address these issues. Faith leaders were encouraged to share this information with members of their faith community and develop means of obtaining additional information on the people of interest. We believe that engaging faith leaders with neighborhood-specific health information will be critical in providing an understanding of the importance of their voice in improving health outcomes of their faith community, the surrounding neighborhood, and the community at large. Our goal is to empower faith leaders to understand personal and community health issues and to act as a conduit for health-related information and health promotion at a local level. Church health teams developed an HIV and sexually transmitted infection prevention program for African American adolescents and young adults.