The Hip Hop & Health project aims to increase knowledge of hepatitis and sexually-transmissible infections among CALD young people in Victoria.
Stage 2 (2009)
The Multicultural Health & Support Service (MHSS) has followed up the tremendous success of its first Hip Hop and Health project by using a local hip hop crew to spread the word about sexual health and viral hepatitis.
Evaluation of the first project found that hip hop was a powerful way to engage with young people from a range of CALD backgrounds. By combining interactive hip hop performances with health education sessions, MHSS workers found that they could discuss sensitive health issues with young people in a friendly and non-threatening way.
H3 is a new hip hop group made up of young people connected to the North Richmond Community Housing Estate. MHSS workers decided to use this group for the project when they observed their impressive freestyle skills.
MHSS youth worker Chiedza Malunga presents the H3 workshops and works with the H3 crew to develop new performances. "Hip hop allows us to talk about serious matters in a fun way," explains Chiedza.
"We can get messages about risk and protection to young people through a culture they can relate to, in a medium that they love. These messages are delivered to young people by their peers and friends, which make them even more powerful."
H3 in action
Watch a short video of the project in action.
Stage 1 (2008)
Project partner: A.R.A.B (Anti-Racism Action Band)
Stage One of this project involved a series of health education workshops, which were presented by male and female MHSS community workers. Each workshop covered basic information about STI and BBV, how to practise safe sex, where to get tested and information about treatment.
Each session was followed by a hip hop session performed by A.R.A.B. The performances included safer sex and harm minimisation messages.
Thirteen workshops were delivered in metropolitan Melbourne and a further workshop was held in Geelong. The community workers used existing community groups and activities to source participants for workshops. Additional project outreach activities reached more than 100 young people.
The project showed that hip hop could be an effective medium to deliver culturally sensitive information to African and Arabic-speaking young people.