ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : Getting the AIDS Message Out

Having street vendors hand out AIDS information pamphlets to their customers may seem unorthodox, but dealing with this deadly epidemic requires creative efforts of many different kinds. The vendors from Santa Ana and Anaheim who are cooperating with the AIDS Community Education Project sponsored by Orange County’s Health Care Agency should be applauded for helping out when asked.

Abe Sanchez of the AIDS project has enlisted vendors’ help in handing out the pamphlets, which are written in Spanish, because the vendors hawk their wares on the streets of many of Orange County’s largely Latino communities. Javier Barajas, president of the Southern California Street Vendors Assn., said some vendors agreed to assist because they realized that many of their customers didn’t speak English or were afraid to go to health clinics where they otherwise might learn how to prevent AIDS. Prevention programs in these communities are important because AIDS has made an incursion in the Latino population. In Orange County, about 12% of the 1,716 adult cases reported in December were among Latinos.

The head of an organization that identifies Orange County’s needs rightly pointed out that having vendors distribute AIDS pamphlets could not substitute for communitywide education campaigns. But on the other hand, no avenue of informing people should be ignored.

Because one of the major ways AIDS is transmitted is by sexual activity, vendors’ customers are sometimes a little embarrassed by the subject matter of the pamphlets. Some tuck them away in their pockets for later perusal. But at least some will gain access to information they might otherwise not obtain about how AIDS is transmitted and how it can be prevented.

There’s a benefit for the vendors as well. Helping with the AIDS project perks up their image, which has suffered in many Orange County cities. In Santa Ana, Costa Mesa and other communities, vendors have been the target of concerns about the health and safety of their mobile facilities or the noisiness of the bells and whistles they use to attract customers. Cities are right to respond to these concerns as they arise, but they should keep in mind that vendors are entrepreneurs entitled to their own dignity, just like any other business people.

Meanwhile, the AIDS pamphlet-distribution program gives some of these vendors an opportunity to do a good turn for the neighborhoods where they make a living.