Fox News reported Wednesday that inner city neighborhoods are conducting health screenings at local barbershops and beauty salons, places that have traditionally served as gathering points for black men and women.

Black men are at greater risk of contracting and dying from major diseases, like cancer, heart attack and stroke. Black women are less likely to get breast cancer, but almost twice as likely to die from it than white women.

According to the “Atlas of Racial and Ethnic Disparities among Men with Heart Disease,” black men over the age of 35 are 26 percent more likely to die from the disease than their white counterparts and almost 50 percent more likely to die from it than Hispanics.

The barbershops and beauticians have employed many strategies to address these health disparities. Four thousand barbers are part of Prostate Net,  a program which provides information on screening and affordable  health services. Others have been trained to test for high blood pressure and obesity.

Dr. Wayne Giles, director of the Division of Adult and Community Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said these efforts are a form of community activism that can save lives.

“The idea that people can do things to prevent chronic conditions is a message that doesn’t resonate with many African-Americans,” Giles said. “More and more communities of color are doing what affluent communities have done for decades. They are empowering themselves to take control of their environment.”