More evidence is needed to assess the impact of health fairs on social outcomes, though initial exploratory data suggest that health fairs could contribute to improved health knowledge and influence future health behaviors.
The findings below synthesize the results of the studies on the impact of health fairs on health education, screenings, and health behaviors across three domains of measurement:
The United States Prevention Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommends preventive screening for numerous health conditions[1],[2]. Preventive screenings are designed to detect early signs of diseases, enabling proactive management before symptoms worsen or complications develop. These screenings cover conditions ranging from cancer to diabetes, depression, and fall prevention, to name a few[3]. Interventions focused on early detection through screenings can improve function and well-being, reduce downstream healthcare utilization, and support quality metrics that increasingly determine reimbursement and value-based care performance[4].
Less than one in four adults aged 50-64 receive all recommended preventive care services[5]. Missed opportunities for preventive screening translate directly into higher long-term costs and poorer health outcomes, compounding the burden of chronic conditions such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer, which already account for most health expenditures in the United States (U.S.)[6]. Health fairs are one approach to facilitating access to preventive screening services[7].
A health fair is an event designed to provide basic health education, often alongside health screening activities[8]. These events may be organized by professional health fair organizations, medical providers, public health departments, or student groups (e.g., medical, nursing, dental, pharmacy, etc.), and are usually free to attend. Health fairs are often held within the community they aim to serve (such as work sites, community centers, churches, or schools) and are typically organized around a specific goal, such as promoting worksite wellness or reducing prevalent diseases in the community.
Supporters view health fairs as a valuable tool, particularly for populations who face barriers to accessing routine healthcare[9],[10],[11],[12]. They may offer routine procedures such as physical examinations, along with important vaccinations such as flu shots and COVID-19 vaccines to attendees[13],[14]. Additionally, health fairs may provide non-health-related benefits, such as enhancing engagement with individuals and making them more receptive to future health messaging. However, critics caution that health fairs may do more harm than good[15]. Laboratory tests offered at these events often lack standardized threshold values for determining whether an individual may have conditions of concern, such as high blood sugar[16]. False positive results may lead to dangerous and expensive follow-up testing, while false negatives may provide unwarranted reassurance when further evaluation is actually needed. An additional challenge is the disconnect between providing test results and ensuring participants can access necessary follow-up care or care navigation services to help them act on their health information.
Despite these concerns, health fairs continue to be widely promoted, and multiple professional organizations have been established with the sole purpose of organizing health fairs[17],[18],[19]. This assessment will review the published literature on the effectiveness of health fairs in changing health-related behaviors, screening for diseases, and improving the health of participants and communities.
Adults who were diagnosed with hypertension.
A community, faith-based, nurse-led health event.
Randomized controlled trial. N = 100.
Healthcare Cost, Utilization & Value: There was no difference in medication intensification between study arms (p=0.98). Medication intensification was defined as an increase in the number of blood pressure medications or an increase in the dosage of a given antihypertensive medication from recruitment to the 4-month follow-up appointment
Health: In the nurse referral arm, participants had a 7 +/- 15 mm Hg drop in systolic blood pressure versus a 14 +/- 15 mm Hg drop among those in the telephone-assisted physician appointment arm (p=0.04). There was no difference in hypertensive self-care between arms. While this health fair demonstrated the ability to identify previously undetected hypertension, the study design precluded the ability to determine if there was any clinically meaningful difference in participants’ disease course as a direct result of attendance.
Health fair participants across the U.S.
Health fairs focused on cancer screening.
Pre-post analysis. N = 249.
Healthcare Cost, Utilization & Value: 41% of participants talked to their doctors about screening. Only 4% reported receiving assistance with making appointments for cancer screenings.
Residents in the Eastex-Jensen Area—a medically underserved area in Northeast Houston.
A free community health fair providing health screenings (vitals, BMI, vision, blood glucose, dental), COVID-19 vaccinations, provider referrals, and health education.
Descriptive study. N = 111.
Social: When participants rated their satisfaction with the health fair, the average response was 4.62 out of 5. Participants also reported that they were more comfortable managing areas of health related to the stations offered at the fair.
Health fair participants. The average age of the participants was 47 years. 34% were uninsured, and the majority were Hispanic (32%), Caucasian (29%), or Asian (23%).
Student pharmacist-led education at health fair events.
Pre-post analysis. N = 94.
Healthcare Cost, Utilization & Value: 78 participants with abnormal results reported intent to contact a provider within 30 days for follow-up. This cross-sectional study did not evaluate actual follow-up. As such, the health fair’s impact on participants’ health was not established.
Social: Participants’ knowledge of hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia, and body mass index increased significantly following the health fair (p<0.05).
Participants ranging in age from 57 to 89 years old.
Screening for fall risk and education at a community health fair.
Descriptive study. N = 68 participants.
Social: 30 days after the fair, 72% of the participants reported implementing at least one risk-reduction behavior. However, the study design did not include a pre-fair assessment for comparison with post-fair outcomes. Additionally, the impact of the educational intervention on actual fall incidents was not measured, nor was a comparison group included. Sustained implementation of the fall risk-reducing behaviors was not assessed beyond 30 days.
Adults who identify as male (18-87 years).
Depression screening completed at a community health fair; included graduate students and psychiatric nurses who were available on-site to conduct brief consultations.
Pre-post analysis. N = 261.
Healthcare Cost, Utilization & Value: Over 25% of participants screened positive for at least moderate depression and 36% of those agreed to meet immediately with an on-site psychiatric nurse. However, at the six-month follow-up, none of the participants who received a referral had made an appointment at the community mental health agency.
Health: Although the screening event provided an educational opportunity for graduate students and identified individuals at risk for depression, the impact on long-term clinically meaningful outcomes failed to be realized.
Community members.
A public health nursing student-led health fair program. The health fairs took place at community agencies that served the homeless (88%) or victims of intimate partner violence.
Pre-post analysis. N = 113.
Social: Based on the open-ended survey, authors report that participants’ health knowledge significantly improved (p<0.00). The study did not assess if this knowledge was sustained or if it translated into behavioral change.
Individuals ranging in age from 18-75 years in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. Participants were 46.9% male and 53% female.
An annual refugee and immigrant health and wellness resource fair. The fair was planned by multidisciplinary stakeholders within Allegheny County and Pittsburgh, including representatives from refugee resettlement agencies, immigrant serving organizations, health institutions, social services agencies, and academic institutions.
Qualitative study. N = 107.
Social: Based on participant feedback, the acceptability and desirability of health fairs was very high, and such interest may encourage participation in future events that focus on health prevention topics like smoking, childhood obesity, vaccines, and women’s health.
The fair provided a unique opportunity for community engagement and for participants to network and learn about available resources to meet their needs.
Attendees of the Indiana Black and Minority Health Fair (BMHF).
Personalized 15-month follow-up health counseling sessions for participants at the Indiana BMHF who agreed to participate in them.
Pre-post analysis. N = 1,701.
Social: Few behavioral changes were detected between baseline and the 10-month follow-up. Slightly more people perceived themselves as overweight (68.1% vs 65.3%, p<0.01) and significantly fewer watched TV/videos four hours or more on a usual weekday (25.6% vs 47.0%, p <0.001) than 10 months prior.
After the 15-month follow-up health counseling sessions (n = 15), the intervention group reported substantial and meaningful improvements in several self-reported general health status domains compared to six months earlier.
Participants in health fairs in the Lansing, Michigan metropolitan area.
Community-based health fairs.
Pre-post analysis. N = 202.
Healthcare Cost, Utilization & Value: Student volunteers conducted follow-up telephone interviews 56 days on average (range 6-126 d) after participants received the community health fair screening. While a third of participants reported seeking medical care within the 30 days preceding the follow-up call, 79% of those individuals said their decisions were not impacted by the health fair.
Employees from a large Midwestern hospital. During the three-year study period, 56% of individuals met body mass indices for overweight and obese status.
Annual health fairs.
N = 1,295 aggregated over three years.
Health: Virtually every health measure recorded over the three-year period remained unchanged or worsened, suggesting that overall awareness of health status identified during the health fairs did not alter health behaviors. One limitation of this study design is the aggregate nature of the data. It is not possible to determine if any of the individuals in year 1, 2, or 3 are the same.
Social: 51% of employees expressed a desire to increase their daily physical activity levels, and 75% stated they were already preparing for or taking action to change unhealthy behaviors.
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[2] United States Preventative Services Task Force (USPSTF). (2022). Published Recommendations. Available at: https://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/uspstf/topic_search_results?topic_status=P. Accessed on January 05, 2023.
[3] USPSTF. (2025). A and B recommendations. U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. https://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/uspstf/recommendation-topics/uspstf-a-and-b-recommendations
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[9] Opperman, K. J., Hanson, D. M., & Toro, P. A. (2017). Depression screening at a community health fair: Descriptives and treatment linkage. Archives of psychiatric nursing, 31(4), 365-367.
[10] Escoffery, C., Liang, S., Rodgers, K., Haardoerfer, R., Hennessy, G., Gilbertson, K., ... & Fernandez, M. E. (2017). Process evaluation of health fairs promoting cancer screenings. BMC cancer, 17(1), 865.
[11] Murray, K., Liang, A., Barnack-Tavlaris, J., & Navarro, A. M. (2014). The reach and rationale for community health fairs. Journal of Cancer Education, 29(1), 19-24.
[12] Salerno, J. P., McEwing, E., Matsuda, Y., Gonzalez‐Guarda, R. M., Ogunrinde, O., Azaiza, M., & Williams, J. R. (2018). Evaluation of a nursing student health fair program: Meeting curricular standards and improving community members' health. Public Health Nursing, 35(5), 450-457.
[13] Florida Department of Health in Orange County. (2025, July 14). DOH-Orange hosts free Back-to-School Health Fair. https://orange.floridahealth.gov/newsroom/2025/08/DOH-OrangeHostsFreeBack-to-SchoolHealthFair.html
[14] Omer, S., Dhillon, K., Pak, D., Do, J., Wang, M., Koshy, D., Chiu, A., Siddiqui, S., & Ho, D. (2023). Analysis of a community health screening program and the factors influencing healthcare access: Results from a health fair in Houston, Texas. Preventive Medicine Reports, 38, Article 10425604. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10425604/
[15] Appleby, J. (2013, May 13). Hospitals, testing companies face questions about value of community screenings. KFF Health News. https://kffhealthnews.org/news/hospital-screening-programs-heart-disease-stroke-tests/
[16] Berwick, D. M. (1985). Screening in health fairs: A critical review of benefits, risks, and costs. Jama, 254(11), 1492-1498.
[17] Irving D. (2019, January 4). RAND Corp. Faith-Based Organizations Promote Well-Being in Underserved Communities. RAND Corporation. Available from: https://www.rand.org/blog/rand-review/2019/01/faith-based-organizations-promote-well-being-in.html. Accessed on January 05, 2023.
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