blog.aids.gov − Addressing HIV with Digital Resources

blog.aids.gov − Addressing HIV with Digital Resources

ADDRESSING HIV WITH DIGITAL RESOURCES

May 31, 2016 • By Deb Lebel, Partnerships Director, AIDS.gov 

Earlier this year, CDC released new projections of lifetime risks of acquiring HIV – “If current HIV diagnoses rates persist, about 1 in 2 black men who have sex with men (MSM) and 1 in 4 Latino MSM in the United States will be diagnosed with HIV during their lifetime, according to a new analysis by researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).”

Those are frightening numbers–but they are not inevitable. There are many efforts underway to counter these projections. Watch this video to learn more about the CDC projections and what is being done to prevent new HIV infections among key populations.

But for those who already have HIV, it’s important to see that there are other people who are living full and healthy lives with the virus. Positive Spin, a digital educational tool that spotlights some of those powerful personal stories, works to: raise awareness about the HIV care continuum; encourage people living with HIV to get into treatment; and counter the shame and stigma so often associated with HIV.

Positive Spin features the true stories of five black, gay men living with HIV who have successfully navigated the care continuum. In a series of compelling videos, they speak about their paths from initial diagnosis with HIV to the final stage of the continuum—achieving viral suppression—which means that medication and treatment have helped them get their HIV under control. The videos can spur critical conversations about the importance of getting tested, getting into care, staying in care, and achieving viral suppression.

 Digital Messages to Reach Hispanics

Pinyon Foundation and Hispanic Communications Network-La Red Hispana , in collaboration with the CDC and the Act Against AIDS initiative, recently launched a media campaign in Spanish that provides radio and social media messages, and editorial vignettes about the importance of addressing stigma in the Hispanic community by talking about AIDS, and getting tested for HIV.  Find these digital resources here: www.laredhispana.org/detengamosvih

“Digital and social media channels alone are only part of the equation. We work through major influencers, from credible Latino personalities to regularly consumed digital, social, and radio channels, to cut through the clutter and deliver CDC’s HIV messages addressing stigma directly to Spanish-speaking consumers in their homes, cars, and places of work”, says Alison Rodden, CEO of Hispanic Communications Network and Co-Principal Investigator of the CDC PACT Grant.

Pinyon Foundation is one member of the Partnering and Communicating Together to Act Against AIDS (PACT) partnership between the CDC and some of the nation’s leading organizations representing the populations most affected by HIV and AIDS.