Gay Men’s Health Crisis launched two new ad campaigns to raise
awareness about HIV among women of color and young men of color who
have sex with men.
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By TRENTON STRAUBE
Friday, March 14, 2008
City, state and national statistics all point to an increase in HIV infections and unsafe sex, particularly among young people. Gay Men’s Health Crisis launched two new ad campaigns this week to raise HIV awareness among two at-risk groups.
The “I Love My Boo” campaign targets young men of color who have sex with men (MSM). (Boo is a slang term of affection.) The other campaign—“HIV: We’re Not Taking It Lying Down”—focuses on women of color.
The billboards and panels on phone kiosks are posted in Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx, in neighborhoods where infections are disproportionately high among people of color.
“These provocative new campaigns address rising HIV infection rates in two of the groups most directly impacted by focusing on the strength and resiliency of people of color within their communities,” said Marjorie J. Hill, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of GMHC. “They speak to individuals and communities in a language of love, respect, acceptance and sexual health—highlighting what is possible in intimate relationships instead of focusing on problems with negotiating safer sex and getting tested for HIV.”
The ad spots arrive as the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention held its 2008 national STD Prevention conference last week. The CDC released a number of alarming statistics, including:
• HIV infections increased 80% among young African-American MSM.
• 1 in 4 teenage girls in the U.S. has been infected with at least one sexually transmitted infection.
• Syphilis cases increased 16% from 2006 to 2007, with MSM accounting for an estimated 60% of the cases
The syphilis numbers mirror findings by the New York City’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, which reported a 62% spike in 2007, mostly among MSM.
Reported syphilis cases rose from 560 in 2006 to 927 last year; 896 cases were among men. The median age of men infected was 35. (Read the full story here.)
“This is another piece of evidence that men are having sex with men in an unsafe manner,” Dr. Susan Blank, the city’s assistant commissioner for Sexually Transmitted Disease Prevention and Control, told the Blade earlier this month.
The big concern with syphilis statistics is the correlation to HIV. The presence of one STD makes it easier to get and transmit HIV and other infections. According to the health department, 57 percent of the men with syphilis in 2007 were also HIV positive.
According to the city health department, the total number of new HIV diagnoses in New York City decreased by 5 percent between 2005 and 2006. But during the same time period, new HIV diagnoses increased by 6 percent in two key groups:
black or Hispanic males and females aged 13-29.
GMHC’s Dr. Hill said the country is witnessing the results of the Bush Administration’s institutionalized homophobia and its misdirected public policy regarding sexual health.
“The Bush Administration’s abstinence-only policy, which is both ineffective and discriminatory towards gay and lesbian youth, has greatly contributed to these alarming statistics on the health of our nation’s youth,” she said. “We are now witnessing the ramifications of that and other ideologically-driven policies.”
GMHC continues to advocate for a National AIDS Strategy, which would require communication and policy continuity across all federal government levels.
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