Public Health Messaging Campaign Needed to Raise Awareness

There is a need for the public health community to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS in the country. In D. C. , where 3 percent of the population has HIV and AIDS, the worst prevalence rate in the nation, easily surpassing the 1 percent rate of infection that makes up a severe epidemic, this need is even more magnified. Examples of some effective methods include advertising in different media sources, billboards, messages on buses, and in public areas. In San Francisco, the youth are getting answers from SexInfo, a public health text messaging service that was launched in 2006. The service has proven to be effective, receiving 4,500 sexual health inquiries in just its first 25 weeks of service, with broken condoms, pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases topping the subject list. The effort came after local health officials spotted rising rates of gonorrhea and chlamydia among black teens in one of the city's low-income neighborhoods, according to Deb Levine, MA, executive director and founder of Internet Sexuality Information Services Inc., which developed SexInfo in partnership with the San Francisco Department of Public Health. While the initial idea was to create a new Web site, both Levine and colleague Jacqueline McCright, MPH, a community-based STD services manager at the public health department, decided it was time to think outside the box. While visiting high schools for inspiration, the new idea walked right in front of their faces: After the school bell rang, students filed out with cell phones in hand. But they weren't talking -- they were typing.

"That's when we knew we were on to something," Levine told The Nation's Health.

Direct Link to Article on SexInfo: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/704350

Link to Related Articles:

Amid Criticism, D.C. Plans Big Effort to Spread Word on AIDS

http://www.fighthivindc.org/2009/06/amid-criticism-dc-plans-big-effort-to.html

Public Health & Education | U.S. Launches Five-Year, $45M Domestic HIV/AIDS Awareness Campaign
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/DAILY_REPORTS/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=57912

June 27th, National HIV Testing Day -A Look at D.C.

On Saturday, June 27^th National HIV Testing Day took place in D.C. with many sites for people to go and get tested. The AIDS Healthcare Foundation’s (AHF) Magic Johnson HIV Testing Caravan arrived in Washington, DC, after a successful, three-week, fourteen-city cross-country HIV testing tour that took the group through several hard-hit Southern US cities and states to raise awareness about the importance — and ease — of HIV testing. Throughout the tour, testing counselors on the caravan working in conjunction with respected local community partners, performed over 500 free, rapid HIV tests. The HIV testing caravan culminated with its arrival in Washington with two free HIV testing events set for Saturday, June 27^th, and Sunday, June 28^th. Free testing, which I participated in, took place at the Caribbean Festival from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. both Saturday and Sunday (Banneker Recreation Park, 2500 Georgia Avenue, NW) and on Saturday in the Washington Highlands neighborhood of Ward 8 (4226 4^th Street, SE, Washington DC 20032, cross street: Chesapeake) from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. to raise awareness about HIV testing, prevention and treatment through specific testing events and community outreach in

And throughout the course of the 4,220-mile, three-week cross-country HIV testing tour, HIV testing counselors and AHF staffers will supplied a steady stream of updates, videos and images via new media: YouTube, Facebook, MySpace and Twitter postings from along the route, interviews with local partners, government officials and, when appropriate and available, interviews with people who were tested on the mobile unit.

• http://www.youtube.com/aidshealth
• http://www.facebook/people/Aidshealth-Care/
• http://www.twitter.com/freehivtest
• http://www.myspace.com/aidshealth
• http://www.freehivtest.net/testingusa

Also, click the link below for HIV/AIDS Data through December 2006 Provided for the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Modernization Act of 2006, for Fiscal year 2008:

http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/surveillance/resources/reports/2009supp_vol14no1/default.htm

"National HIV Testing Day: An Epidemic in our Nation's Capitol": http://www.huffingtonpost.com/susan-blumenthal/national-hiv-testing-day_b_109717.html

Raising Awareness Among Youth

The 2007 District of Columbia HIV/AIDS Epidemiology Annual Report shows that HIV/AIDS in the District has become a modern epidemic with the largest group under the category Age at Diagnosis fell within ages 20-29, at 18%. Also, roughly one out of every 100 young people ages 13 to 24 in the District is HIV infected or has full-blown AIDS. Among DC young people, HIV infection rates have tripled for the period 2000-2005 compared to the previous five years. These startling statistics indicate that the face of the HIV/AIDS virus is growing steadily to be the youth. Thus, it is important that greater emphasis is put on promoting awareness of HIV/AIDS so that they can see how this epidemic is hurting their community and endangering the lives of thousands.

To help combat this growing problem and increase the awareness of youth to HIV/AIDS and of safe sexual and reproductive health practices, the DC Youth HIV/AIDS Initiative will focus on community organizing activities, peer to peer efforts, and support from the school systems. The main activities of the project will be a public lecture, exhibition, educational initiatives such as print media i.e. making pamphlets to pass out, radio forums, and others that may be helpful to raising awareness of the problem. There are not any specific dates for the gatherings, radio forum, or other activities as of yet so this will be one of the first tasks for the project.

Other major findings of the District of Columbia HIV/AIDS Epidemiology Annual Report are:

• Between 1997 and 2006, almost 70 percent of all AIDS cases progressed from HIV to AIDS in less than 12 months after the initial HIV diagnosis, primarily due to late testing, compared to 39 percent nationally.
• The District accounted for 9 percent of all pediatric AIDS cases in the United States during 2005. Between 2001 and 2006, there were 56 children ages 13 or younger diagnosed with either HIV or AIDS in the District of Columbia.
• Although African-American residents account for 57percent of the District’s population, they account for 81percent of new reports of HIV cases. African-American women constitute 58 percent of the District’s female population, but account for 90 percent of all new female HIV cases.
• Heterosexual contact in the District is the leading mode of HIV transmission at 37 percent of newly reported infections, while nationally men who have sex with men lead new transmissions.
• The District’s rate for newly reported AIDS cases is higher than rates in Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York City, Detroit, and Chicago.
• Nearly every ward in the District is impacted, though Wards 1, 5, 6 and 8 consistently had the highest numbers of residents diagnosed with HIV and AIDS.
• The majority of newly reported cases were among residents ages 30 to 49.

Source: http://www.doh.dc.gov/doh/cwp/view,A,1371,Q,603431.asp

Snapshot of HIV/AIDS among Youth in DC:

http://www.doh.dc.gov/doh/frames.asp?doc=/doh/lib/doh/services/
administration_offices/hiv_aids/pdf/factsheets/youth.pdf