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

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