The AIDS Project of Central Iowa received funding provided through a proposal to the Iowa Department of Public Health in collaboration with the Iowa Department of Education. We are using our funds to collaborate with a county public health department, local schools as well as a community partner in Iowa on a campaign to promote testing among high-school aged MSM in Iowa City. The main focus is to recruit influential MSM at local high schools to help change social norms. Influential MSM were identified based on teacher and student reports of who has the most social influence in their schools.
The identified youth are becoming the faces of change by posing for pictures that are developed into a campaign to promote testing with the main tagline, “Know your status. Know yourself”. The marketing materials for the campaign include posters, club cards, and business cards that feature the students’ faces, the tagline, provide HIV statistics, and local free testing information. Posters are displayed at the high schools and local establishments that MSM frequent. Club cards and business cards are given to high school students recruited for the campaign who are motivated to distribute them to other students. Additionally, safe sex materials are provided to the students to allow for distribution of the materials when engaging their classmates in discussions about HIV and risk reduction. An added component of the campaign was to utilize social networks through sites like Facebook in order to engage MSM users, including young MSM, in submitting their own videos related to HIV testing. The response from the community in video submissions was an unforeseen success. The videos were on display for a public World AIDS Day event that was attended by students affiliated with United Action for Youth, a local group of high school and middle school students.
Greg Gross
GregG@aidsprojectci.org
www.aidsprojectci.org
No comments:
Post a Comment