This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.

Black, Latino MSM report high exposure to recent HIV campaigns

Add topic to email alerts

Receive an email when new articles are posted on

Please provide your email address to receive an email when new articles are posted on .

Subscribe

Added to email alerts

You've successfully added to your alerts. You will receive an email when new content is published.

Click Here to Manage Email Alerts

You've successfully added to your alerts. You will receive an email when new content is published.

Click Here to Manage Email Alerts

Back to Healio

We were unable to process your request. Please try again later. If you continue to have this issue please contact customerservice@slackinc.com.

Back to Healio

ATLANTA — Black and Latino men who have sex with men reported high levels of exposure to two recent HIV social marketing campaigns, according to data presented at the CDC’s National HIV Prevention Conference.

Although these campaigns resonated beyond their intended audience, Hannah Badal, MPH, of the Prevention Communication Branch of the CDC’s Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention, said these findings support continuing awareness campaigns targeted at high-risk groups.

“Among gay, bisexual and other MSM, black MSM and Hispanic-Latino MSM are disproportionately affected by HIV,” Badal said during a presentation. “In response to the continuing HIV epidemic in the United States, in April 2009, the CDC and the White House launched Act Against AIDS, a multifaceted health communication campaign to focus attention on HIV and AIDS in the U.S.”

The Act Against AIDS initiative launched the “Testing Makes Us Stronger” (TMUS) and “Reasons/Razones” (Reasons) campaigns in 2011 and 2013, respectively. These campaigns encouraged HIV testing among black (TMUS) and Latino (Reasons) MSM in major U.S. cities through print, digital and outdoor media resources.

To identify impact of these outreach programs, Badal and colleagues analyzed survey results from an oversampled cohort of 3,105 sexually active gay and bisexual MSM. The web-based survey was distributed from December 2014 to March. It determined campaign exposure through questions asking respondents to recall featured messages and by asking respondents if they encountered the campaign. Researchers conducted analyses for the overall sample, as well as for black MSM aged 18 to 44 years (n = 812) and Latino MSM aged 18 to 49 years (n = 981).

Within the full cohort, 30% reported exposure to TMUS and 11% to Reasons, while target audiences reported 44% and 14% exposure. Cited sources of exposure for both campaigns included clinics or doctor’s offices, Gay Pride events, billboards, Facebook and public transit. Respondents very often perceived the campaign messages to be effective or very effective, although factors associated with high perceived effectiveness varied between the campaigns.

Badal said these results suggest excellent outreach to target audiences for a social marketing campaign, especially in regard to the “very high” TMUS exposure rate observed in black MSM.

“CDC’s testing campaigns resonated beyond the campaign audiences; however, exposure to and perceived effectiveness of TMUS and Reasons were highest among black MSM and Latino MSM, indicating that a targeted approach to campaign implementation is an effective way to reach these audiences with HIV testing messages,” Badal said. “Future HIV testing campaigns to reach black MSM and Latino MSM may want to consider implementation strategies such as presence at Gay Pride events and advertising in prominent print and online media to increase campaign exposure.” – by Dave Muoio

Reference:

Badal H, et al. Abstract 1399. Presented at: National HIV Prevention Conference; Dec. 6-9, 2015; Atlanta.

Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.