HIV prevention campaign aims to redefine ‘safe sex’

HIV prevention campaign aims to redefine ‘safe sex’
Image: ACON CEO Nicolas Parkhill. Image supplied.

A new HIV prevention campaign is seeking to redefine ‘safe sex’ by raising awareness about new approaches to HIV prevention that don’t always involve condoms.

Launched by ACON, the How Do You Do It campaign aims to educate same-sex attracted men about new options such as PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) and UVL (undetectable viral load).

Chief Executive of ACON Nicolas Parkhill said the campaign reflects the latest developments in the science of HIV prevention.

“Condoms have been and remain a very effective, accessible, and cheap barrier to HIV transmission and still have a vital role to play in terms of HIV and STI prevention,” he said.

“However, if a person is HIV negative, they can now take PrEP, an antiretroviral drug that prevents HIV negative people from becoming infected.

“And if a person is HIV positive it’s now proven beyond doubt that HIV treatments can help reduce that person’s viral load to an undetectable level, making it almost impossible to transmit the virus.”

The cheeky campaign promotes three different safe sex options by asking the question: how do you do it?

For people that use condoms the answer could be ‘I do it all the time’ while for people who choose to take PrEP daily the answer might be ‘I do it every day’.

The campaign was launched to coincide with the start of this year’s Mardi Gras festival, and will promoted across NSW via outdoor advertising, and through a range of social media channels.

A group of Uber driver-partners in Sydney have also volunteered to get their private vehicles wrapped with the campaign artwork for the next three weeks as well to raise community awareness.

More information on the How Do You Do It campaign can be found at: www.endinghiv.org.au/youchooose

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One response to “HIV prevention campaign aims to redefine ‘safe sex’”

  1. “Almost impossible” should be more highlighted in campaigns. AMOST is not COMPLETELY, and the devastation and stigma that people face when they become positive is immense.

    I have a very close friend who has become positive despite being on Prep. His life has changed significantly, mostly for the worst during this time as he struggles to meet the challenges of his positive status.
    He, like many people, are ‘mislead’ into believing that Prep is COMPLETELY safe in preventing HIV transmission, and despite his adhesion to taking the drug everyday, he has still ended up positive. We rarely hear THESE stories in the community.

    Being middle aged, I come from the time when the message was beaten into us that if we didn’t use a condom we’d die. That was the fear that was instilled into so many of us. I see NO fear instilled into the community any more, only messages of ‘take Prep and you’ll be fine. Forget the condoms’. Or at least that’s what it seems. Ironically, I know more people now that are HIV positive than I did 20 years ago.

    In my work, I am surrounded by young men aged from about 17 to 30. None of them have ever had to ‘live in fear’ from the early ‘AIDS advertising’ that I was subjected to, and listening to my stories, they disregard them with a laugh. “Oh you just take a pill now, nobody dies anymore!”. That’s the kind of response I always get. A complete lack of seriousness, no fear, no thought about it. I ask them about contracting other STIs. Same response – just go to the GP and get a pill. No thought about long term consequences, infecting others, and so on – it’s all about the “feel” of not using a condom. I don’t know what it “feels like” to have sex without a condom and I’m about to turn 50. True.

    I also rarely see any other messages of the risk of the STIs being transmitted without condoms, which I know are on the increase. I just think that the seemingly ‘anti-condom’ message is being portrayed inaccurately, misleadingly, and to the detriment of many people’s lives.

    Prep is a wonderful thing, and thank goodness we have it. But why not promote the message of Prep plus condoms is the way to go. Surely any reasonable person can work out that with the two of them together the chance of transmission reduces that ALMOST impossible down even further huh? May the day come when I can comment on the miracle drug that does make it IMPOSSIBLE to transmit.