AHF Billboards Shatter HIV Stigma

Latest outdoor campaign shifts longstanding narrative to encourage testing and celebrate people living with HIV and thriving

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) has launched a new out-of-home advertising campaign to celebrate people thriving with HIV as a way to shatter the stigma around testing and show living with HIV does not mean stopping the things you love to do. The artwork includes the URL HIVcare.org which directs people to AHF’s directory of service locations nationwide.

HIV.gov reports approximately 1.2 million people in the United States are living with HIV, and 13% don’t know their status and need testing. The Thriving campaign celebrates and elevates people living with HIV to help urge people to get tested and get into care if needed.

“Too many people still are afraid to get tested because they fear what life might look like living with HIV,” said Dr. Michael Dube, National Medical Director for AHF’s Public Health Division. “But it is not knowing your status and not getting the care you need that can interfere with how you live life. When someone tests positive for HIV, we immediately connect them with a Linkage Counselor who not only helps get them into care but fosters a relationship that helps keep them in care.”

AHF serves more than 1.9 million patients around the world and offers comprehensive HIV services from testing and counseling to treatment with specialized providers committed to the communities they serve. AHF makes knowing your status easy by providing free, discreet, and nonjudgmental testing in a variety of settings – from our Healthcare and Wellness Centers to our Mobile Testing Units and Out of the Closet Thrift Stores.

The Thriving campaign includes billboards, transit shelters, bus interiors, posters, benches, standalone kiosks, and more and will run in 14 states (CA, FL, GA, IL, MD, MS, LA, NY, OH, PA, SC, TX, VA, and WA) plus Washington, DC and Puerto Rico for a three-month rotation. It features six different images of people thriving in different ways to showcase that thriving can mean different things to different people.

The CDC reports approximately 32,000 new infections each year, and HIV stigma contributes to hesitation around testing. AHF is leading the way in shifting the narrative around HIV, spotlighting how people are flourishing because they have been able to access affordable care and stay in care. Research shows antiretroviral therapy (ART) adherence can improve several health outcomes for people living with HIV other than just viral load – things like sleep, employment, stress, and food security.

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the world’s largest HIV/AIDS healthcare organization, provides cutting-edge medicine and advocacy to more than 1.9 million individuals across 47 countries, including the U.S. and in Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific Region, and Eastern Europe. To learn more about AHF, visit us online at AIDShealth.org, find us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok, and subscribe to our AHFter Hours podcast.