CDC Features

CDC Features

CDC Launches New Act Against AIDS Communication Campaign

Every 9½ minutes another person in United States becomes infected with HIV. To help reduce the number of new HIV cases, CDC's has launched Act Against AIDS, a 5-year, multi-faceted communication campaign.

Photo: Two men CDC announced a new 5-year communication campaign, Act Against AIDS, which aims to combat complacency about the HIV crisis in the United States. The campaign – which highlights the alarming statistic that every 9½ minutes another person in United States becomes infected with HIV – features targeted messages and outreach to the populations most severely affected by HIV, beginning with African-Americans.

CDC also announced the Act Against AIDS Leadership Initiative, a partnership with 14 of the nation's leading African-American organizations to integrate HIV prevention into each organization's outreach programs

According to CDC data released last year, about 56,000 Americans become newly infected with HIV each year – significantly more than was previously known – and more than 14,000 people with AIDS die each year in the United States.

Campaign Targets Communities at Risk

Photo: A group of men and women The first phase of the Act Against AIDS campaign, called "9½ Minutes" uses a series of video, audio and print materials to increase knowledge about the severity of the epidemic in the United States.

The materials direct Americans to "get the facts" by going to the Web site www.Nineandahalfminutes.org as a first step toward learning how they can help protect themselves and others. The site provides basic education about HIV as well as referrals to HIV prevention and testing services and organizations throughout the nation.

Future phases of the Act Against AIDS campaign will focus on reaching specific populations at greatest risk with HIV prevention messages tailored to meet their unique needs. Efforts will focus first on African-Americans, who, by far, bear the greatest burden of HIV in the United States. While accounting for just 12 percent of the U.S. population, blacks represent roughly half of new HIV infections and AIDS deaths every year.

Targeted communications to encourage increased HIV testing among the 2 groups of African-Americans most severely affected – men who have sex with men (MSM) and women – will begin soon, followed by messages and materials designed to increase knowledge about HIV and AIDS in African-American communities. Over the course of the multi-year campaign, additional phases will be launched for other populations at increased risk, including Latinos and other groups of MSM.

For more information on Act Against AIDS, please visit www.nineandahalfminutes.org