SucheAIDS and STI Prevention
"Don’t give AIDS a chance": the BZgA campaign for HIV/AIDS prevention
"Don’t give AIDS a chance" ("Gib Aids keine Chance") is Germany’s largest and most comprehensive health prevention campaign. It is a model example of a successful prevention strategy with a nationwide impact on the public. Since 1987, it has been combining mass-media and personal communication measures that specifically target different groups of the population.
The HIV/AIDS prevention campaign is designed as an umbrella campaign adressing the whole public and target groups within, whose effect is universal, complementary, intensifying and as sustainable as possible. The primary goals are to prevent the further spread of HIV and other STIs and to create and strengthen a social climate of solidarity with, and non-isolation of, affected persons.
If stable prevention effects are to be achieved, a long-term communication process must be established and continued that triggers and maintains the necessary learning processes in society. BZgA therefore developed the campaign with interwoven blocks of measures: mass-media offerings (e.g. TV, cinema and radio spots, the "mach’s mit" ("join in") campaign and a wide variety of print media offerings), telephone counselling and personal communication activities (e.g. the mobile "LoveLife" exhibition, "join-in circuits", the Youth Film Festival, etc.), as well as a growing variety of interactive offerings on the Internet.
Successful HIV/AIDS prevention today also includes the prevention of other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and, depending on the target group, is embedded in sex education and family planning with a correspondingly expanded range of topics.
Co-operation of governmental and non-governmental actors: Division of labour with Deutsche AIDS-Hilfe
The division of labour between BZgA, as a state institution, and Deutsche AIDS-Hilfe (DAH - German AIDS Help), as a self-help organisation, is a key foundation of the success of HIV and HIV/AIDS prevention in Germany. As a state organisation, BZgA addresses the population in general and target groups within, while the Deutsche AIDS-Hilfe self-help organisation primarily deals with the groups particularly affected and threatened by HIV and AIDS. The AIDS prevention of Deutsche AIDS-Hilfe is financed and supervised by BZgA, thereby guaranteeing the synergistic action of the two sectors.
Supporters and other cooperation partners
In the field of HIV/AIDS prevention, BZgA cooperates - nationally and internationally - with many different specialist organisations, specialist institutions and groups. Particularly important for prevention are, for example, professional counsellors in health offices, AIDS-Hilfe groups and other local counselling centres, teachers, the medical community, pharmacies, tour operators, and the media. BZgA additionally cooperates with major organisations, such as the Deutsche AIDS-Stiftung (German AIDS Foundation), the Deutsche Sportjugend youth sport organisation, and many others.
Since mid-2005, there has also been important cooperation with the Association of German private healthcare insurers (PKV) as a sponsor, which shows great commitment in supporting the HIV/AIDS prevention work of BZgA and enables a host of additional measures with the aim of coming closer to the goal of reducing the number of new HIV infections in Germany.
BZgA has in recent years succeeded in recruiting numerous other supporters, large and small, for its HIV/AIDS prevention efforts. The largest and most important of them is the Fachverband Aussenwerbung (German Outdoor Advertising Association, Fachverband Aussenwerbung e.V.), whose member companies have provided well over a million billboards free of charge since 1993. As a result, the "mach’s mit" jumbo posters very soon became the best-known element of the entire campaign, and the one with the greatest reach. The Internet portal www.gib-aids-keine-chance.de also includes information on the supporters.
Internet Offerings
www.gib-aids-keine-chance.de
This is the portal for all aspects and topics relating to AIDS/HIV and offers:
- Information on the entire "Don’t give AIDS a chance" campaign, including "join in",
- Facts and figures on HIV/AIDS,
- Detailed information on other sexually transmitted diseases,
- Overview of all media (with option to order), offerings and other topics,
- TV, cinema and radio spots,
- Access to personal counselling by telephone or online,
- Overview of all counselling centres by region,
- The "Check Your Risk" self-test,
- The Youth Film Festivals, the mobile "LoveLife" exhibition and the "Join-In Circuit",
- Information on travelling healthily,
- Diverse interactive offerings, and
- A host of further links.
www.machsmit.de
This interactively oriented site accompanies the current join in campaign entitled "Places for love". The Risk Check allows people to judge their personal risk of infection, the "Ist da was?" ("Have I got something?") tool provides information on sexually transmitted diseases, and the Motif Generator gives users the opportunity to create their own motifs and put them online for rating. In addition, you will find not only the poster motifs, but also further target group-specific advertising motifs, online advertising media and elements accompanying the campaign, information on Safe Sex and condoms, on HIV/AIDS and on other sexually transmitted diseases.
www.welt-aids-tag.de
The Internet platform of the joint campaign of BZgA, Deutsche AIDS-Hilfe and Deutsche AIDS-Stiftung for World AIDS Day on 1.12. every year.
Under the motto "Together Against AIDS", the campaign aims to encourage public debate and broad-based social commitment. Anyone can take part - be it as an ambassador or as the provider of a local campaign or event. The website offers a wide variety of possibilities for active participation in this respect, as well as information on World AIDS Day, the joint campaign itself and the celebrity ambassadors, as well as support for implementing local and regional campaigns and activities.
