San Diego’s Gay Men’s Health Campaign

San Diego County HIV, STD, and Hepatitis Branch of Public Health Services is one of four local health jurisdictions funded by the Office of AIDS to conduct an HIV prevention campaign utilizing social marketing. The project subcontractor, Family Health Centers of San Diego, works closely with the County and community partners to design, implement and monitor this HIV prevention program. An overview of the campaign and examples are presented to inform interested HIV prevention providers. The materials displayed are not available through the California AIDS Clearinghouse. If you have specific questions about San Diego’s behavior change campaign, please call Lauren Farber at Lauren.Farber@sdcounty.ca.gov and (619) 293-4718 or Victoriano Diaz at Victorianod@fhcsd.org and (619) 515-2589.

The Gay Men’s Health campaign launched in July 2005 with a set of integrated prevention activities including a website, print media, poster placement, and outdoor advertising as well as on-line pop-ups on popular gay web sites. Each of the activities articulates important prevention messages and call the viewers attention to the website for detailed information. Gaymenshealth.org offers health information on HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases, hepatitis and alcohol and drugs. Additionally, there is information and resources offered on a variety of related topics along with an opportunity to learn about the behavior change campaign. The website also collects information in the form of participant surveys.

Utilizing social marketing, San Diego County and Family Health Centers of San Diego conducted extensive research with gay identified men, ages 25-34. Information collected identified needs for information, for education, for skills, and for services along with significant direction for how to deliver those activities in an effective manner. As a result, the Gay Men’s Health campaign has had over seven thousand four hundred and fifty nine visits to the campaign website. Several articles have been written about the campaign, with numerous organizations from around the country asking to use the imagery for their own efforts. The campaign has been highlighted on the “Commercial Closet”, a website dedicated to examining advertising targeting the GLBT community. Additionally, the website has been utilized by local providers as a quick one stop shop for information on resources specific to Gay Men’s health issues in San Diego. The outdoor campaigns have also served as a vehicle to get gay men into HIV/STD testing and providing a starting point for discussion of those issues.