A prevention campaign addresses the rise in HIV cases among Latinos

ViiV Healthcare has launched the “Do It For Future You” campaign with the goal to encourage discussions about HIV prevention and treatment options between Latino individuals and their healthcare providers.

Bithiah Lafontant, Head of Enterprise Communications at ViiV Healthcare, said that despite all the progress that has been made over the past decades to transform HIV from a fatal illness into what is now a manageable chronic condition, there are still 39,000 new diagnoses each year.

Over the past five years, Latinos have had the biggest rise in HIV cases and are 72% more likely than the overall U.S. population to be diagnosed with HIV. As of now Latinos account for 32% of new HIV diagnoses in the U.S., even when they only make up 19% of the population.

“HIV isn't equally distributed across the United States. It's a disease that affects certain communities for certain geographic areas harder than others, and the reality is we really have all the tools to end the HIV epidemic,” said Lafontant. “We have prevention resources, we have the right treatment resources, but what we don't have is enough awareness about starting those discussions.”

She explained that the idea behind this campaign is to also encourage people to think about how their current health decisions will shape their tomorrow. 

“We want to make sure that communities, particularly those who are disproportionately affected by HIV, like the Latino community, are challenged to see the future of themselves and what they can do to make changes in that,” said Lafontant.

She shared that there are a lot of factors that cause a disproportionate number of HIV but for Latinos, one of the biggest barriers to raising awareness in the community is stigma, which limits open conversations around mental health and sexual health. 

She also added that another reason why numbers are so high within the Latino population is because of the lack of access to care or education when it comes to getting tested.

“In the Latino community, we're seeing that the testing numbers aren’t high enough,” Lafontant said. “Adding in all those factors along with medical mistrust, maybe immigration status, all the different reasons that might stop someone from being able to go to see a provider, they all work together to create this system where communities of color are more heavily hit by HIV.”

“Do It For Future You” uses a multi-channel approach by promoting awareness of HIV through their new website, billboards, social media and even influencers to make sure ViiV HealthCare is getting their messages in front of communities who need them most. “Sometimes just seeing stuff in public places out of home gets people started in conversations and helps to address HIV stigma,” she said.

According to Planned Parenthood, about 1.2 million people in the U.S. are living with HIV with most infections spread through anal or vaginal sex, sharing needles or injection equipment. For some people, symptoms can take years to appear, so they may feel healthy and not realize they have HIV. 

Lafontant shared that selecting cities with the highest rates of HIV to raise awareness on HIV was crucial. “Atlanta and Los Angeles are some of the communities that are hardest hit by HIV,” she said. 

Additionally this year in September, the United States Conference on HIV and AIDS, which is the largest gathering in the U.S. of the HIV community, is happening in Anaheim. “We wanted to make sure that we would have visibility for people attending that conference so they can know about the campaign and share awareness to the communities that they serve,” Lafontant said.

The inclusive campaign also promotes individuals to look at their treatment options such as long-acting injectables which are a newer evolution in HIV prevention and treatment and they offer individuals a choice beyond daily oral pills, which is what has been the norm for a long time. 

“There’s a lot of other people who might have issues with adherence, remembering to take a pill every day,” Lafontant said. “They may be uncomfortable keeping their medicine around either for prevention or treatment because they don’t want anybody knowing that they’re living with HIV or that they’re preventing HIV. Long-acting options just really expand the world of opportunities that are there for people.”

Lafontant said that they have also talked to people who say that taking a pill every day is a reminder of the fact that they’re living with HIV, making it a mental burden for them.

There’s a lot of other health conditions that people don’t think too much about, but HIV is one that people don’t always want people to know their status. They don’t always want to share about it because HIV stigma is still so rampant,” she said. “People might think about some other STDs, or they might think about preventing pregnancy, but HIV just isn’t even on the radar for some people.”

Lafontant emphasized that it’s really important that individuals have conversations with their provider about prevention and explore whether pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is something that they should consider if it fits in their lives.

To learn more about HIV prevention options and treatment, visit ViiV Healthcare’s new website, ForFutureU.com.