About
the City of Los Angeles AIDS Coordinator's Office's "Get
Tested" Campaign.
Twenty-five
years into the epidemic, no individual or group can hope to
end HIV/AIDS until we end the politics of division and set
aside the stigma and shame surrounding HIV/AIDS.
To
end AIDS, every resident of the City of Los Angeles who is
sexually active or has shared needles should commit to getting
educated, getting involved and most importantly, getting tested.
To
further this goal, The City of Los
Angeles AIDS Coordinator's Office developed the "Get
Tested" campaign to draw attention to the importance
of HIV testing among the diverse populations of Los Angeles.
The
campaign calls on people to take responsibility for making
change within their communities, while reminding us that HIV
affects all of our communities together. HIV/AIDS is, after
all, a Human disease.
The
first phase of the campaign is comprised of six billboards,
which will be placed strategically around the city of Los
Angeles for a month beginning on Worlds AIDS Day, December
1, 2006. The stunning imagery, developed by Encite Marketing,
will become part of a larger testing campaign to remind Angelinos
that HIV is not only a Human disease, but a preventable and
treatable disease as well. The campaign has been timed to
coincide with a community-based HIV Testing Initiative coordinated
by the City.
My
office was able to implement this phase of the "Get Tested"
campaign through collaboration with the UCLA
AIDS Institute. Other community partners include the AIDS
Healthcare Foundation, the Asian
Pacific AIDS Intervention Team, Bienestar
Human Services, The
Black AIDS Institute and Women
Alive Coalition, as well as the Crossroads
School Teen AIDS Ambassadors.
The
websites highlighted on the billboards promote these partners,
and will provide people with testing locations, information,
and linkage to services.
More
than twenty-five years into the epidemic, the least we can
do is all commit to knowing our status.
Stephen
David Simon
AIDS Coordinator
City of Los Angeles |
