France scores big time! Guest author Denis
Leblanc reports on an amazing French publicity campaign designed to
explain to the public what undetectable viral load means and in doing
so, puts a big dent in HIV stigma
28 November 2016
Denis LeBlanc
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PositiveLite.com has published many articles
to share the news and discuss the facts around the Undetectable =
Uninfectious campaign: that people living with HIV who are on successful
treatment and undetectable for six months cannot transmit HIV. PositiveLite.com is a community partner with the Prevention Access Campaign and has endorsed the Consensus Statement given the wealth of scientific support for these facts.
France’s oldest HIV/AIDS organisation, AIDES, has just launched a publicity campaign which pulls no punches and states that people living with HIV on treatment are uninfectious,
in line with the arguments advanced by the Prevention Access Campaign. I
prepared this article from an AIDES’ news release and other campaign
materials from the AIDES website.
"Revelation," is the national French HIV
campaign, designed to positively shake up the image of people living
with HIV while tackling stigma. Launched by France on November 22 in
Paris, Revelation is a major campaign to transform the public’s attitude
about people living with HIV.
The campaign is aimed directly at the
French public with spectacular photos which some would consider
shocking, but with a simple message that could change everything for
people living with HIV: “An HIV-positive person on treatment does not transmit the virus”.
The group says that antiretroviral drugs
today are so effective, they make the virus undetectable in most people
living with HIV. The group also says that people on successful treatment can no longer transmit HIV “even in the case of unprotected sex”.
The group says this information is “scientifically accepted” but it has
had a very tough time getting through to the public and to some people
living with HIV.
A breath of fresh air for people living with HIV
AIDES, founded in 1984, is a leading
French HIV/AIDS advocacy group with a presence in 70 cities and towns
throughout France. AIDES has decided it needs to get this information
out directly, without waiting for additional government funding, so as
to finally crush the stigma felt so deeply by so many people living with
HIV. In addition to sharing this campaign with the media, it will be
widely displayed at their 75 locations and via their partner
organizations throughout France.
If successful, the campaign would
represent a marked change in the public perception of people living with
HIV. AIDES worked in partnership with a major French ad firm to design
and implement the campaign.
"It is our responsibility to make this information available to as
many people as possible," explains Aurélien Beaucamp, president of
AIDES, "because the most significant burden on the quality of life of
people living with HIV is not the virus; it’s the daily stigma and
discrimination they suffer."
Beaucamp said that there is a
considerable gap between therapeutic progress and the social perception
of HIV. In France, 86% of people living with HIV are successfully
treated and have an undetectable viral load. They are therefore healthy
and no longer transmit HIV, he says. Despite this, people living with
HIV are too often rejected emotionally and sexually by potential
partners.
In their latest survey of people living
with HIV in March 2016, 49.1% reported sexual or relationship rejection
due to their positive status. "For fear of rejection, many people are
reluctant to have any emotional or sexual relationships, they no longer
want to talk about their status or take their medication in public. They
no longer want to risk the stigma. These are situations that place
people living with HIV in a form of self-denial, which is particularly
harmful to their quality of life and their ability to take care of their
health," explained Mr. Beaucamp.
"It is our responsibility to make
this information available to as many people as possible," explains
Aurélien Beaucamp, president of AIDES, "because the most significant
burden on the quality of life of people living with HIV is not the
virus; it’s the daily stigma and discrimination they suffer"
Through four large and
beautiful black-and-white posters, this campaign provides the public
with a simple message: "HIV-positive people on treatment have a lot to
share; they can’t share the HIV virus.”
The campaign aims to spread a calm and gentle message to combat
stigma. Each poster shows a couple making love during a sporting or
artistic activity: parachuting, scuba diving, dancing and at the piano.
One of the two people shown is HIV-positive and shares their knowledge
and talent with the partner.
“This is the first time that such a
message has been the subject of a major national campaign, so it was
necessary to deliver it with serenity ... and a little lightness too,”
said Mr. Beaucamp.
Through this campaign, AIDES hopes to
show another aspect of people living with HIV. These are gifted, loving
people who want to remind the world that they are not just about their
HIV+ status.
Treatment as Prevention (TasP) was first
brought to light in 2008 by Pietro Vernazza in the Swiss Statement. In
an interview, the AIDES president explained, “Since 2010 we have been
striving to make this information known to the public, in particular
through the media… Our mission is not to substitute ourselves for any
public authority. Purchasing advertising space is expensive. It’s beyond
our means to disseminate a national information campaign on prevention
on a very large scale. We felt that it was up to the scientific
community, the doctors and the public authorities to do this work to
provide greater impact to the message. Yet 8 years later, despite the
accumulating scientific data, this message was still ignored by the
majority. So, we decided to launch our own campaign.”
Due to a lack of awareness about
TasP among the general public, some people living with HIV and even
among health professionals, AIDES decided to launch this campaign to
fill the gap. “A campaign alone is not enough to change the attitudes
and mentalities of an entire population. This is a first step and it was
our responsibility to do this. In parallel, we will continue to inform
and educate health care professionals on this issue, as we have been
doing for several years” added Mr. Beaucamp.
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About the author: Denis LeBlanc is a
long-time gay and HIV+ activist living in Ottawa. Now retired and
disabled, he remains active by working as a volunteer on individual
campaigns and projects. He has recently accepted to volunteer as Global
Liaison for the Prevention Access Campaign. For more detailed bio, see
Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives (CLGA), here.
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Read more articles from PositiveLite, here.
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