“Don’t worry, Bono got us covered”: Exhibit A
on June 26th, 2007 at 7:03 amConsider this as an addendum to what I wrote about yesterday (“Don’t worry, Bono got us covered“)
Press Release:
Los Angeles County Launches Unprecedented Media Campaign to Fight Sexually Transmitted Diseases
Effort Moves Beyond the Billboard to Reach African American women and Latinas, Gay and Bi-sexual Men
>And what is their way of convincing grown folks who have already made up in their minds that protection IS optional?
The campaign uses guerrilla marketing tactics such as graffiti murals, sidewalk drawings, printed drink coasters and mirror stickers in night clubs and gyms, along with traditional media such as posters and billboards.
>This press release also mentions the following:
“The rates of syphilis, gonorrhea, and chlamydia are all alarmingly high and rising in our community,” said Jonathan E. Fielding, MD, MPH, Public Health Director and County Health Officer. “Last year alone, nearly 18,000 cases of chlamydia and gonorrhea were recorded among African American and Latina women younger than 25 years of age in LA County. Gay and bi-sexual men represented at least 1,000 cases of syphilis in 2006.
[...]
Gay and bi-sexual men in LA County continue to face a serious problem with syphilis. In 2005, 85% of the recorded syphilis cases were among this group. Six out of 10 of those cases occurred among HIV-positive men. Untreated syphilis can have devastating health consequences, including impairment of the ability to walk, permanent vision loss, permanent hearing
loss, and brain damage. Public Health identifies patients with these health outcomes every year.
There are more than 30,000 cases of chlamydia and more than 5,000 cases of gonorrhea in women alone every year in LA County. African American and Latina women make up the largest number of those reported cases out of any other group. (source)
Listen, until we as a nation get enough courage to ask and deal with the “Why?” questions here (“Why are Gay and bi-sexual men continuing to face STDs?”, “Why is AIDS and other STDs a big problem within the Black community?”), all the posters, stickers, marches etc. will continue to serve as a emotional public response with very little (if any) results. Again, much of demographic are made up of the same folks who say they want the government out of their bedrooms while at the same time want the same government to serve as nurse when disease develops.
While encouraging folks who are sexually active to get regularly tested is a noble gesture, we must keep in mind that the same mindset is also being adopted by the target audience: Ignore the hard question(s) and maybe it will go away. Let’s face it, the bedroom has been in the public square for years now, so there is no room for adolescent responses to this issue.
