Promotion of sexual health among youth is a matter of utmost importance, as the future of the humanity depends on young people and their reproduction health. Management of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) occupies a significant place in educating the target population about positive health habits. There are numerous social media campaigns at different levels whose aim is to encourage youth to take care of their sexual health by eliminating the exposure to adverse habits and dangerous contacts. Such programs are developed at local and state levels in many countries of the world. The state of Ohio presents a number of projects focused on the issue of STD/HIV among youth. Several of such campaigns were launched by SUMA Social Marketing, Inc. in cooperation with the Ohio Department of Health HIV Care Services Section (“Ohio HIV social marketing campaigns,” n.d.).
One of the most beneficial media projects introduced by SUMA is called Ohio-HIV/AIDS radio campaign (“Ohio HIV/AIDS radio campaign,” n.d.). This project is a part of a continuous cooperation with the Ohio Department of Health HIV Care Services Section. It aims at raising young people’s HIV knowledge. The artifacts of the program can be found at the following location. This form of media was chosen because it has a large scope of audience. Radio One is an owner of three radio stations and has a substantial radio coverage in the state of Ohio (“Ohio HIV/AIDS radio campaign,” n.d.). SUMA initiated a direct mail project to encourage people to listen to the program. The listeners were found by zip codes and invited to pay attention to a radio program and also to a micro-website with data about HIV. Famous DJs initiated conversations about HIV and organized interviews with experts on the topic. The analytics of the website note a rapid increase in a number of visitors after such live interviews (“Ohio HIV/AIDS radio campaign,” n.d.). The strength of this campaign is a large number of people involved. However, there are also some limitations due to the nature of the project. Firstly, not all people listen to the radio. Secondly, Radio One is focused on Africa-American population whereas it is necessary to inform the youth from various communities about the danger of HIV/STD.
Another recent campaign held in Ohio state with the help of SUMA in 2013 was called “Ohio Talks HIV” (“Ohio talks HIV,” 2015.). The artifacts of the program can be found at the following link. The campaign’s purpose was to educate and train people as HIV “care messengers” (“Ohio talks HIV,” 2015.). The project was implemented in ten cities throughout the state. Ohio Talks HIV taught people about the core HIV facts, gave references to the resources, and provided appropriate guidance. Those who took part in the campaign became able to serve as HIV care messengers at their local agencies and communities. Moreover, the project provides a lot of resources via the internet which makes it possible for anyone to engage in self-education. The benefits of this campaign are obvious: because of it, many people are able to enlarge their scope of knowledge about HIV and teach others about the peculiarities of this dangerous disease. The limitation of the program is that it is time-consuming. However, I comparison with the advantages, this disadvantage is rather minute.
State campaigns aimed at educating young people about HIV are an effective way of eliminating the cases of the disease. Since the future of our world depends on healthy offspring, it is crucial to organize such projects at various levels, particularly at a state one.
References
Ohio HIV/AIDS radio campaign. (n.d.). Web.
Ohio HIV social marketing campaigns. (n.d.). Web.
Ohio talks HIV. (2015). Web.