On May 28 Terrence Higgins Trust will be re-launching its highly successful ‘Get it checked, Get back out there’ campaign today to try and increase gay men’s awareness of sexually transmitted infections (STIs).  This year the campaign includes high profile outdoor adverts which will target men when they’re out on the scene. 

The campaign will include gay bar washroom panels, roadside adverts near gay venues in major gay centres, phone boxes near London gay venues, adverts in London Underground stations and cigarette kiosks on Manchester’s Canal Street. There will also be adverts in some of the gay press.

The campaign also includes a special edition of the magazine Exposed, posters for use in gay venues, condom packs and boxes of mints. The condoms and sweets will be given out by Terrence Higgins Trust and other health promotion teams.

The campaign originally ran in 2005. It includes adverts with images of sexy men in their underwear, but with visible signs of a STI – a sore, rash or discharge.  The waistband of the underwear features the name of the infection. One of the images appears normal apart from ‘STI’ printed along the waistband, to highlight that some infections have no symptoms at all.

Marc Thompson, Deputy Head of Health Promotion at Terrence Higgins Trust said “Gay men responded really well to the campaign last time and it increased their awareness of STIs.  However, levels of some STIs are still high among gay men and if left untreated they can cause long term health complications.  The message of the campaign is to get checked out and get back out there.”

The STIs focused on in the new campaign are syphilis, gonorrhoea, Chlamydia, NSU and herpes.  The adverts offer support and information through the THT Direct or by logging onto www.chapsonline.org.uk/infections , a site aimed specifically at gay men.

Ends

Notes to editors

• Terrence Higgins Trust is the UK’s leading HIV and sexual health charity, providing a wide range of services to over 50,000 people a year.  The charity also campaigns and lobbies for greater political and public understanding of the personal, social and medical impact of HIV and sexual health.
   
• The STI awareness campaign has been produced as part of the THT coordinated CHAPS programme. CHAPS works as a partnership of gay men's health agencies that include:
  Terrence Higgins Trust

GMFA [London]

Lesbian and Gay Foundation [Manchester]

Yorkshire MESMAC [Leeds]

Trade [Leicester]

The Armistead Project [Liverpool]

Sheffield Centre for HIV and Sexual Health

The Eddystone Trust [Plymouth]

CHAPS is evaluated by Sigma Research