CDC's new tool in HIV prevention: social media and Jamie Foxx
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is jumping on the social media bandwagon and enlisting some help from celebrities Jamie Foxx and Ludacris to promote an HIV/AIDS awareness campaign targeting African Americans.
Called, "i know," the campaign uses a website, Twitter, Facebook, texting and a PSA from celebs (check out Jamie Foxx below) in an effort to increase dialogue and reduce the stigma of the disease among young African Americans -- a very vulnerable population. While blacks make up 14 percent of the population of 13- to 29-year-olds, they account for half of all new HIV infections of this group, according to the CDC.
But concern about the epidemic appears to be fading. A Kaiser Family Foundation asked black 18- to 29-year-olds to rate their concern about HIV. In 1997, 54 percent said they were "very concerned." That figure sank to 40 percent last year.
The effort is part of the CDC's five-year $45 million Act Against AIDS campaign, to raise awareness, battle indifference about the disease and reach those most at risk.
