Back to Basics: Using AIDS.gov Resources for Your World AIDS Day Event

Back to Basics: Using AIDS.gov Resources for Your World AIDS Day Event

By the AIDS.gov Team

 

 

Last week we shared some materials to help you plan a Facing AIDS photo event in your community for World AIDS Day, December 1. This week, we want to point you to some additional and more general World AIDS Day event planning resources. Our World AIDS Day page has lots of resources now, and we’ll be updating it soon with more resources, including graphics.

If you want to plan a World AIDS Day event, but you aren’t sure where to start, check out our event planning guide! Along with tips on getting started and ideas for local events, the guide has suggestions for promoting your event, things to do after the event, and ways to encourage people to take individual action. You know your community best, and you know what messages it most needs to hear. You can use the ideas in the guide to tailor your plans to meet your community’s needs.

One common request we get from individuals and organizations (and one of the most commonly searched-for items on AIDS.gov) concerns basic HIV/AIDS information—how is HIV transmitted? How many people are living with HIV and AIDS? How can I protect myself? Our HIV/AIDS Basics pages have information on myths and facts, HIV prevention, resources for people diagnosed with HIV, and on staying healthy with HIV and AIDS. You can also find basic HIV/AIDS statistics. If you’re planning a World AIDS Day event, you may want to consider printing (or personalizing) some of this information and having it available for your participants.

World AIDS Day is also an important opportunity to share HIV testing information since one out of every five people living with HIV in the U.S. doesn’t know they are infected. Individuals can enter their ZIP code into the HIV/AIDS Prevention & Service Provider Locator to find nearby prevention, housing, mental health, substance abuse, testing, and treatment services. We also developed a widget version of the locator, so you can bring this resource to your audiences by adding it to your blog or website. Check out the instructions tab for details on how to add the widget to your site. People can also find their local HIV testing sites by sending a text message to “KNOWIT” (566948).

You may also want to consider sharing news or information about the National HIV/AIDS Strategy as part of your World AIDS Day activities. You can read the Strategy and find information about the Strategy’s implementation, fact sheets, Strategy documents, and more, on the National HIV/AIDS Strategy section of AIDS.gov.

We hope you’ll share these and other ideas from our World AIDS Day page with your peers and colleagues, and let us know what else you come up with. Is there other information you wish were available? Do you have online resources that others might want to use for World AIDS Day? We’d love to hear from you!

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