Background: In a predominantly Catholic country like the Philippines, HIV prevention campaigns use stigma and fear to educate the public about HIV. There is an absence of sex-positive HIV prevention efforts in the Philippines that use internet and social media to engage YMSM. This campaign is an attempt to leverage on online platforms to drive sex-positive HIV prevention efforts while engaging YMSM. Due to the concentration of HIV infections in MM, this campaign is focused on young gay men (18-24 years old) who regularly seek out male sexual partners online.
Description: In 2015, TestBKK has been a successful campaign in Thailand to encourage YMSM to get tested for HIV. LoveYourself, a community-based LGBT organization, partnered with APCOM to test the effectiveness of this sex-positive HIV prevention model in the Philippines. After a series of focus group discussions, LoveYourself and APCOM adapted TestBKK''s simple, clear, and easy-to-remember slogan to encourage YMSM to get tested for HIV: “SUCK. F*#K. TEST. REPEAT”. The campaign is promoted in campaign websites, social media, gay networking apps, and offline events.
The campaign reached 46,910 individuals to learn about HIV testing in MM via www.TestMNL.org; 18,369 individuals were tested for HIV (38.25% are YMSM); and 1,343 turned positive (7.31%). On social media, TestMNL created 79,934+ views on campaign videos on Facebook and YouTube, 7,642 Facebook likes, and 3,155 Twitter followers.
Lessons learned: Partner clinics of TestMNL reported an average increase in HIV testing of 62.05% compared to previous months the year before. Meetings with community groups, clinical partners, private partners and YMSM also reported the effectiveness of the campaign in their engagements on the importance of sexual health promotion, creating a shift to a more sex-positive environment in the gay community in MM. Formative assessment is essential to determine the type, tone, theme, and approach of campaign that will work.
Conclusions/Next steps: The campaign concludes the need for more community-led sex-positive campaigns that will educate YMSM about their sexual health, and encourage them to get tested for HIV. Scale up of the program is needed to provide more opportunity to develop new campaign messages that address key barriers to HIV continuum of care.

Download the e-Poster