We’ve gone and done it, WE’RE ON INSTAGRAM NOW!

Things change, you change, we change, funding for HIV services change but despite some of the difficulties in the sector, we seem to be connected better than ever before thanks in part to Social Media.

We’d like to introduce to you, our new Instagram account: LASSLeics. You’ll find pictures of events, of our resources and general nice things to look at, not all necessarily HIV related but you can be sure to be visually treated.

As a recap, we wanted to ensure you know where we are online so you can use whatever service you use to follow and keep in touch with us.

Website

This will always be http://www.lass.org.uk.  Our site features information on HIV testing (which can be free) and you get your result straight away! It also states what our services are, policies and contact information.  We’re actually updating our site so stay tuned for more updates.

Blog

http://blog.lass.org.uk. (What you’re reading now).  Here we share what’s new both at LASS, Well for Living and we curate some of the most interesting stories relating to HIV in the world.  Our blog is updated frequently, to keep up to date you might want to subscribe or follow us on Facebook or Twitter.

Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/lassleics.  We realise that blogs aren’t everyones cup of tea and that lots of people prefer to stay up to date on facebook which is why we link our blog posts to Facebook.  Whenever we publish a new blog post it’s automatically sent to Facebook.  It doesn’t matter if you comment on the blog or on Facebook, we’ll still see your comments.

Twitter

https://twitter.com/LASSleics Like facebook, Twitter will tweet each article as we publish it.  Unlike Facebook we get involved in conversations and tweet or retweet news and information which may be of interest, not only on HIV but for sex and sex education and health related information.  Why not follow us and join in the conversation?

Instagram (new)

Instagram  (https://www.instagram.com/lassleics) is our newest social media profile and it’s run by our support worker Rhoda Thomas.  We’re short on followers at the moment and we hope you’ll visit and interact with us over there, just as you do on our other platforms.

Feel free to connect to us on any platform, if we don’t follow you already, just send us a message and we’ll gladly connect.  It’s good to talk and it’s nice to see you online!

Thanks for reading, let us know what you think in the comments below, or you can find us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for more!

  

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Video Games, Social Networks May Help Prevent HIV

Digital outreach efforts delivered via text messages, interactive games, chat rooms, and social networks may be an effective way to prevent the spread of HIV, according to a recent study.

Researchers from Columbia University Medical Center found that eHealth interventions are associated with reductions in risky sexual behaviors and increases in HIV testing among men who have sex with men.

Despite decades of outreach and education efforts that have stabilized human immunodeficiency (HIV) infection rates in the United States, the pace of new infections among men who have sex with men has been steadily increasing, particularly among young adults and racial and ethnic minorities.

“This is a population that is very used to technology, and there is built-in privacy and immediacy with digital communication that may be especially appealing to men who aren’t comfortable disclosing their sexual orientation or their HIV status in a face-to-face encounter,” said Rebecca Schnall, lead author of the study and an assistant professor at Columbia Nursing. “If we want to reduce HIV infection rates, particularly among younger men, we need to explore the use of technology to meet them where they live – online and on their phones.”

For the study, researchers conducted a systematic literature review to determine the effectiveness of eHealth interventions for HIV prevention among men who have sex with men. Included studies had to be focused exclusively on eHealth, limited to HIV prevention and testing rather than treatment, targeted only to adult men who have sex with men, written in English, designed as experimental or randomized controlled trials, and published between January 2000 and April.

Researchers found that one interactive website, Sexpulse, designed by health professionals and computer scientists to target men who seek sexual partners online, successfully reduced high-risk sexual behaviors. Another site, Keep It Up! (KIU), used video games to help reduce rates of unprotected anal sex. A third initiative, a downloadable video game, helped mitigate shame felt by some young men who have sex with men, though the reduction in risky sexual behavior wasn’t statistically significant.

Researchers found that Chat rooms may also help prevent HIV. When a sexual health expert entered a popular chat room to regularly post information about HIV testing and respond to instant messages seeking information on HIV, self-reported HIV testing among participants in the chat room significantly increased.

“Taken together, the findings from all of these relatively small studies demonstrate the enormous potential of eHealth as a tool to prevent HIV,” Schnall said. “What we now have is a road map to follow for larger, longer trials that may definitely confirm the effectiveness of eHealth in fighting the spread of HIV.”

Post via University Herald

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HIV clinic & Stephen Fry Crowdsource HIV Video Campaign

HIV and sexual health clinic, 56 Dean Street, and actor Stephen Fry are crowdsourcing an ad campaign to raise awareness of the life-threatening disease.

The Community Campaign is encouraging talented creatives to enter a competition for the chance to launch a campaign that aims to reduce rates of HIV and increase education about sexual health.

Submission of entries will run from now until 25 June and the winner will be announced in August.

The winning print campaign and the online film campaign will run from September to December.

Print entries will be expected to educate and encourage every sexually active man to get tested for HIV at least once a year. The winner will be given the option to be creative director on the project, working with a professional agency to bring their campaign to life.

Entries for the online video campaign will talk about love, life, work, sex and relationships.

Entries will be put on display in selected gay bars across London and an expert panel will shortlist the entries before a public vote on Facebook.

The winning video will run extensively through online media and be shown in London’s most popular gay bars.

Stephen Fry said: “With one in seven gay men on the London scene now living with HIV, it’s never been more important to develop new ways to reach and engage people with a safe sex message.”

Dr Alan McOwan, service director at 56 Dean Street, said, “We want to create a voice for the community to actively design, vote on and react to their own advertising. If we can all get involved – together, we can make a difference.”

To find out more visit: http://www.facebook.com/thecommunitycampaign

Original article by Sara Kimberley, at http://www.campaignlive.co.uk

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