Some people are losing interest in the HIV and Aids awareness campaign. It remains a challenge to keep things interesting. After all, the danger of infection is still with us.
New infections continue to outpace the number of people starting treatment, only one third of the 15 million people living with HIV in need of life-long treatment are receiving it, leading to untimely death and, sadly, in some communities and organisations discrimination is still rife. This means that the awareness campaign should not weaken in any way. Choosing a new theme for the campaign is one way of keeping the campaign interesting.
Choose a theme
Every year or couple of years, World Aids Day has its own theme. A number of ideas are available on the Internet and from organisations that are involved in setting the theme and driving the campaign. Companies are usually invited to make use of the campaign material such as posters and brochures that have been developed for a specific theme. Examples of such promotion materials can be found at https://www.worldaidsday.org.
The World Aids Day event at your company or in your community can also use these themes or you can set your own theme as in this example:
The first World Aids Day was commemorated in 1988. This date can be written on, for example, a wall where all participants can see it. All participants get to draw a number. In large organisations, each participant draws one number, but in smaller organisations employees can draw more than one. The aim of the game is for one by one participant to subtract his or her number from 1988 to reach zero, signifying the eradication of the disease. Participants will have to confer with one another to reach the objective, which will facilitate involvement with others. Depending on the number of participants, a specific time limit is given for this game.
World Aids Day is a great way for your organisation to remember those who have died because of Aids, to support those who continue to be infected with HIV every day, to learn more about the devastating effects of the disease and to reaffirm your commitment to fight HIV and Aids. Your event can therefore have a theme of remembrance or take the form of a wellness day.
You can also choose to have a games-themed campaign. Here is an example of such a game:
Noughts and crosses is a well-known game which can be adapted for this event. For example, noughts and crosses can be cut out of board or wood and printed or painted with Aids ribbons. Crosses can be adapted to resemble † instead of x, in order to symbolise Aids-related deaths. Noughts or crosses are placed on a paper grid or on a grid drawn with chalk on the floor. The aim of this adapted game is for the noughts to win over the crosses, that is, to get to zero Aids-related deaths.
Sources
HIV Stigma: Not retro, just wrong. https://www.worldaidsday.org/campaign/hiv-not-retro
World Aids Day Message 2016. http://www.unaids.org/en/resources/presscentre/pressreleaseandstatementarchive/2016/november/WAD2016message