The Washington AIDS Partnership today announced that the second phase of an innovative campaign to increase awareness and use of the female condom as a tool for HIV prevention will launch across the District this week.
The DC Doin' It! campaign will kick off Thursday with the rollout of 460 Metro bus ads and the distribution of branded posters and brochures through community partners. It will also premiere a dedicated Web site – www.DCDoinIt.com – that will provide information on locations where District residents can obtain free female condoms, as well as get pointers on how to use the female condom and how to discuss it with sexual partners.
"This campaign is an incredibly exciting outcome of an innovative public-private partnership focused on finding new ways to fight HIV/AIDS in the District," said Channing Wickham, Executive Director of the Washington AIDS Partnership. "With support from the District Department of Health, the MAC AIDS Fund, CVS/pharmacy, and local community-based organizations, we have designed a campaign that seeks to change social norms and save lives. We're making sure that we aren't just leaving condoms in baskets."
With funding provided by a $500,000 grant from the MAC AIDS Fund, the District Department of Health and the Washington AIDS Partnership will manage a grassroots social marketing campaign that will educate residents and distribute 500,000 FC2 Female Condoms® through local organizations that serve neighborhoods hardest hit by the District's HIV/AIDS epidemic. Local partner organizations include Calvary Healthcare, Inc., Community Education Group, Our Place DC, Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington, and the Women's Collective.
The partnership is also supported by CVS/pharmacy, which has agreed to make the Female Health Company's FC2 Female Condom available for purchase in all 56 of its District stores to ensure that women and men will have 24-hour access to the method. A three-pack of female condoms retails for $6.49 at CVS stores.
DC Doin' It! has been in development since March. The Washington AIDS Partnership worked with the DC Department of Health and local partner organizations to conduct focus groups and develop messages and materials that are engaging and relevant to sexually active adults, especially African American women and men, who live at disproportionate risk of HIV infection.