About 250,000 people in the US have HIV and don’t know it. These people are unknowingly responsible for up to 75% of new infections. Almost half of new infections are among African Americans.
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For more than 20 years, Earvin “Magic” Johnson, Chairman and Founder of the Magic Johnson Foundation, has been committed to transforming Urban America through HIV/AIDS Awareness & Prevention Programs, Community Empowerment Centers, and the Taylor Michaels Scholarship Program. Today, he has also teamed with OraQuick to encourage others to get tested for HIV.
The awareness campaign, “Make Knowing Your Thing Today”, kicks off today and asks people across the country to share their story about their decision to test for HIV. Magic has shared his story, which can be viewed here.
The goal of the campaign is to encourage people to take the important step towards learning their HIV status. The contest, which runs through July 2013, asks participants to submit a short video or photo with caption at www.OraQuick.com/knowing, to share their story about why they decided to get tested for HIV.
A winning entry will be selected based on viewer voting and input from a panel of judges. The winner will be a part of a future OraQuick® In-Home HIV Test promotion.
OraSure Technologies, Inc., the maker of the OraQuick® In-Home HIV Test, announced today the launch of a nationwide awareness campaign to encourage everyone to learn their HIV status. The campaign, “Make Knowing Your Thing Today” asks people across the country to share their story about their decision to test for HIV. The awareness campaign is part of an integrated national marketing program that includes events, as well as national and local radio, outdoor advertising, television, print and digital advertising.
Earvin “Magic” Johnson has teamed with OraSure to kick off this campaign today, sharing his story of knowing, and encouraging others to do the same.
“Knowing your HIV status is important, but that doesn’t mean that the decision to get tested is easy. Everyone follows a different path to testing and everyone has different reasons for doing it,” said Earvin “Magic” Johnson, CEO of Magic Johnson Enterprises. “We need to have an open and honest dialogue about HIV/AIDS to help remove the stigma around testing, so more people get tested. The more people we get to join the conversation, the more powerful the message will be: Testing for HIV/AIDS can save lives. It’s everyone’s thing.”
The OraQuick® In-Home HIV Test is the first ever in-home rapid infectious disease test made available directly to consumers. Launched in October 2012, the test detects antibodies to both HIV-1 and HIV-2 with an oral swab, providing a confidential in-home testing option with results in as little as 20 minutes. It is available in most national drugstore and mass merchandiser retail outlets nationwide and online at OraQuick.com.
OraQuick® has launched the “Make Knowing Your Thing Today” campaign to encourage people to take the important step towards learning their HIV status. The campaign features a contest, which asks participants to submit a short video or photo with caption at www.OraQuick.com/knowing, to share their story about why they decided to get tested for HIV. A winning entry will be selected based on viewer voting and input from a panel of judges. The winner will be a part of a future OraQuick® In-Home HIV Test promotion. The contest runs through July 2013.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there are approximately 1.2 million people in the U.S. that have HIV and approximately 240,000 of them are unaware of their status. Those who do not know they are HIV positive are disproportionately responsible for the 50,000 new HIV infections that occur each year.
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