People at risk for contracting HIV from sex can reduce their risk of infection by up to 99% when they take pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), an antiretroviral medication, as directed. However, most women either don't know about the medication or don't think it is necessary for them to take. The François-Xavier Bagnoud Center at the Rutgers School of Nursing seeks to build awareness among women through the "Take PrEP & Take Charge" campaign.
Andrea Norberg, executive director of the François-Xavier Bagnoud Center (FXB Center), and Judith Collins, marketing manager at the FXB Center, discuss the need to educate women at risk for HIV about the relevancy and benefits of PrEP. What is the "Take PrEP and Take Charge" campaign? Collins: The campaign is aligned with New Jersey's plan to end HIV entitled "A Strategic Plan to End the HIV Epidemic in New Jersey by 2025." This plan was released in 2021 and represents a commitment by the state of New Jersey to end its HIV epidemic by reducing the number of new HIV infections by 75%.
The plan prioritizes increasing access to testing, treatment and prevention. Education and awareness campaigns are big parts of this strategic plan . The "Take PrEP and Take Charge" campaign is one of many efforts launched since 2021 to address the plan's goals.
We decided to focus our first campaign on HIV prevention—more specifically on PrEP, which is a prevention strategy that is highly effective against sexual transmission of HIV when taken as prescri.
