New toolkit aims to make HIV campaigns more inclusive

A new toolkit developed by University of Stirling researchers is providing practical recommendations to help make HIV campaigns more relatable and inclusive for communities facing stigma and barriers to HIV prevention, testing, care and treatment.

It aims to support people involved in the design and delivery of HIV campaigns worldwide and comes at a time when late HIV diagnosis remains a serious issue for Black communities in the UK.

In Scotland, the number of late HIV diagnoses among Black African individuals has increased since 2018. In England, 42 per cent of adults newly diagnosed with HIV in 2024 were diagnosed late, with late diagnosis particularly common among Black African heterosexual adults.

Ending transmission

The work contributes to the mission of international health organisations and the Scottish Government to end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030. The researchers say the challenges facing HIV campaigns have become increasingly important in the context of cuts in international aid and benefits, which may increase HIV cases and undermine the aim of ending transmission by 2030.

The toolkit draws on research into the global history of HIV activism led by University of Stirling historian Dr Nikolaos Papadogiannis, who was awarded a £1.6m Future Leaders Fellowship in 2024, and Dr Giulia Sbaffi’s Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowship.

Dr Papadogiannis, Dr Sbaffi, and the Postdoctoral Fellows working on the project funded by the Future Leaders Fellowship – Dr Merve Alçayır, Dr Koonal Duggal, Dr Moisés Fernández-Cano, and Dr Mbali Pewa – have been bringing together insights from, and working closely with, HIV activists with diverse lived experiences, including differences in sexuality, gender, social class, race, age, caste, dis/ability and neurodivergence. Many of the activists are also researchers, practitioners and policymakers.

The team behind the toolkit highlight community-based HIV testing as one way of reaching people who may experience stigma in conventional healthcare settings. The first part of the toolkit, co-authored by Dr Papadogiannis with Black African HIV activists and researchers Rebecca Mbewe and Winnie Ssanyu-Sseruma, explores the history of voluntary counselling and testing, including the contributions of Black African activists who drew on experience and learning from sub-Saharan Africa. It also highlights the importance of understanding the diversity within communities rather than treating them as homogeneous.

The team will further develop the toolkit in the coming months, aiming to add more examples from South Africa, Italy, Spain, Argentina, Turkey and India.

Reshaping approaches

Dr Papadogiannis said: “The toolkit draws on the project’s work with HIV activists and their diverse lived experiences to help reshape approaches to HIV campaigning. Black African people, for example, should play a decisive role in HIV campaigns and outreach activities promoting timely HIV testing among Black African communities, and that involvement should be fairly remunerated.”

The toolkit urges campaign designers to consider transnational lives, community practices and perceptions of health from sub-Saharan Africa, diversity within communities, appropriate vocabulary, accessibility and the ethical use of technology.
The researchers also encourage those designing and delivering community HIV testing to consider questions including how testing can reach Black African people in provincial locations, how traditional healing and biomedicine might be respectfully combined, and how HIV campaigns can work with faith leaders while recognising diverse backgrounds.

The toolkit Making HIV campaigns more inclusive: Improving the lives of racially minoritised people, transgender people, and sex workers is available here.