LONDON, October 1, 2007  –  A new BBC survey suggests high levels of ignorance and complacency about HIV among 16 to 24-year-olds in the United Kingdom, and marks the start of a two month BBC HIV awareness campaign starting today and culminating on December 1 – United Nations World Aids Day – with a special episode of the popular hospital drama series, Casualty.

Eighty nine per cent of 16 to 24-year-olds rarely or never think about HIV when making decisions about their sex lives.

And nearly half (41%) of 16 to 24 year olds consider themselves to be at “no risk” of catching HIV.
 

The results come despite the fact that young heterosexuals (18-24s) are at increased risk of HIV and other STIs – with the number of new diagnoses having continued to increase in the last ten years. (source: Health Protection Agency).

The HIV awareness campaign will run across BBC outlets, launching with the two-part BBC Two documentary series, Stephen Fry: HIV And Me tomorrow (October 2) at 9pm – part two is a week later at the same time.

In his documentary, Stephen Fry takes a HIV test to demonstrate how quick (15 minutes) and easy it now can be to have the test. Despite this, 45% of 16 to 24s would be reluctant to go for an HIV test if they suspected that they had the disease.

Stephen explores why, despite the horrific figures – over 40 million worldwide and 70,000 in the UK now live with the virus – HIV/Aids has fallen off the radar.

The BBC survey, conducted by Essential Research, found that 77 per cent of 16 to 24-year-olds would not ask a new partner if they had HIV before sex.  Sixty eight per cent of 16 to 24-year-olds would not ask a new partner if they had an STI before sex.
 

The HIV awareness campaign has been developed by BBC Learning in partnership with sexual health charity Terrence Higgins Trust to address the high levels of complacency about HIV among 16 to 24-year-olds.

An essential part of the BBC’s campaign is a special interactive website, GI Jonny.

“Levels of ignorance about HIV are at an all time high among the age group most likely to catch a sexually transmitted infection,” said. Elizabeth McKay, project executive at BBC Learning.

“Young people told us they needed practical information about HIV that they could share with mates. GI Jonny is fun, always prepared for action, and fully armed with the facts about HIV."

The website will help people learn the essential facts about HIV while customising their own GI action figure.  They can then build an elite force to help raise awareness of the key facts by sending the character on to their friends through the campaign website or social networking sites.  GI Jonny was designed to appeal to young people and deliver information in a relevant and unique manner.
 

As well as the GI Jonny website, there will be viral videos produced by BBC Comedy and The Viral Factory on youth sites and blogs, a Facebook application, and GI Jonny events in nine towns and cities across England, Scotland and Wales, as well as events organised by the NUS at university and colleges.

“Too many young people are leaving school not knowing how to protect themselves from HIV and other STIs,” says Genevieve Clark, director of communications at Terrence Higgins Trust.

“HIV is preventable, incurable and fatal if untreated, so GI Jonny is spreading a vital message in a way that really appeals to young people.”

During the duration of the campaign, GI Jonny events will take place in: Brighton, Bristol, Oxford, Birmingham, Southend, Liverpool, Leeds, Cardiff, Glasgow.

A number of Student Unions will stage GI Jonny events in late November.

A total of 150,000 condoms, donated by Durex, carrying the GI Jonny message about HIV will be handed out to the target audience.

The campaign will be supported by programming across BBC television and radio channels: BBC One, BBC Two, Radio 1, 1Xtra, Radio 2, 6 Music, and Asian Network.

■  In the early Eighties, the government launched the “Don’t Die Of Ignorance” campaigns, one of the first nation-wide campaigns in the world.

Twenty years and 25 million deaths later, however, we are told that we are “losing the fight against AIDS” with infections rising – particularly amongst three groups: the young, black African communities, and heterosexuals – in fact the number of new infections amongst straight people now outweighs those in the gay world.