That AIDS doesn't feature highly on people's agendas anymore is a well-known fact -resulting in more and more HIV infections, as the correct information about HIV prevention isn't getting out to the general public much anymore.
I'm well aware of the fact that most people don't know enough about the issue (and frankly, they don't seem to care either), so I wasn't really surprised when I read in a Flemish newspaper today that 6 out of 10 Belgians have no idea how they can 'get AIDS' (the correct wording of course should be how they can 'get HIV'): many people think you can get infected by kissing somebody, or by being bitten by a mosquito.
Compared to a similar study in 2008, fewer people in Belgium know about HIV/AIDS today than 7 years ago and Belgium still counts 3 new HIV infections per day, which is a lot for a small country where a very well funded sexual health organization and a national HIV Plan are supposed to get the word out to anybody who cares to listen- and preferably to all others as well!
At Designers against AIDS we'll keep getting the word about HIV prevention out to young people in Belgium and everywhere else, using the combined powers of pop culture and social media.
And to be very clear: we're only funded by money from commercial partnerships with fashion companies and don't spend one cent of public money. I wonder how those publicly funded organizations explain the declining knowledge of their target audiences about sexual health to their funders- surely they should be made accountable for the work they do (or rather, don't do), using tax payers money?