Your Health is Your Power

This male-focused campaign is a multi-channel effort intended to promote the sexual health of African American men ages 18 to 30 in the United States using online, social media, and on-the-ground messaging.

The Health Is Power toolkit is designed for organizations to better promote sexual health among young African American men (ages 18-30). The toolkit is designed mainly for heterosexual men, but also includes imagery and messaging that can be used with gay and bisexual men.

The creative concepts and messaging used with Health is Power were developed through a number of activities including formative research (literature review, expert panel meeting, and research with the target audience). A national survey done with more than 500 African American adults found the Health is Power concept connected strongly with heterosexual, gay, and bisexual men.

The objective of Health is Power is to promote positive sexual health behaviors through a multi-phased campaign with messaging around 1) increased condom use; 2) healthy relationships; 3) sexually transmitted disease prevention; and 4) open partner communication. Each phase of the campaign is designed to run between 2-4 week (although organizations should use the materials in a manner that best fits their needs).

Toolkit materials you can download include:

  • Customizable posters and postcards
  • Sample social media content, including Facebook posts, Tweets, images, cover images, and profile image
  • Web banners
  • Sample “Drop-in” website articles

The Increasing Importance of Social Media
According to the Pew Research Center (2014, 2015), African American adults are active on social media, with 67% of them on Facebook, 38% on Instagram, 28% on LinkedIn and 27% on Twitter. Youth (ages 18-29 years) are especially avid consumers of social media, with 87% on Facebook, 53% on Instagram, 37% on Twitter and 23% on LinkedIn.

Your agency can customize these materials with your own logo and by adding links to relevant information, resources, services or events your organization offers. We’re proud to support your good work in getting out the word that Health is Power!

Simply click here and fill in your organization name and email address to get instant access to the complete toolkit including customizable postcards, posters and banners.

The target audience of young African-American men is large and diverse, at different stages in their lives, and motivated by different wants and values. These campaign objectives are intended to appeal to a variety of men (primarily men who have sex with women) through different messages, social media content, and other online content.

Health is power poster

Additional Campaigns for Organizations

The One-Two Punch: Knocking Out HIV and Syphilis Co-infection

This initiative is designed to educate North Carolinians, especially those in the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill and surrounding areas, about the state’s higher risk for HIV and syphilis and the need to talk with healthcare professionals about testing for both infections.

Yes Means Test

The approach of YES Means TEST is to make the STD conversation NBD (or no big deal) in a way that is authentic and engaging to teens and young adults. Using attention-grabbing statistics as conversation starters, the campaign educates young people on compelling reasons to get tested and drives them to take action.