Time to take care: fighting HIV with health promotion in Edinburgh, 1983-1996.

Johnstone, Phoebe; Williams, Louise; Demetriades, Andreas K

During the 1980s and 1990s, Edinburgh and the Lothians suffered significantly high rates of HIV infections, considered to be the result of a high proportion of intravenous drug users sharing injecting equipment. This young, sexually active cohort had the potential to pose a threat to the wider population via heterosexual spread, and hence measures were required to prevent, where possible, a second wave of the epidemic. A coalition of health professionals, local authority groups and voluntary organisations consequently acted by producing a series of health promotional campaigns, such as the 'Take Care' campaign, in order to promote healthy and safe sexual practice and to educate the community about the risks of HIV and AIDS. Many of the strategies utilised by Lothian public bodies were pioneering, using distinctive imagery and novel marketing techniques. Despite aiming these campaigns at the broader community however, campaigns spearheaded by health providers and local government often excluded certain high-risk populations, such as drug users and gay men, and subsequently these demographic groups had to turn to other services (in voluntary, non-governmental sectors) for health education and promotion.