Feature story

Move it! AIDS campaign launched to rally support for the High Level Meeting on AIDS in June

16 May 2011

Five-year-old Sophia on her Move it! decorated bike during the launch event of the campaign outside the UN in Geneva.
Credit: UNAIDS

HIV activists, bike enthusiasts, and community members gathered in front of the United Nations in Geneva on 13 May, to launch the television and social media campaign Move it! The campaign aims to create a movement of support for a successful outcome at the United Nations General Assembly High Level Meeting on AIDS in New York from 8-10 June 2011.

Amid HIV bike decorations and music, a more serious matter drew people together on the square. While more than six million people are now accessing treatment in low and middle income countries, and people around the world are adopting safer sexual practices, gains are fragile. There are still about nine million people waiting for treatment, and 2.6 million people were newly infected with HIV in 2009.

The High Level Meeting on AIDS is an opportunity to shift gears in the AIDS response. To raise awareness in the lead up to the High Level Meeting, we are launching the Move it! campaign

Tim Martineau, UNAIDS Director, Programme Effectiveness and Country Support Department.

“The High Level Meeting on AIDS is an opportunity to shift gears in the AIDS response. To raise awareness in the lead up to the High Level Meeting, we are launching the Move it! campaign,” said Mr Tim Martineau, UNAIDS Director, Programme Effectiveness and Country Support Department. Without public expectations, we cannot be sure of a successful outcome. Social Media offers an excellent channel to rally such support,” he added.

The campaign will run on social networks from the launch event in Geneva, during three weeks in the lead up to the High Level Meeting on AIDS. People around the world can creatively decorate their bikes with AIDS awareness materials and share photos of their creations on the UNAIDS Facebook page. UNAIDS fans on Facebook will be able to vote for the best bike in early June.

Move it! uses the bike as a vehicle to raise awareness about HIV, with the spinning wheel symbolizing the movement and force of the AIDS response. Anyone can participate and take awareness messages to the streets:

“I like the way the red ribbons go round and around on my wheels,” said five-year-old Sophia decorating her bike.  

The campaign will culminate on 5 June in New York City, ahead of the opening of the High Level Meeting. A campaign video has been developed that will be aired across Africa, and will also be available on UNAIDS YouTube channel.

To find out how to get involved visit www.facebook.com/UNAIDS or join the conversation on Twitter