Praise for campaign to reduce syphilis rate in gay community
Posted November 19, 2013 12:19 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – A website for gay men is praising a new Vancouver Coastal Health poster campaign warning about the syphilis rate in the region.
Mark Robins with Gay Vancouver doesn’t feel the images of rainbow crosswalks or French bulldogs are offensive, but says they do push the envelope.
“You have to get people’s attention these days to take these issues seriously,” he tells us. “It’s a little provocative, but I think it’s also a little tongue in cheek and addresses the whole social media thing by saying what’s trending in Vancouver.”
“People that have got their knickers in a knot probably are not the target market for the campaign,” adds Robins.
“We need to get these messages out to the community, and I think that they do it in a way that will get it noticed, and hopefully people will get tested.”
The syphilis rate in Metro Vancouver has reached a 30-year high.
“Syphilis rates are at epidemic proportions in the Lower Mainland,” says Dr. Réka Gustafson, medical health officer, VCH. “In 2012, 371 cases were reported in BC, and most of them are gay and bisexual men. This is the highest level in 30 years.”
The new campaign aims at eliminating the disease.
