Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen unit is tapping the power of storytelling in its new four-part "HIV Heroes" series, created with LGBTQ+-owned media company equalpride.
Ciara “CiCi” Covin was just 20 and a college student in 2008 when she learned she was HIV-positive. Today, the mother of two has a leading role in a nonprofit that advocates for women living with HIV.
Praphan Phanuphak, M.D., diagnosed the first three HIV cases in Thailand in 1985 and has devoted his life to HIV prevention and treatment research as well as fighting against discrimination suffered by people with the disease.
Catherine Kibirige, M.D., saw HIV ravage her family’s homeland in Uganda, and the experience inspired her to pursue a career in science. The London-based scientist has developed an HIV test that eliminates the need for DNA extraction and “cold chain” delivery, making it more accessible to remote communities.
Janssen is sharing their stories, and the stories of seven other HIV advocates, in its new four-part "HIV Heroes" series created with equalpride.
The company, a major player in the HIV treatment space with a host of treatments for the disease, initiated the project to show the breadth and diversity of inspiring HIV advocacy work taking place around the globe and to send a message of hope for the future, said Brian Woodfall, M.D., Janssen’s global head of development for infectious diseases.
The heroes hail from different corners of the world, but they're waging similar battles and share the same resilience in fighting the spread of the disease and the stigma that often accompanies it, Woodfall explained.
“These leaders are clearly people who have been faced with incredible adversity in their local communities,” he added. Many are also living with HIV.
As the program manager at Brooklyn, New York-based The Well Project, Covin, for example, works to combat prejudices about women with HIV, a mission that comes from her own painful experiences as a survivor. In the magazine profile, she recalls people asking her how she got pregnant. “Am I not supposed to have sex, am I not supposed to have good sex?” she asks in the piece.
So one of her goals—and a goal of the "HIV Heroes" series—is raising awareness about the Undetectable=Untransmittable (U=U) movement. U=U means that people with HIV who have an undetectable viral load cannot transmit the virus to others, and J&J believes raising awareness can help eliminate some of the fear of transmission that drives stigma against people with HIV.
“My [kids are] negative. I’m still undetectable. Life is good,” Covin says in the article.
The company is promoting the stories in online videos, on social media and in profiles published in equalpride’s HIV Plus Magazine as well as at the drugmaker’s booth at the international AIDS 2022 conference in Montreal, which wrapped up on Tuesday.
Other heroes spotlighted in the first two episodes of the series include Aan Rianto, founder of Jaringan Equals Indonesia; Mandisa Nikita Dukashe, managing director of the HIV Survivors and Partners Network and co-founder of the U=U Africa Coalition; and Robert Quon, M.D., a California doctor who’s completed 23 of the last 24 AIDS/LifeCycle bike rides.
The company will introduce the remaining heroes in episodes three and four later this month.
J&J markets several HIV treatments including its recently approved Cabenuva, a long-acting HIV treatment developed with ViiV Healthcare, which replaces a daily pill regimen with a monthly injection. It has also been working on a potential HIV vaccine, though this recently hit a barrier in clinical testing.