Our Destiny Haz Arrived: a national HIV prevention and testing campaign for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander gay men and sistergirls

HIV Australia | Vol. 11 No. 3 | October 2013

Among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, gay men, sistergirls and transgender people remain at highest risk of acquiring HIV.

There is an ongoing need to regularly provide these communities with culturally appropriate information on HIV and sexually transmissible infection (STI) prevention and treatment, care and support.

The Anwernekenhe National HIV Alliance (ANA) in partnership with the Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations (AFAO) is in the process of developing a multi-year campaign entitled Our Destiny, a national Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander HIV prevention, testing and treatment campaign.

This poster (pictured above) is the first resource associated with the larger campaign roll-out. Destiny Haz Arrived is an Aboriginal community drag celebrity who is popular among community members, and who has appeared at a range of community sporting and social events in Queensland and Northern NSW over a number of years.

Destiny Haz Arrived is a uniquely home grown Aboriginal superhero-type character, and utilises the superhero persona as part of her performances and outreach appearances.

Superheros are an archetype that has proved very successful in engaging Australian Indigenous communities in relation to sexual health information and behaviour change over the last 20 years.

The primary target audiences for the resource are:

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander gay men and other men who have sex with men
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander sistergirls and transgender people.

The secondary target audiences for this resource are:

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 15 to 30
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who inject drugs
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with HIV

The aims and objectives of the campaign are:

• to enhance awareness of HIV and STIs among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations, in particular, among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander gay men and sistergirls
• to encourage regular use of condoms among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations, in particular, among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander gay men and sistergirls
• to highlight the importance and encourage the use of clean injecting equipment among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who inject drugs
• to promote regular HIV and sexual health testing among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations, especially among gay men and sistergirls.