HIV Awareness and Testing Campaign

In this 2017 campaign, organisers highlighted estimates that around half of people living with HIV in Poland were unaware of their status. The campaign used the metaphor of gambling to draw attention to sexual health risks, encouraging people to use free, anonymous HIV testing.

“Do you like taking risks? Check whether you’ve won.” The Institute for Patients’ Rights and Health Education used this provocative message to encourage HIV testing. Posters addressed women and men, drawing on the imagery of gambling to highlight the potential consequences of sexual health risks. The campaign also launched the website www.testnahiv.pl, offering information about HIV and support for people living with HIV or AIDS. The campaign launched across outdoor media, print and online channels in November 2017.

Rising infections in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The campaign highlighted UN concerns about increasing HIV infections in the region, challenging the misconception that HIV was a concern only in other parts of the world.

The campaign cited estimates of nearly 37 million people living with HIV worldwide and around 35,000 in Poland. It highlighted how stigma, fear and a lack of knowledge could discourage testing and leave people unaware of their status. These figures describe the context of the original 2017 campaign.

“Medical progress has changed the way we think about HIV. Although it can be life-threatening without treatment, it can now be managed as a long-term condition. Yet progress in diagnosis and treatment has not removed the social barriers. HIV and AIDS remain taboo, and a lack of knowledge can lead people to believe that HIV does not concern them. They may avoid testing and live for years without knowing their status,” says Father Arkadiusz Nowak, President of the Institute for Patients’ Rights and Health Education, who has worked for many years in HIV prevention and support for people affected by AIDS.

Sexual health and HIV prevention. Current WHO guidance explains that people living with HIV who take effective treatment and maintain an undetectable viral load do not transmit HIV to sexual partners. Condoms and other prevention options also reduce risk. Guidance: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/hiv-aids.

The campaign encouraged people in established relationships to discuss testing and sexual health openly. Being in a relationship does not, by itself, establish either partner’s HIV status.

Early diagnosis makes a difference. Effective antiretroviral treatment suppresses the virus, protects the immune system and enables people living with HIV to lead long, healthy lives. Prompt access to care is important.

Where and when to take the test. HIV tests are performed free of charge, without referral and anonymously, along with competent counseling at consultation and diagnostic centers (HCPs), which can be found, among others, on the campaign website www.testnahiv.pl

Editorial update, October 2026: HIV tests have different window periods; do not wait three months before seeking advice. A healthcare professional can advise when to test and whether repeat testing is needed. After a possible exposure within the past 72 hours, seek urgent medical advice about post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP). Current guidance: https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/testing/index.html and https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/prevention/pep.html.

The originator and organizer of the campaign „Do you like risk? Check if you won” is Institute for Patient Rights and Health Education. The agency responsible for the creation of the campaign is DEDADI, and media buying media house Media People.

The honorary patron of the campaign is National Aids Center and Chief Sanitary Inspectorate. The main partner of the campaign is Gilead Poland and the partners are GSK and Janssen. The media partner is The Point.