Tapping into the Power of Influencers for Sexual Health

At the recent HIV Research for Prevention (HIVR4P) conference in Lima, Peru, Family Planning News Network (FPNN) Community Reporter Miguel Ángel López-López shared a thought-provoking insight from a poster presentation that highlighted a significant gap in sexual health outreach—the underutilization of influencers and social media creators.

The Social Media and Sexual Health (SMASH) campaign presented this standout poster entitled, “Empowering voices: leveraging social influencers to champion pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) among young Black and Latino men who have sex with men.”

The presentation attests that in the United States, young Black and Latino men who have sex with men (YBLMSM) are disproportionately diagnosed with HIV when compared with other groups in the country. This is due in part to stigma and medical mistrust.

As result, the SMASH campaign conducted a study that involved collaborating with influences within those demographics to produce and disseminate videos and social media content expressing personal experiences with PrEP with the goal of boosting awareness, knowledge, and uptake of the prevention method.

Conversations related to advocacy and relatability emerged within the comment sections of the videos. The reach of each influencer connected with a relatively wide audience, creating space for discussion, reflection, and further circulation of the content.

Miguel made note to emphasize the line from the presentation: “I think we are not working with influencers and social creators enough in terms of sexual health, and as we see here, it works.”

Influencers, especially those with strong connections to young and digitally-savvy audiences, have the potential to amplify health messages in ways traditional campaigns cannot. By discussing topics like HIV prevention or STI testing, influencers can normalize conversations and make sexual health more approachable.

Despite the success of this particular campaign, more can be done to leverage the platforms of content creators and others with notable followings for greater public health outcomes. As the digital landscape evolves, partnering with influencers continues to offer an important opportunity to reach wider, more diverse audiences with critical sexual health information.