The Campaign is designed to provide material for national and local organisations to create their own campaign based on Men Make a Difference but responding to local priorities.

Key messages of the campaign include:

The most effective ways of preventing sexual transmission of HIV are:

• Abstinence
• Practicing non-penetrative sex
• Remaining faithful when neither person is HIV infected
• Always using condoms during sexual intercourse.
• Used correctly and consistently, condoms can prevent HIV infection and save lives.
• Condoms are currently the only available means of preventing the sexual transmission of HIV and other STDs.
• Condoms exist for both men and women.
• Just because a condom¹s price is low or it is given away for free does not necessarily mean it is of lower quality than a condom sold in a pharmacy, shop or market. Low-cost, socially marketed or freely distributed condomsmay also be of high quality.
• Condoms should never be reused or used after the expiration date on the package.

HIV/AIDS, gender, rights.

All over the world, women find themselves at special risk of HIV infection because of their lack of power to determine where, when and how sex takes place. What is less recognized, however, is that the cultural beliefs and expectations that make this the case also heighten men's own vulnerability. HIV infections and AIDS deaths in men outnumber those in women on every continent except sub-Saharan Africa. Young men are more at risk than older ones: about one in four people with HIV is a young man under the age of 25. Part of the effort to curb the AIDS epidemic must include challenging harmful concepts of masculinity and changing many commonly-held attitudes and behaviours, including the way men view risk and how boys are socialized to become men.