BY: The Institute for the Advancement of Minority Health | February 3, 2025
(Jackson, MS) February 2, 2026 — This February, the month of love, the Institute for the Advancement of Minority Health (IAMH) is launching an HIV public awareness campaign. Love Yourself Enough to Know encourages Black women to practice self-love by protecting their health through routine HIV testing, prevention education, and early connection to care.
Traditional Valentine’s gifts like flowers and chocolate don’t last, but the peace of mind from knowing your HIV status does. The Love Yourself Enough to Know campaign encourages women to make their health a priority by getting tested. This act of self-love protects them and those they care about.
Black women continue to bear a disproportionate burden of HIV in the United States. Although Black women represent less than 13% of the female population, national data show they accounted for 50% of all new HIV infections among women in 2022. Among Black women, 91% of new HIV infections were attributed to heterosexual contact, often involving partners whose HIV status was unknown.
Love Yourself Enough to Know also encourages awareness and use of PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis)—a daily medication that can reduce the risk of acquiring HIV by up to 99% when taken as prescribed. Despite its proven effectiveness, access to PrEP remains limited. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, only 8% of African Americans who could benefit from PrEP were prescribed the medication.
The Love Yourself Enough to Know campaign will run throughout February and includes:
- Electronic billboards to raise awareness in areas with elevated HIV rates,
- Social media posts to educate, empower, and promote HIV prevention,
- Media interviews to normalize HIV testing and reduce stigma, and
- Community outreach to distribute free HIV self-test kits, educational resources, and prevention services.
Follow IAMH on social media for campaign updates. Secure free HIV self-tests at minority-institute.org/hiv-prevention-and-stigma.
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The Institute for the Advancement of Minority Health was established in 2019 to reduce health disparities among disadvantaged and underserved minority populations in Mississippi through the development of collaborative partnerships with community stakeholders and the implementation of evidence-based public health interventions with a particular focus on health equity.