HIV Prevention
Project ACTION
Launched in 1992 in Portland , Oregon , Project ACTION was the first teen-focused condom social marketing project in the U.S and was a cutting edge sexual risk reduction project. Project ACTION targeted sexually active youth between the ages of 12 and 21 at high-risk for HIV infection. The campaign sought to encourage and motivate safer sexual behavior among at risk youth and supply them with the means to practice safer sex by placing condom vending machines in youth-oriented businesses throughout the city.
The Project ACTION campaign consisted of four integrated components:
- community mobilization;
- a motivational media campaign;
- a condom accessibility program; and
- active involvement of youth at risk in peer education and outreach activities.
By the end of the two-year campaign we had: made over 100 community presentations; carried out an 18 month motivational media campaign; developed three television public service announcements; secured 2,800 of free air time for the PSA campaign and generated nearly 170 minutes of positive television and radio news coverage; installed 240 condom vending machines in teen-identified locations; recruited and trained 45 peer educators and 600 volunteers, who in turn reached over 3,200 Portland teens.
Behavioral Impact
Key findings of the impact evaluation revealed that Project ACTION effectively reached its target populations and was associated with an increase in reported consistent use of condoms with new/casual partners and a decrease in reported sexual activity among the target population during implementation.
The successes of Project ACTION led to replication of the model in Seattle and San Jose. Other communities including Manchester, England and La Paz, Bolivia, have integrated elements of the project into their own sexual risk reduction programs.
