Just Say It! HIV Stigma Campaign Surpasses 2 Million Views
Breaking the Silence: Just Say It! HIV Stigma Campaign Surpasses 2 Million Views
A new national campaign is sparking millions of conversations about HIV — and challenging Canadians to rethink what they know.
Just Say It!, a national HIV stigma reduction campaign from The Positive Effect, a stigma reduction initiative from REACH Nexus at St. Michael’s Hospital’s MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions, has now surpassed 2 million views across social media.
The campaign brings honest, sometimes unexpected conversations about HIV into the spaces where people are already spending their time online. Its goal is simple: start talking, challenge misconceptions and replace outdated ideas about HIV with accurate information.
At the heart of Just Say It! are candid, unscripted conversations between people living with HIV, HIV advocates and mainstream influencers whose audiences extend far beyond the HIV community.
Using a simple card game as the starting point, participants dive into conversations about HIV, stigma, disclosure, relationships, sex and the myths that continue to shape how people understand HIV.
The goal is to reach people who might never seek out HIV information—and who might otherwise scroll straight past traditional HIV content. What makes JSI different is that we’re bringing HIV into the spaces they already spend time in, using people, personalities and conversations they genuinely want to watch. By meeting audiences where they are, JSI makes it easier to start conversations, challenge misconceptions and see HIV in a new way.
For many Canadians, understanding of HIV is still influenced by images, messages and fears from the 1980s and 1990s—despite enormous advances in HIV prevention, testing and treatment.
“Many of the people we most need to reach are getting their HIV information from outdated conversations, social media myths, and misinformation—not trusted sources,” said James Watson, manager of peer and stigma initiatives at REACH Nexus.
“When accurate information doesn’t reach people, stigma fills the space. This campaign is working to change that.”
The first video in the web series brings together HIV advocate and educator Tara Jewal and Jamie Pandit, a Bangladeshi-Canadian trans woman, for an open conversation about HIV, identity and stigma.
As they talk, they explore how bias continues to shape the lives of people living with HIV—and discover some surprising things along the way.
“Just say it. What is the absolute worst comment? And I'm sure you have lots you have heard about yourself and HIV,” said Jamie
“I think it was a few people are like, you're never gonna have sex again. I was like I never thought of that. But yeah, it's the never going to have sex or that, you know what? Women with HIV shouldn't have children,” said Tara.
That openness is central to the campaign. Rather than relying on lectures or statistics alone, Just Say It! creates space for real people to ask questions, challenge assumptions and talk about HIV in ways that feel relatable and human.
Surpassing 2 million views demonstrates the power of meeting people where they are—and shows there is an appetite for more honest conversations about HIV.
Because stigma thrives in silence.
Just Say It! is creating a space to ask the questions, have the conversations and, ultimately, change the way Canadians think about HIV.
