Did you know that Boost is now available in the Google Play Store?

Search 'Boost community health worker' in the Play Store to download a fully offline version of the Boost app.

We’re hosting our first webinar! Asking the question 'How do we maximise the positive potential of digital communications in HIV and sexual health responses?'

Find out more and register.

We are really pleased to share our new 'Introduction to Avert' video. Find out who we are, what we do and why we do in just over 2 minutes.

We’ve just launched our new strategy, From knowledge to action!

Our 2021-24 strategy focuses on addressing the knowledge gaps among individuals, local educators and primary practitioners that are undermining progress towards global HIV targets and ending AIDS.

Great to see our Young Voices materials in action! Being used by Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation’s Community of African Youth Advisors (CAYA) to spark conversations with adolescents and youth around treatment literacy. Find out more and download CAYA's cartoon guide.

We’ve been working with CIDRZ (Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia) over the last year to develop and evaluate a new sexual health digital intervention for young people in Zambia.

We have been working with young people to understand their sexual health needs during the COVID-19 pandemic, and to co-create an intervention that answers those needs. Be in the Know is a story-led platform that encourages young people to think through dilemmas about sexual health that they or their peers may experience, and provides a variety of activities and information for young people to explore – including quizzes, top tips, FAQs and discussion starters. We are now ready to launch a large-scale evaluation of Be in the Know which will include around 2,000 participants. The evaluation will explore what effect using the intervention had on young people’s sexual health choices.

Some great feedback from one of our users on Boost!

Boost provides easy, up-to-date, visual and interactive materials on HIV, sexual health and COVID-19, for community health workers in Southern Africa. Check it out at boost.avert.org

Thanks to funding from The Mercury Phoenix Trust, our Young Voices materials are now available in Swahili!

As part of a project with Frontline AIDS and REPSSI, we have translated six of our Young Voices animations and the associated support materials (fact sheets, comics and facilitator guides) so they can be used by Frontline AIDS, REPSSI and their partners in Tanzania.

At the end of last year we launched two new Young Voices videos, about consent and using condoms in a relationship. So far the videos have reached over 680,000 young people in Southern Africa on Facebook and Instagram, and have been watched over 75,000 times (viewing 50% or more).

We’re really pleased to now be a certified member of the Patient Information Forum's PIF TICK scheme.  The PIF TICK shows an organisation has a professional and robust production process in place to provide high-quality health information.

It has now been over a year since we launched our learning app for community health workers, Boost. We’ve had some great feedback along the way, including these comments from Tendai and Loveness.

Did you know that later this year we will be launching a new chatbot to go alongside the Boost app? The BoostBot will be here to answer community health workers' questions about HIV, sexual health and COVID-19 via WhatsApp.

More on this soon!

“Avert.org is just so awesome educative and full of knowledge.”

In 2020 we provided HIV, sexual health and COVID-19 information to over 15 million people through our website, Avert.org. Thank you for your support!

We hope you have all had a happy and healthy start to the new year and were able to enjoy the festive season. We know last year was a very different and difficult time. But we were pleased to have been able to continue our work providing accurate and trusted information about HIV, sexual health and COVID-19.

Here’s to continuing our efforts in 2021!

We’re starting to feel festive here at Avert – even if it is virtually this year! We know 2020 has been a difficult year but we hope you all have a lovely festive season and a happy and healthy start to the new year. 

Our HIV basics video series is being translated into Arabic by the Tunisian Centre for Public Health and ATL MST SIDA Tunis. We’re really pleased to see our content available in another language so that more people can learn the facts about HIV!

You can see the first translated video here.

For this year's World AIDS Day we asked young people for their tips and advice on the best ways to have a happy and healthy sex life. From talking to your partner about what turns you on to getting advice about contraceptives and testing for HIV and STIs - check out our favourite tips here.

We've just launched two new Young Voices videos! Designed to get young people thinking and talking about consent and using condoms in relationships. Check them out on the links below.

Sexual consent: www.avert.org/young-voices-africa/do-you-always-have-say-yes-sex-your-partner

Condoms and relationships: www.avert.org/young-voices-africa/when-your-boyfriend-wants-stop-using-condoms

We’re proud that Avert is a new coalition member of GenEndIt – the movement empowering global youth to transform the world and be the generation to end AIDS.

Find out more and get involved here.