Magazine Cover Printed With HIV+ Blood to Combat Stigma

A men’s magazine out of Germany called Vangardist has printed the cover of its latest issue with ink infused with HIV-positive blood. The point of their decision is to combat the stigma associated with the disease.

“If you’re holding the ‘infected’ print edition in your hands right now, you’ll get into contact with HIV like never before … It will make you reflect on HIV and you will think differently afterward. Because now the issue is in your hands,” writes Vangardist publisher and CEO Julian Wiehl in a forward to the special edition, the front of which is emblazoned with the words “This magazine has been printed with the blood of HIV+ people.”

Canoe has more:

Vangardist printed 3,000 special edition copies with the blood donated by three HIV-positive people, but it assures readers that handling the magazine poses no risk of infection. …

“We believe that as a lifestyle magazine it is our responsibility to address the issues shaping society today,” publisher and CEO Julian Wiehl said in a press release.

“With 80% more confirmed cases of HIV being recorded in 2013 than 10 years previously, and an estimated 50% of HIV cases being detected late due to lack of testing caused by social stigma associated with the virus, this felt like a very relevant issue for us to focus on not just editorially but also from a broader communications standpoint,” Wiehl said.

The blood was donated by a 26-year-old gay man from Berlin, a recently diagnosed heterosexual man who wished to remain anonymous, and a 45-year-old mother who was infected 20 years ago by her then-husband who didn’t tell her he had HIV, CBS reported.

Pretty powerful message. Read the rest of Canoe’s piece here.