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Josh Robbins
One of the Top Gay Apps Available, Hornet, Promotes HIV Awareness to 4 Million Users
This evening a press release hit my email and I couldn’t ignore it. It reads: “Hornet announces significant enhancements to its “Know Your Status” feature. These include giving users the options to disclose if they are taking PrEP HIV prevention medication or if they are positive and an undetectable viral load.”
And check this out, it’s very cool!
Hornet is launching a community specifically for those living with HIV to meet others that are also HIV-positive.
” The goal is to meaningfully raise the awareness and education of HIV to those who need it most: the gay men around the world meeting through the app.”
According to the release: HIV infections are rising among gay men, especially younger ones. In the US, 20% of gay and bisexual men are estimated to be living with HIV, yet a recent study found 44% of the men under the age of 35 said they had never been tested for HIV. [Source]
Hornet CEO, Sean Howell said, “We are committed to looking for ways to eliminate stigma about this disease and to share the latest health facts on preventing HIV and empowering those living with HIV better options for self-expression. With our global reach, we can really make a difference.”
The press release continues: “First of the changes are two new options that now appear in the Know Your Status (KYS) section of members’ profiles:
READ: 4 WAYS GAY APPS HAVE US TALKING ABOUT OUR HIV STATUS
“Positive, Undetectable”. This option is for those who are HIV Positive, on successful Antiretroviral Therapy, and when tested for viral load register undetectable. Studies have shown that this type of treatment can reduce the likelihood of transmitting the virus to their HIV Negative partners by as much as 96%.
The second new option is “Negative, on PrEP”. A recent survey of gay men in the US found that only 1 in 4 knew about the existence of PrEP, yet it can be greater than 90% effective at preventing HIV infection.”
Howell continued, “In planning all of these changes we were shocked when we surveyed a sample of our members about their lack of understanding of either of these options. In fact, nearly all guys told us they had to search online to find out what these meant before they could answer our questions. Having done so, a clear majority felt these new options were important and should be added to the app.”
The third big piece of news from the app is the translation of HIV/AIDS information in more than 26 languages around the country! Besides the potential for coverage, the information specifically provided educates users on the virus. imstilljosh.com highly applauds this implementation!
Interested in ONLY other guys living with HIV? Hornet allows it!
According to the app maker: The fourth new change is the introduction of a much-requested feature to help HIV Positive guys find each other more easily on Hornet. Those members can now filter for other HIV Positive guys. If your status is positive you will now see a filter in the app to show you other guys who are also positive. This filter is only shown to our members who have set one of the two Positive options in the KYS menu.
As an HIV blogger and patient advocate, I can’t share how proud I am of this interest and specific inclusion of the information we now know about HIV and how it is and is not transmitted! Congratulations to Hornet and a big pat on the back from imstilljosh.com!
“All of these improvements are in addition to the existing features which include reminders to get tested every 6 months, and the zip code lookup for finding an HIV test center.”
In a nutshell: This is badass!
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Publisher note: some of this content above was published directly from a press release from the app, Hornet, in lieu of providing the news in the fastest possible way for you!
