Federal health officials announced Monday that they will launch a national public education campaign in five cities -- including Oakland -- in an effort to reduce the high rate of HIV infection in young black men.

The Centers for Disease Control’s “Testing Makes Us Stronger” ads will begin running next month and will feature affirming images of young black men who have sex with men. 

Many young black gay men “haven’t necessarily seen themselves represented in other HIV-prevention efforts and other campaigns in the past,” said Richard Wolitski, deputy director of the CDC's Behavioral and Social Science Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention. “That’s why it’s critically important that we have a campaign like 'Testing Makes Us Stronger.'”

Speaking to reporters at the 2011 National HIV Prevention Conference, Wolitski explained that early testing leads to early diagnosis, which can slow the onset of AIDS and decrease the chances of future transmission. Existing efforts haven't done enough to help those who need it the most get tested, he said. 

The new campaign will use social media, online and print ads, posters and billboards. “Your HIV test result expires every time you have risky sex. Stay strong and informed,” reads the text on one sample ad. “Get tested.”

The nation’s overall HIV infection rate has remained steady, according to a recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but the rate for black men between the ages of 13 and 29 who have sex with other men has increased dramatically. Between 2006 and 2009, that group's HIV infection rate jumped 48 percent.

“These new analyses underscore the urgency of reaching young black men who have sex with men,” said Dr. Kevin Fenton, director of the CDC's National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention. “We cannot allow the health of a new generation of young, black gay and bisexual men to be lost to essentially preventable diseases.”

Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco have identified factors that put young black men who have sex with other men at higher risk of HIV. Those factors range from homophobia and racism to depression to higher rates of incarceration and lower levels of social support.

In their new study of more than 600 young black gay and bisexual men, the researchers found that more than 36 percent had engaged in unsafe sex practices in the preceding two months.

“The worse you felt about yourself as a gay man, the more likely you were to be having unprotected sex,” said Susan Kegeles, lead author of the study and co-director of UCSF’s Center for AIDS Prevention Studies.

Disclosing an HIV-positive status is “social suicide” for many young black men, according to David Williams, HIV prevention coordinator of the AIDS Project East Bay. 

“Attacking stigma is one of our greatest challenges,” he said. “It’s not that we don’t know condoms exist and are effective. But there’s something else at the core of the individual that we have to address.”

The Testing Makes Us Stronger campaign is part of the CDC’s Act Against AIDS initiative, which launched in 2009 and is expected to cost $45 million over five years. The ads will run in Atlanta, Baltimore, New York, Houston, and Oakland.