Charlie Sheen's announcement really helped HIV awareness, study shows


Charlie Sheen's November announcement that he is HIV-positive may be helping people save lives by prompting them to research prevention, a JAMA International Medicine study published Monday suggests.
The researchers found that media coverage of HIV the day Sheen made his Today announcement ranked in the top 1 percent of coverage of the last seven years. They also saw a sharp spike in the number of Google searches pertaining to HIV in the weeks after his disclosure. Many of the searches pertained to prevention methods, including terms like "condoms" and "HIV testing."
"Sheen's disclosure is the most significant domestic HIV-prevention event in the last decade, even though it was unplanned and was not framed as a public-health event," lead study author Dr. John W. Ayers told New York.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
There's precedent for the so-called Sheen effect. Katie Couric's live colonoscopy screening prompted an increase in screenings and awareness of colon cancer, and Angelina Jolie's double mastectomy had a similar effect on breast cancer awareness.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Julie Kliegman is a freelance writer based in New York. Her work has appeared in BuzzFeed, Vox, Mental Floss, Paste, the Tampa Bay Times and PolitiFact. Her cats can do somersaults.
-
Book reviews: 'Melting Point: Family, Memory, and the Search for a Promised Land' and 'No More Tears: The Dark Secrets of Johnson & Johnson'
Feature A promised land in Texas and the takedown of a healthcare giant
-
Silicon Valley's military ambitions
Feature Tech companies are replacing military contractors with AI, drones and battlefield systems
-
Deportations: Miller's threat to the courts
Feature The Trump administration is considering suspending habeas corpus to speed up deportations without due process
-
Starving Gazans overrun US-backed food aid hub
speed read Israeli troops fired warning shots at the Palestinians
-
Israel's Western allies pull back amid Gaza escalation
speed read Britain and the EU are reconsidering allegiance with Israel as the Gaza siege continues
-
Trump drops ceasefire demand after Putin call
speed read Following a phone call with Russia's president, Trump backed off an earlier demand that Putin agree to an immediate ceasefire with Ukraine
-
Pro-EU centrist beats Trump acolyte in Romania vote
speed read The mayor of Bucharest, Nicusor Dan, defeated hard-right nationalist George Simion in the race for Romania's presidency
-
Kurdish PKK militia to disband for Turkey talks
speed read The Kurdistan Workers' Party will disarm after four decades of armed conflict with Turkey, putting an end to 'one of the longest insurgencies in the Middle East'
-
US, China agree to lower tariffs for 90 days
speed read US tariffs will fall to 30% from 145%, while China will cut its tax on US imports to 10% from 125%
-
India strikes Pakistan as tensions mount in Kashmir
speed read Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called it an 'act of war'
-
Israel approves plan to take over Gaza indefinitely
speed read Benjamin Netanyahu says the country is 'on the eve of a forceful entry'