SXSW: Constructive+1 is greater than only a social media app

SXSW's Artistic Industries Expo has supplied up some fascinating and WTF tech this 12 months. Nonetheless, for us, one of the crucial notable on the ground was Constructive+1.

The UK-based social media app, based by Christian Mercer-Corridor, is a web-based social networking platform that gives sanctuary for folks affected by HIV. Constructive+1 supplies a mix of connection, training, and actual help that goes past the display screen.

Launched in November 2023, the app remains to be in its early days. At simply over 5,000 customers, the platform goals to carry collectively people residing with HIV, their family members and professionals working within the discipline, in keeping with head of PR Lyle McAdam. Mercer-Corridor thus goals to create a “vibrant and numerous neighborhood” based mostly on shared understanding.

The app – which took eight years to create – is the primary of its type for folks affected by HIV. What makes it distinctive from different apps The HIV neighborhood is that Constructive+1 is a useful resource middle with connectivity to social networking. In response to McAdam, who I spoke to at SXSW, it's a spot the place folks residing with HIV and their supporters can meet, share data, discover essential sources, and construct actual relationships with these residing with HIV. What they’re going by way of.

Schooling performs a significant position within the HIV response. In response to the KFF (previously the Kaiser Household Basis), “Roughly 39 million individuals are at the moment residing with HIV, and tens of millions have died from AIDS-related causes for the reason that starting of the epidemic.” Nonetheless, regardless of current medical advances which have made residing with HIV doable, there may be nonetheless a big stigma surrounding the illness, its dangers, and the way HIV is unfold.

Constructive+1 solves this downside by offering a ton of sources. From professional articles to private narratives of resilience, the platform ensures that data and empowerment go hand in hand. Moreover, the staff at Constructive+1 is championed by a community of charity companions together with the San Francisco AIDS Basis, AIDS United, AHF Pharmacy, AIDS for AIDS Nevada (AFN), and the HIV/AIDS coverage staff on the White Home. ,

As mentioned earlier, the app launched just lately, however it’s now accessible on the App Retailer and Google Play Retailer. The app is on the market globally within the US, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, and the UK.