Media planning and buying lead for a groundbreaking HIV destigmatization campaign in Myanmar, commissioned by ICAP at Columbia University and supported by the CDC, reaching 13 million people across social media.
U=U (Undetectable equals Untransmittable) is an international public health initiative built on scientific evidence that people living with HIV who maintain an undetectable viral load cannot sexually transmit the virus. In Myanmar, HIV stigma remained a significant barrier to testing and treatment. ICAP at Columbia University, alongside the U.S. CDC and Myanmar's National AIDS Programme, commissioned a localized campaign to reach the people who most needed this message.
Media planning and buying lead at Nexlabs: paid media strategy, channel planning, audience targeting for PLHIV communities and support networks, budget allocation, and campaign execution.
This required a different orientation than commercial work. The goal was meaningful reach, not conversion optimization. Creative assets were developed in Myanmar language with culturally appropriate imagery, including animated explainer content that communicated the science of U=U without medical jargon.
Targeting had to balance reach with sensitivity. Audience segments were built to reach affected communities without creating privacy risks for individuals, developed in close coordination with the public health teams and aligned with ethical guidelines for health communication.
13 million people reached across social media in Myanmar. 3 million engagements. The campaign has been referenced in ICAP's documentation of the initiative as a meaningful contribution to HIV destigmatization in the country.
The metric that matters in public health media is not ROAS or CPL. It's whether the right message reached the right people in a way that was safe, respectful, and actionable. Reorienting around that changes how you make every decision in the campaign.