Making it Count
Our framework from 1998-2012
The fourth edition of Making it Count is available!
What is Making it Count?
Making it Count describes our understanding of the epidemic, its causes and our rationale and justification for intervening. This includes stating what we think is the case with regard to men who have sex with men (MSM) and HIV and also what we believe to be common misconceptions about MSM and HIV.
The framework outlines our intended short, medium and long term actions and aspirations.
Making it Count is intended to increase the transparency of our interventions, their intentions, development, implementation and evaluation.
What's new in the fourth edition?
First published in 1998, Making it Count is the collaborative planning framework of the CHAPS Partnership, setting out the way in which we approach HIV prevention and education with gay men and bisexual men in England. The MiC framework was updated and expanded in 2000, 2003 and again in 2011. Since 2001 the Department of Health’s National Strategy for Sexual Health and HIV has recommended Making it Count as the strategic framework for planning HIV prevention for gay men, bisexual men and other men that have sex with men, at both national and local levels.
Making it Count has been totally rewritten and fully updated by Sigma Research and all the CHAPS Partners. The fourth edition recognises the range of choices facing men who have sex with men that impact on HIV incidence, and increases the focus on the motivational factors informing the decisions men make. It is a synthesis of an education and empowerment approach with one that employs values and social norms in order to promote the best sex with the least harm among gay and bisexual men.
Making it Count was commissioned by Terrence Higgins Trust as part of CHAPS, a national HIV prevention initiative funded by the Department of Health. It is written and published by Sigma Research.
Download your copy
Sector summary reports
As part of the CHAPS programme Sigma Research are also working with NAM to update a range of HIV prevention briefings previously known as Sector Summary Reports. Re-branded as Making it Count Briefing Sheets (MiC BS) these summaries are intended to provide a short overview of the evidence base on topics which are important in the context of Making it Count.
Briefing Sheets published to date include: the role of fear in HIV prevention campaigns; herpes; LGV; gonorrhoea, chlamydia and non-gonococcal urethritis (NGU); hepatitis C; and social marketing. Forthcoming briefings will address poppers; microbicides; PEP; and undiagnosed HIV infection.
You can find them all in the library.