In a rather bizarre manner, the German men's magazine Vangardist, has intended to create awareness among the public and do away with the apprehensions surrounding HIV-AIDS. The magazine, headquartered in Vienna, has printed its entire May issue using the blood of HIV-positive people.

Vangardist, with a readership of over 100,000 a month, has the ability to change the way people approach HIV-AIDS. According to the World Health Organization, the last 10 years have seen an 80 percent increase in HIV cases. The chief reason for the increase is that people refrain from talking about HIV. The publication, through its 3000 copies, plans to take across the message loud and clear and do away with the present stigma the very mention of HIV faces.

The issue used blood taken from three HIV-positive people, between 26 and 45 years of age. According to Jason Romeyko, creative director of Saatchi and Saatchi, an attempt was made to have a representative sample. The blood was taken from a single mother who contracted the disease from her husband, a young gay man and an older straight man. All three donors were taken to the University of Innsbrook in Austria where their blood was pasteurized, to rid it from any possible strains of the virus, thus rendering it safe to be used as ink for printing the issue.

The magazine faced problems finding a printer for its issue, even though the safety of using the neutralized blood as ink was ensured. In fact, the HIV virus needs a host to thrive on. Therefore, when blood was removed from the human body, the virus died in just 30 minutes. This guaranteed that the magazine was safe for the readers as well.

When asked, Romeyko asserted that the purpose of bringing out such a controversial issue was to have people hold the "issue of HIV" in their hands.