--- title: How Ciara Became an Advocate for HIV Prevention description: The Grammy winner is repurposing her hit song for public health. canonical: https://time.com/article/2026/04/09/-ciara-advocate-hiv-prevention/ author: Alice Park article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2026-04-09T19:58:54.690Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-13T06:52:16.859Z article:section: Health og:title: How Ciara Became an Advocate for HIV Prevention og:description: The Grammy winner is repurposing her hit song for public health. og:url: https://time.com/article/2026/04/09/-ciara-advocate-hiv-prevention/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte7366531aaf9e1aa/69d9141f47096d4926acb274/GettyImages-2266912744.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3205 og:image:height: 1803 og:image:alt: Ciara og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How Ciara Became an Advocate for HIV Prevention twitter:description: The Grammy winner is repurposing her hit song for public health. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte7366531aaf9e1aa/69d9141f47096d4926acb274/GettyImages-2266912744.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How Ciara Became an Advocate for HIV Prevention > Sponsored content. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's weekday health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free weekday newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=37937dc3-7a85-4a0f-9cac-b544feca21dc&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Ciara on lending her song "1, 2 Step" to promote HIV prevention [Watch (HLS stream): Ciara on lending her song "1, 2 Step" to promote HIV prevention](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/CEQFQyu6.m3u8) (1:54)  _Published 2026-03-31. Singer-songwriter Ciara partnered with Gilead Sciences to launch the "One2PrEP" campaign, promoting HIV prevention and a long-acting PrEP shot._  by [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent Apr 9, 2026 7:58 PM UTC  by [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent Apr 9, 2026 7:58 PM UTC "1, 2 Step" is an early 2000s earworm—one that Grammy-award winner [Ciara](https://time.com/3855335/ciara-interview-jackie-bmf/) feels protective of, more than 20 years later. "I've never lent that song to anything," she says. "I've been very particular about that sample being used." But when [Gilead](https://time.com/collections/time100-companies-2025/7289609/gilead/), the makers of the [HIV-prevention medicine called PrEP](https://time.com/5604357/uspstf-prep-hiv-recommendation/), approached Ciara to explore licensing the song to raise awareness for PrEP—short for pre-exposure prophylaxis—the singer-songwriter says she didn’t hesitate. “I thought, ‘This is such an amazing opportunity, where you get to see the power of music coming together with the power of medicine...and ultimately being able to impact someone’s life,” she says. Ciara licensed the rights to her song to Gilead, returning to the studio to re-record the lyrics for their "One2PrEP" campaign to raise awareness about HIV prevention. Not only is there a highly effective daily pill that people at risk for HIV can take to protect themselves from infection, but as of June 2025, there's also a [new option for people to get a PrEP injection](https://time.com/7295343/fda-hiv-shot-lenacapavir-yeztugo/) just twice a year. The shots reduce the risk of HIV by 96% to 100%, depending on the circumstances of exposure, and offer an appealing option for those who don't want to take a pill every day. Ciara sees music as a unique way to help spread public-health messages to more people, “no matter your profession or part of the world you’re in. The idea is to remove the stigma surrounding these types of conversations. And my greatest hope is that you’re talking about it, you’re curious about it, and you think, ‘This could actually help protect me in a situation or relationship I’m having, and maybe I should take the 1, 2-step to get my One2PrEP, so I can be prepared.’” Despite tremendous advancements in preventive medications, people in the U.S. and worldwide continue to get HIV, in part because of the perception that HIV has been brought under control. Ciara remembers the days when HIV was more of a top-of-mind issue, and raising awareness about preventing infection—with safe sex, clean needles, and medications—was a public-health priority. But the urgency and attention surrounding HIV waned as the public became complacent about the disease. “Those conversations just kind of fell more to the background or to the wayside,” she says. “But the reality is that this disease is still rolling strong, and there is so much opportunity for people to protect themselves. So whenever there’s an opportunity for me to impact someone’s life and essentially help save lives, I’m going to be the first in line to do it, because I feel an obligation to do that with my platform.” Cutting down on new HIV infections with PrEP would mean less virus circulating—so the ultimate goal of such prevention strategies is to help finally control, or even end, the HIV/AIDS epidemic. “I’m very optimistic,” says Ciara about that potential. "The PrEP shots alone are groundbreaking…and just knowing that there are these types of things in the universe that didn’t exist before encourages me to be optimistic for what more developments could come in, hopefully, the near future.” ## Transcript The idea of taking my music, you know, my song one two step, which I've never lent that song to anything. See you on Tuesday. I've been very particular about that sample being used, let alone me going in the studio to rerecord a part of my song to make it fit the campaign. That's one, two, three. I just thought, you know, this is such an amazing opportunity to. Whereas you get to see the power of music, you know, coming together with the power of medicine, essentially, but ultimately being able to impact someone's life. There was a nostalgic feeling with this campaign, because I remember back in the days, the conversation was really big surrounding HIV and Aids. The awareness level was really high. And then I think over time it kind of subsided a little bit. And those conversations just kind of fell more so to the background or to the wayside. But the reality is, is that this disease is still rolling strong and there's so much opportunity for people to, you know, protect themselves. I'm very optimistic that who knows what, you know, more amazingness will be created in this world. Talk about the prep shots alone. It's like groundbreaking. We're talking about game changing science. Whenever there's an opportunity for me to impact someone's life and essentially help save a life. I'm going to be first in line to do it because I feel an obligation to do that with my platform. 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