HIV Prevention

Scientific American special on HIV: MSM in the context of generalized epidemics

Started by Maria May on 30 Aug 2010

A series looking at recent scientific advances in HIV can be found on the Scientific American Website.

As a starting point for the series, Kaiser Family Foundation has a nice summary of all the articles (with links to the original articles) here: http://globalhealth.kff.org/Daily-Reports/2010/August/26/GH-082610-Scientific...

In particular, I was struck by the article on the need to step up efforts to engage men who have sex with men in HIV prevention efforts in generalized contexts, as this is a topic that I've not heard as much about. In fact, as PMTCT efforts are often a pillar in HIV prevention programs, it seems that men are more likely to go without HIV testing and may as a result begin treatment at a more advanced state. Certainly the events this summer in several countries, such as Uganda, Senegal, and Malawi around punishment for same sex sexual behavior indicate that the existence of great structural risk and barriers to openness about one's sexual choices.

Are there programs advocating for greater resources for targeted interventions for men, or specifically MSM, in sub-Saharan Africa? What do you see as the highest priority activities--taking on structural barriers (social and legal changes), or changes in service delivery?

Thanks.

Maria

Keywords: Addressing structural risk  Generalized epidemic  High-risk groups  HIV prevention  MSM  Sexual transmission  structural risk