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 From the Executive Director
Welcome to a special edition of Optimist.
This week, the world’s attention has turned to Mexico City, where thousands have gathered at AIDS 2008, the XVII International AIDS Conference (IAC), to discuss the latest developments in HIV/AIDS research, prevention and care.
This year’s conference theme, "Universal Action Now," highlights the dangers of HIV-related stigma with a call for programs and policy that are grounded in the realities of an expanding epidemic and not dictated by discrimination or bias.
Yet men who have sex with men (MSM), who are at heightened risk for HIV infection around the globe, are still often left out of key global prevention and treatment initiatives. A recent report shows that, while rates of new HIV infections among MSM continue to rise, fewer than 1 in 20 MSM around the world has access to HIV prevention, treatment and care.
This past weekend, the Global Forum on MSM & HIV (MSMGF) organized a two-day pre-conference in Mexico City to highlight how the lack of research on HIV and MSM contributes to a dearth of HIV prevention, treatment and care resources targeting their unique needs. The event was produced by APLA, which serves as the Global Forum’s Secretariat.
Below, I’d like to share with you an article that appeared in Global Voice, the International AIDS Conference’s daily newspaper, recapping the pre-conference and spotlighting the urgent need to prioritize MSM in the global HIV/AIDS conversation.
For more information on MSMGF’s work, visit the Forum's Web site. And for more on APLA’s international work -- and ways to lend your support -- visit our Web site.
Craig E. Thompson
Executive Director
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Sex between men: the highest prevalence of HIV and the least amount of resources to prevent it
 Segregation has played an important role in the fact that, in certain countries, MSM, or 'men who have sex with men,' have been affected in greater numbers than in any other communities. However, generally speaking, studies regarding the characteristics of the epidemic among MSM communities are not given enough support or attention, which causes a problem that becomes two-fold. On the one hand, men having sex with men are being widely stigmatized as one of the communities most affected by HIV/AIDS. On the other hand, in many countries, this population is being frequently left out from support and research programs and projects.
The organizers of the pre-conference entitled Invisible Men: Gay Men and Other MSM in the Global HIV/AIDS Epidemic call attention to this situation. It has been stated that the risk for men who have sex with men to contract HIV is 19 times higher than for the rest of the population. In Malawi for example, the number of HIV infections among MSM is almost double than that of men who do not have sex with other men, as it has been shown in a study supported by both the US and Canada. Another investigation presented in this event, carried out in Ukraine, showed that the incidence of HIV in MSM communities is not geographically homogeneous: while in the capital of the country, Kiev, the prevalence rate is 4.4 percent, in Odesa, that figure has reached 23.2 percent.
This is how Peter Piot, UNAIDS Executive Director, drew attention to the imbalance that exists between the high prevalence rates of HIV infections and the scant amount of resources allocated to HIV control among MSM and homosexual communities. Dr. Piot insisted on the need for economic funds to fight homophobia, since homophobia is what facilitates the spreading of the virus.
David Wilson, representing the World Bank, was also present at the event. He illustrated the current situation of the pandemic, and stated the need to form strategic alliances in order to be able to contain the epidemic, especially among men who have sex with men.
Jim Pickett, from the International Rectal Microbicide Advocate (IRMA), in turn, expounded on the urgent need to promote the development of microbicides specifically designed for use in anal sex practises, which might be one of the most effective methods for preventing HIV transmission through anal sex. Given the histological characteristics of the anus and the rectum, risks of HIV transmission are much higher than those existing in vaginal sexual contact. According to the presenters, anal sex practices are widespread among the general population, making it strange that it is exclusively associated with male homosexual practices.
At the end of the conference, George Ayala, who is one of the main organizers and a member of the AIDS Project Los Angeles (APLA), considered that the most important facet of this pre-conference resides in strengthening relations between various groups from all over the world. Its main goal is the creation of collaborative networks which will make everyone's work more efficient and will improve the optimization of resources. However, it is not just a matter of research or social activism. It is more a matter of making this part of the population, which remains invisible in the eyes of many institutions, more evident to governments, organizations, and societies around the world. Dr. Ayala concluded that this event is an example of such an effort.
Reprinted courtesy of Global Voice: The Official Newspaper of the XVII International AIDS Conference.
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