The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #152273   Message #3562829
Posted By: GUEST,Ed T
30-Sep-13 - 10:25 AM
Thread Name: BS: Why I am gone
Subject: RE: BS: Why I am gone
Suggestions from the 2013 UNAIDS Global report on HIV infections:

""National commitments to respond to the HIV epidemic among men who have sex with men lag behind those for other key populations. Where data are collected, men who have sex with men typically share a disproportionate burden of HIV infection.

In many countries, data on HIV prevalence among men who have sex with men do not exist. Countries need to undertake more concerted efforts to measure the extent of the epidemic among men who have sex with men while building comprehensive services that remove barriers to access. Stigma, discrimination and oppressive legal environments in many settings discourage men who have sex with men from seeking HIV testing and appropriate, high-quality prevention, care and treatment.

National programmes should endeavour to remove legal obstacles to
practising homosexuality, increase sensitivity to the health needs of men who have sex with men, improve access to health services and build programmes to intensify HIV preventive behaviours in this population through improved access to condoms and lubricants and by creating a cultural norm of safer sex. Programmes should also consider using STI services targeted to men as a gateway to improve HIV prevention, treatment and care for men who have sex with men.
At the same time, countries should seize the HIV prevention potential of antiretroviral therapy by accelerating scale-up of HIV treatment and taking steps to implement the 2013 WHO antiretroviral guidelines.

Major resources should be directed towards critical enablers and development synergies that reduce vulnerability and enhance the effectiveness, efficiency and reach of HIV prevention efforts. Such approaches should include legal reform, stigma reduction, legal services, rights literacy, sensitization of police and training of health care workers. Among the many populations who could benefit from critical enablers and development synergies, such funding is notably important for sex workers, men who have sex with men and other marginalized groups at high risk of HIV.""