To assess the extent of global progress on HIV/AIDS among Men who have Sex with Men (MSM), amfAR reviewed 5 HIV indicators relevant to MSM for 128 UNGASS country progress reports for Latin America, the Caribbean, Eastern Europe, Asia and the Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa.

HIV prevalence amongst MSM

Countries reporting on MSM

Percentage of MSM living with HIV

Percentage of MSM who have used a condom
the last time they had sex

Percentage of MSM who have taken an
HIV test during the last year

Percentage of MSM who know
how to prevent …

In a clear and well argumented post (which title I borrowed) for NOMOREPOTLUCKS, Nicholas Little, an HIV outreach worker in bathhouses, bars and online chat rooms explains how stigma attached to being HIV positive puts HIV negative men at higher risk of HIV infection.
There is not much to add to the article but to emphasise the deep contradiction existing in the mind and attitude of like-to-believe HIV negative men: On the one hand, they naively expect and believe that HIV positive guys will disclose their status before sex, but on …

We live in a sad world where stigma and discrimination follow people even in death.
Yesterday the BBC reported that the body of a senegalese man had been dug up twice from his grave because he was believed to be homosexual. As in many other African countries, homosexuality is outlawed in Senegal. In Uganda “the offence” carries a life sentence on conviction, and according to the government, international NGO (including UNICEF and Amnesty International) are accused of promoting it. In Burundi, the government recently adopted a law criminalising homosexual conduct. in …

This is a true story told through a friend, a first person account of the life of Nhlanhla, a nurse in a Sub-Saharan country afflicted by HIV and AIDS. Names, places and minor details have been changed to protect people’s privacy. It is a story of fear, stigma, discrimination but also of hope, the everyday story of a young woman whose life, on revealing to her family that she is HIV positive, spirals into hell and despair.
“Over the year, Nhlanhla has faced many challenges in finding out she was HIV …

Two important articles have appeared in The Bangkok Post newspaper since last week’s cancellation of the 2nd Chiang Mai Gay Pride Parade because a small group of red-shirted pro-Thaksin demonstrators objected to the event taking place in a public space.
The first was an announcement by Pairote Boonsirikamchai, assistant secretary-general of the Medical Council of Thailand that under 18 now could receive a free HIV test and counselling at clinics without their parents’ consent.
This is definitively a step forward. By making counselling accessible to the most vulnerable people in society, that …