Global Initiative Launched To Combat Increasing Spread Of HIV Among MSM In Developing Countries

amfAR, The
Foundation for AIDS Research, today announced the launch of a new global
initiative to fight the spread of HIV among men who have sex with men (MSM)
in the developing world. Stigma, discrimination, and lack of access to
health services have sparked alarming epidemics that threaten to devastate
MSM communities in Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe, and Latin America,
mirroring the HIV pandemics that ravaged gay communities in North America
and Western Europe in the 1980s.


According to a report from the International Lesbian and Gay
Association, male-male sex is illegal in 85 countries, making MSM
increasingly vulnerable to HIV/AIDS. According to UNAIDS, fewer than one in
20 MSM around the world has access to HIV prevention, treatment, and care.
The MSM Initiative, which was launched today at the International AIDS
Society conference in Sydney, will support grassroots MSM organizations,
fund critical research, and advocate for increased global attention and
funding for HIV/AIDS programs specific to MSM.



"Empowering MSM and other marginalized groups to protect themselves
from HIV is one of the world's most urgent health priorities," said Dr.
Peter Piot, executive director of the Joint United Nations Programme on
HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).



New data indicates that the HIV pandemic among MSM is widespread and
worsening. In Africa, nearly 40 percent of MSM in Kenya and nearly 22
percent of MSM in Senegal are estimated to be HIV positive, compared to 6
percent and 0.9 percent HIV prevalence in the overall adult population. HIV
prevalence among MSM is estimated to be 27 percent in Ukraine, 21 percent
in Uruguay, and 15 percent in Mexico. MSM groups also rarely benefit from
international HIV prevention efforts because bilateral funding and grants
from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria flow primarily
through national governments that largely ignore the needs of MSM.



"The frightening truth is that, in many parts of the world, we simply
do not know how bad the epidemics among MSM groups may be," said Dr. Chris
Beyrer, director of the Johns Hopkins Fogarty AIDS International Training
and Research Program in the United States. "Transmission among MSM is still
not tracked in most countries, resulting in a significant research gap.
More research is urgently needed to inform more effective HIV prevention
efforts."



The term MSM includes those who identify as "gay," but also encompasses
any men who have sexual encounters with other men, including groups whose
gender and sexual identities defy Western categorization. For instance, in
India there are at least three designations of MSM. Kothis are effeminate
MSM who are often married to women and have families. Panthis are masculine
men who have sex with kothis, and hijras, who are often castrated, are
considered to be a third gender altogether.
















"The HIV epidemic in men who have sex with men in India is really bad.
It has occurred for a simple reason: We have been totally neglected and
invisible," said Ashok Row Kavi, the founder of the Humsafar Trust, a
grassroots MSM group in India. "The programs that are working for MSM are
those where community-based groups have been empowered to take control."



Despite various challenges, some progress is being made. Grassroots
movements are forming in Africa, India, Southeast Asia, and other regions
where discrimination is commonplace and the epidemic has reached crisis
proportions. The MSM Initiative will provide seed grants to grassroots
organizations doing innovative work with MSM groups in the developing
world.



"A quarter century into the epidemic, MSM in many countries still do
not have even the basic tools to protect themselves against HIV," said
amfAR Acting CEO Kevin Frost. "We must have the courage to stand side by
side with the grassroots organizations on the front lines of this epidemic
delivering services and demanding greater action from governments. With
funding and support, these organizations can transform attitudes, change
policy, and mobilize funding to reverse the alarming spread of HIV among
MSM."



In addition to directly supporting grassroots organizations, the MSM
Initiative will advocate for more research on MSM issues and fund global
advocacy efforts aimed at mobilizing funding from international donors,
national governments, and others. The advocacy program will also focus on
launching campaigns to end the stigma, discrimination, and violence that
threaten the lives of MSM and fuel the spread of HIV/AIDS.



The MSM Initiative has already enlisted partners from a number of
leading organizations, including UNAIDS and the Global Forum on MSM and
HIV. It has also received significant financial support from groups
including the M.A.C AIDS Fund, the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation,
GlaxoSmithKline's Positive Action programme, and the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation, as well as David Bohnett and Tom Gregory, Luigi Caiola and Sean
McGill, James C. Hormel and Timothy Wu, Dr. Mathilde Krim, and more than a
dozen other individuals and families.



"A coordinated global initiative is urgently needed to reverse the
alarming rise in new infections among MSM," said George Ayala, director of
education at the AIDS Project Los Angeles (APLA). "Working together, we can
more effectively fight the denial and discrimination that have made MSM so
vulnerable to HIV. We look forward to working closely with amfAR and the
MSM Initiative to demand that the world finally takes this issue
seriously."



For more information about amfAR and the MSM Initiative, visit
amfar.



ABOUT amfAR amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, is one of the
world's leading nonprofit organizations dedicated to the support of AIDS
research, HIV prevention, treatment education, and the advocacy of sound
AIDS-related public policy. Since 1985, amfAR has invested $260 million in
its programs and has awarded grants to more than 2,000 research teams.


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