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Rising HIV prevalence among men wHO have sexual urge with workforce, "[h]omophobia, biology and misplaced confidence that AIDS has turn a treatable chronic malady are conducive to a disturbing flashback among scientists and activists" and business among public health officials that many countries "come out to be repeating the early patterns of the epidemic," the Washington Post reports.
HIV/AIDS was labeled a "gay disease" when it first appeared in the 1980s, but then "an enormous grassroots movement ... sparked government action, and more significantly, effective prevention campaigns" among MSM, the Post reports. However, HIV infections among MSM have been increasing, particularly among communities where there is a stigma against homoeroticism, according to the Post.
Michael Sidibe, assistant secretary general of the United Nations, said, "We have come full circuit. In the beginning, gay men in places like San Francisco and New York proved we could do bar. When we moved from that and started talk about the broad scope of the epidemic, short men world Health Organization have sex with manpower became marginalized."
"'Prevention fatigue duty,' trust in new antiretroviral drugs, the use of methamphetamines and the arrival of a generation of youth men wHO did non experience the ravages of the 1980s" is conducive to the situation, according to Richard Wolitski, playacting director of CDC's HIV/AIDS prevention division. Wolitski added that HIV is "inherited more easily via anal sex than vaginal sex."
Many MSM in the U.S. engage in "serosorting," where they try to depend risk based on their own and their partner's HIV status, the Post reports. However, many workforce do not know they have HIV and tin unknowingly bedspread the disease, Wolitski aforesaid.
"The same kinds of stigma and discrimination and institutionalized homophobia that failed gay men in America is now failing MSM in the rest of the earthly concern," Kevin Frost, CEO of the American Foundation for AIDS Research, said. Frost added that increased HIV incidence among MSM, in many cases, is "straight related to the institutionalization of homophobia" (Connolly, Washington Post, 8/7).
An AmfAR report released Monday at the XVII International AIDS Conference in Mexico City found MSM are at an increased risk of HIV. According to the report, despite a consentient commitment that all U.N. member countries made in 2001 to monitor HIV among risky groups, 71% of countries said they did non have whatever information on the percentage of MSM contacted by HIV bar groups. Of 128 countries, 44% failed to provide HIV data on MSM.
According to the report card, Benin, Ghana, Jamaica, Kenya and Thailand are the countries with the highest reported HIV prevalence among MSM. Although data were scarce, the study base MSM were 33 times more likely to be living with HIV than the universal population in Latin America, 18 times more likely in Asia and at least 4 times more likely in Africa (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 8/6).
Sexual activity between men is criminalized in 85 countries and is punishable by death in seven countries and by imprisonment in 76 countries, according to the International Lesbian and Gay Association.
Craig McClure, administrator director of the International AIDS Society, said, "It's difficult to provide services to hands who get sex with men in countries where they don't acknowledge they exist" (Washington Post, 8/7).
Post reporter Ceci Connolly on Thursday testament discuss her series on HIV/AIDS along the U.S.-Mexico border and her insurance coverage of the XVII International AIDS Conference (Washington Post Live Discussion, 8/7). A resource page on HIV/AIDS and the XVII International AIDS Conference also is available on-line from the Post.
Additional Newspaper Coverage on MSM
Globe and Mail: The HIV community has "failed to land down the incidence of HIV/AIDS in MSM because we receive not tried and true," Jorge Saavedra, director of Mexico's national HIV/AIDS curriculum CENSIDA, aforesaid at the AIDS league. McClure added that providing human rights protections for MSM and addressing the stigma of same-sex relationships are necessary to dull the spread of HIV. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/UNAIDS Executive Director Peter Piot at the AIDS conference called on countries to revise policies that criminalize same-sex activity, locution that the laws deter MSM from seeking HIV testing and treatment. "Homophobia kills. We must kill homophobia," Piot said (Picard, Globe and Mail, 8/7).
New York Times: The Times on Thursday examined work force who receive sex with men in Mexico and Latin America. According to the Times, "Because machismo is pronounced in Mexico and queerness is far from accepted, social weather condition in the country and in other parts of Latin America force much sexual conduct into the shadows. That increases the challenges that AIDS experts say they face in combating the risky sexual practices that fuel the disease." The Times reports that MSM in Mexico who "lively lives in denial" oft engage in high-risk sex but do not notice it to anyone. MSM also ar often voiceless to accomplish in HIV prevention and education campaigns because they tend to ignore bar messages if they believe they are targeted toward gay hands (Lacey, New York Times, 8/7). A video on the Times Web site on Wednesday highlighted how sexual ambiguity, including demurrer and favoritism, in Mexico forces some people to be closelipped about their behaviors, which hinders efforts to fight HIV/AIDS (New York Times video, 8/6).
Multimedia Coverage
NPR's "All Things Considered" on Wednesday included a discourse about the AmfAR report. The segment includes comments from an HIV-positive MSM living in North Carolina (Wilson, "All Things Considered," NPR, 8/6). Audio of the section is available online.
Kaisernetwork.org is the official webcaster of the XVII International AIDS Conference in Mexico City. Click here to star sign up for your Daily Update e-mail during the conference. A webcast on MSM is available online.
Reprinted with tolerant permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You bum view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.
