Safe Sex Advocates in the Red-Light Districts of Bangkok

viaAlert Net, by Thin Lei Win

It was an early Monday evening and the red light district in Thailand’s capital was already heaving -- full of locals and foreigners drinking sundowner cocktails and enjoying the flesh parading before their eyes. Street vendors were selling food, clothes, souvenirs and Valentine’s Day gifts.

They probably weren’t expecting a group of (mainly) fuchsia-clad men in towering heels, bouffant hairdos and sashes advocating safe sex, but that’s exactly what they got.

 
“Good evening ladies and gentlemen,” purred Thii into the loud speaker while standing in front of the punters, with one arm akimbo on the sparkling metallic mini dress he was wearing.
“Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day and we would just like to remind you that it’s important to have safe sex. Please remember to use condoms,” he added with a slight lilt.

The punters and the female and transgender workers sitting next to them giggled and held out their hands for the free condoms that were being distributed by Thii’s colleagues.

For the next six hours, nine staff and volunteers from Thai non-governmental organisation (NGO) Service Workers in Group foundation (SWING) made their rounds at three Bangkok red light districts, weaving in and out of pubs, clubs, go-go bars, cabarets and other shows located in a maze of buildings and streets.

They spoke to club and bar owners, dancers, staff, and even food sellers out of doors with a mix of bawdy jokes and gentle cajoling about the importance of safe sex, while giving away condoms.

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[If an item is not written by an IRMA member, it should not be construed that IRMA has taken a position on the article's content, whether in support or in opposition.]

IRMA in Thailand to Prep for MTN 017

IRMA, the Microbicide Trials Network (MTN), AVAC, and local partners participated in two community consultations in Thailand last week on the upcoming Phase II rectal microbicide trial called MTN 17.   

Community stakeholders in Chiang Mai and Bangkok were provided updates on the field and were asked to provide feedback to the MTN about the draft MTN 017 protocol. In October, a similar consultation was held in Cape Town. Pittsburgh  held another one of these sessions recently, and more community input sessions are planned for Boston and Lima as well.

Check out some pictures of the consults...

More pictures of Chiang Mai consult on MTN 017 here.

More pictures of Bangkok consult on MTN 017 here.

[If an item is not written by an IRMA member, it should not be construed that IRMA has taken a position on the article's content, whether in support or in opposition.]

Whatever Happened to the AIDS Vaccine?

via the Huffington Post, by Michael Warren

"Now is exactly the time to maintain commitment. Now is exactly the time to hold a steady course in funding for basic science, clinical trials and product development. It's good business sense: Our investments are paying off -- and the dividend, in the form of an effective vaccine, would have value beyond our wildest dreams."

Recent news about HIV/AIDS has focused on the good -- promising trial results that prove the antiretroviral (ARV) drugs used to treat HIV can also prevent HIV infections -- and the bad -- retreats in donor commitment that imperil the substantial gains that have been made in treating global AIDS, at the precise moment that treatment has been recognized as a powerful prevention strategy. In discussions about whether AIDS treatment can be used to end the AIDS epidemic, scant attention is paid to the search for an AIDS vaccine.

When AIDS vaccines do get mentioned, it is often in the context of questions about whether a vaccine is still needed, or whether the search for an AIDS vaccine is affordable in today's economic climate.

Researchers and advocates who gathered Sept. 12-15 in Bangkok, Thailand, for the AIDS Vaccine 2011 conference have clear answers: Yes, we still need a vaccine, and yes, we need to continue to invest in AIDS vaccine research.

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[If an item is not written by an IRMA member, it should not be construed that IRMA has taken a position on the article's content, whether in support or in opposition.]

Methamphetamine use drives HIV infections among gay Thais

via BMJ group, by Bob Roehr

One in 10 gay and bisexual men aged 18 to 21 became infected with HIV during their first year of enrollment in a cohort study in Bangkok. The rate of new infections slows down a bit after that, in part because those most likely to become infected already are. Fully 1 in 3 of them carry the virus by the time they reach 30.

“From 18 to 21 it has been a slaughterhouse,” says Frits van Griensven, shaking his head in dismay. “They are getting the best prevention information possible, counselling every four months, condoms and lubricants. They know the facts of incidence of new infections.” And yet the infections continue to occur, “It is something that we cannot control with behavioural interventions.”

Van Griensven runs what is believed to be the only HIV prevention clinic in all of Asia that was created to serve men who have sex with men. This is despite the fact that in Asia, that group is 18.7 times more likely to become infected with HIV than the general population.

“It’s my opinion that the epidemic in young men is driven by methamphetamines – crystal ice. I don’t know what to do about it,” he says.

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[If an item is not written by an IRMA member, it should not be construed that IRMA has taken a position on the article's content, whether in support or in opposition.]

Bangkok's MSM HIV Explosion - Precursor for Asia's Mega-cities?

via Global Forum on MSM and HIV, by Don Baxter

The last five years have seen astonishing – arguably catastrophic - increases in HIV seroprevalence among Thai gay men and men who have sex with men (MSM). HIV seroprevalence has risen from less than 10 percent early this decade to more than 28 percent by mid-decade.

Major questions of international significance arise:

• How could increases as dramatic as these happen in a country with a previously successful HIV prevention response?

• Is Bangkok merely the precursor for similar HIV catastrophes among the MSM communities of Asia’s other mega-cities?

• What can the world learn from Thailand’s experience in these dramatic increases?

A complex series of factors is involved in analysing why these increases happened – but arguably they add up to Bangkok being a tragic case study of how an effective ‘enabling environment’ for a national HIV response can be inadvertently dismantled - with catastrophic results.

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[If an item is not written by an IRMA member, it should not be construed that IRMA has taken a position on the article's content, whether in support or in opposition.]