"What is life like for HIV-positive gay men in your country?"

TheBody.com asked a number of HIV/AIDS advocates this question at the recent International AIDS Conference in Mexico City.

A number of folks from all over the world took part in this exercise (check out all the interviews here), including IRMA's very own Lanre Onigbogi of Nigeria.

Here are his remarks:

My name is Olanrewaju Onigbogi. I work as a public health physician at the University College Hospital in Ibadan, Nigeria.

I would like to start by giving people a perspective of Nigeria. Nigeria is such a big country, and I work as a researcher in Ibadan, which is in the southwestern part of the country. Many national HIV rates aren't really correct, so the best you can have are regional rates based on work that people have actually done in their region. So I'll be talking strictly about my work around the area where I live.

The HIV situation in Nigeria: I can say it's stabilizing. It was getting worse a few years ago, but now the rates are going down. The data also show that the infection rates are going down.

However, the problems are still far from being over, because if education is not continued, people are likely to go back to high-risk behaviors. The greatest problem we have in Nigeria really is with high-risk behaviors, specifically among men who have sex with men, because many of them do not have access to HIV education. When they do, they don't have the resources to get condoms and lubes.

Most prevention services just target providing condoms, but with men who have sex with men, they actually need lubricants [lubes]. The lubes are still pretty expensive. That's the greatest problem I think we're having now with prevention services, especially with regards to MSM.

A few years ago, it was a lot worse. It was really difficult to get people to come out to say they were in the lesbian/gay/bisexual/transvestite community. Any kind of sexual orientation that was different from heterosexual, it was almost impossible to come out, to identify with it.

Initially it was like hardened resistance. It's gone to cynicism and discrimination. Like, OK, that's them, but we keep them at a distance. The laws are clear about it. The laws are still very strict and rigid. Sometimes people could go to prison for as long as 10 or 15 years. Because of the laws, the policemen can actually pick up people and harass them, even if they're not really keen about enforcing the laws. That's the other issue. The laws criminalize MSM, but enforcement is not really done. It's more harassment. That's a problem.

Like I said, it was a lot worse a few years ago. Now many more people are coming out. The government probably has greater problems to battle with, but the greatest problem people have is with their immediate families -- the parents and the siblings. That's the greatest problem they have. The government has other problems -- many other problems -- but the greatest problem that people really have is with their own families. That's where the discrimination really starts.

Click here to read (and hear) more interviews with folks from Uganda, Belize, Guyana/Suriname, India, Jamaica, and Grenada.

[Delhi Dynamos] Lanre Onigbogi of Ibadan, Nigeria

More Grease to Your Elbows!
Proud Member of IRMA Puts Rectal Microbicides
on the African Map

Correspondence from IRMA advocates

by way of India

M2008 memories and the path forward

by Lanre Onigbogi

I had always wondered what it would be like visiting the Asian continent and M2008 provided that opportunity. As a rectal microbicide advocate and an IRMA scholarship recipient, the challenge could not be bigger because there was so much to look forward to about the conference. The excitement was further heightened by the fact that my exposure to rectal microbicide sessions at M2006 had generated my venturing into research related to rectal microbicides. I wondered whether my exposure to the rectal microbicides sessions in this meeting will heighten my curiosity about the subject or totally dampan my enthusiasm. In summary, I was not disappointed and could not have wished for a better conference. 

The apprehension about how the rectal microbicide sessions and how to combine that with the volunteer efforts at the advocate corner was too overwhelming to be hidden from colleagues who were also participants at the meeting. This was heightened by the fact that I had made up my mind to talk to some Nigerian delegates about the International Rectal Microbicide Advocates (IRMA), an area that was hitherto novel to many of my colleagues.

Anecdotal reports put it that many who came without ever hearing about rectal microbicides ended up signing up to be advocates.

The M2008 conference itself was a great success. If we can learn from this conference and support the development of research on microbicides and convince investors to invest more in these, it would be a great achievement. There were also many youths, especially really dynamic ones from Africa who I believe will grow up to become great advocates. Simply put, youths are the best investment in the future of our nations, as they are healthy and fresh workers. The rectal microbicide agenda was also a greater success. Anecdotal reports put it that many who came without ever hearing about rectal microbicides ended up signing up to be advocates. Quite an achievement bearing in mind the stigma that is still associated with homosexual relationships in many parts of the world.

We need to look at the research agenda of the conference so that African universities can do operations research and evaluate their rectal microbicide programs. I look forward to a cohort of researchers and advocates who will come out of Africa and will collaborate to get funding for rectal microbicide research and advocacy. 

Since coming back from Delhi, I have picked up the responsibility of editing the Quarterly Newsletter of the Nigeria HIV Vaccine and Microbicides Advocacy Group (NHVMAG) called the NHVMAG Echoes. We are in the final stages of producing the newsletter that will highlight activities at M2008, and the success of advocacy efforts by IRMA will be showcased. I also look forward to participating in the rectal microbicide sesions of the AIDS 2008 conference in Mexico City later in the year as well as further involvement in rectal microbicide research and advocacy.

My heartfelt gratitude goes to the steering committee of IRMA and the indefatigable Jim Pickett for working tirelessly to put the rectal microbicide agenda on the main table, thereby potentially saving many valuable lives of African women and men.

More grease to your elbows!

I am proud to belong to IRMA and will forever be grateful for this wonderful opportunity to attend M2008 and look forward to seeing you all in Pittsburgh!

Read other Delhi Dynamo entries.

Check out IRMA's photo set from the M2008 conference here.

Did you attend M2008 and want to add your photos to our growing collection? Send Jim Pickett of IRMA a note with your photos attached and they will be included.