Meet Alliance Nikuze: Our New Friendly Rectal Microbicide Advocate

“We are more than 7 billion people on this planet; we surely don’t and can’t have one way of having sexual intercourse. Our diversity is our wealth. Our sexuality as human beings is not supposed to be defined by the available prevention tools but all the HIV prevention tools have to be adapted to our sexuality.”

 Alliance is an IRMA advocate who grew up in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo. She since moved to Kigali, Rwanda where she has worked and studied, and is currently pursuing a public health degree in Sweden. She is actively involved in the discussions around HIV prevention research.

Alliance’s primary advocacy has been centered on female empowerment and prevention tools which could prevent penile-vaginal transmission, but she has become increasingly interested in the need for rectal microbicides as well. While involved in efforts to engage civil society organizations in medical male circumcision rollout, she became more aware of different sexual practices- particularly anal intercourse. She then heard of IRMA at the Microbicides 2010 conference in Pittsburgh and decided to become an advocate to meet others with a similar interest in rectal microbicides. She has been satisfied beyond her expectations!

Alliance advocates for both male and female use of rectal microbicides. Recently she had what she calls a “wake up call” while talking with a few African women who indicated they really enjoyed anal intercourse. Previously she had believed that women only did this to please their male partners. This exchange reinforced her understanding that women all over Africa need rectal microbicides in order to help prevent HIV.

Alliance attended IRMA's Project ARM - Africa for Rectal Microbicides meeting in Addis Ababa this past December, in conjunction with ICASA, and was excited about the opportunity for everyone there to shape the advocacy and research agenda for rectal microbicides in Africa. She hopes Project ARM will help to dispel the marginalization and discrimination towards those who practice anal intercourse in Africa.

Her advice for HIV prevention advocates is to keep expanding our prevention toolbox. She believes that if you are truly committed to ending HIV, why wouldn’t you stand up for rectal microbicides? If we continue talk about them whenever we can, it will help lessen the stigma, and each time you may be saving someone’s life. She hopes IRMA can reach out to more policy makers, researchers, and advocates so that they know about rectal microbicides and can add them to their discourse and agenda.

In her free time she enjoys reading, watching TV, and spending time with friends and family.

Thanks Alliance for all that you do!


[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.]

High HIV risk behavior among men who have sex with men in Kigali, Rwanda: making the case for supportive prevention policy

via AIDS Care

Chapman J, Koleros A, Delmont Y, Pegurri E, Gahire R, Binagwaho A. (2011). High HIV risk behavior among men who have sex with men in Kigali, Rwanda: making the case for supportive prevention policy. AIDS Care, 23(4):449-55. DOI: 10.1080/09540121.2010.507758.

 

Abstract:

Rwanda has responded strongly to HIV/AIDS, but prevention among men who have sex with men (MSM) has not yet been addressed due to a strong cultural resistance to homosexuality, and a lack of data showing the public health value of attending to the sexual health needs of this group. We conducted an exploratory study on HIV risk among MSM in Kigali using snowball sampling involving peer leaders. The 99 respondents were demographically, socially, and sexually diverse. Respondents reported relatively high numbers of male and female partners, and considerable HIV risk behaviors including commercial sex with men and women, low condom use during anal and vaginal sex, and high mobility. Many respondents reported verbal and/or physical abuse due to their sexuality. This first study of MSM in Rwanda has brought attention to a previously neglected HIV risk group and their potential driving role in the Rwandan epidemic, demonstrating the need for sensitive and targeted interventions.


[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.]

High HIV risk behavior among men who have sex with men in Kigali, Rwanda: making the case for supportive prevention policy

AIDS Care. 2011 Apr;23(4):449-55.

Chapman J, Koleros A, Delmont Y, Pegurri E, Gahire R, Binagwaho A.

Futures Group International, Washington, DC, USA.

Abstract

Rwanda has responded strongly to HIV/AIDS, but prevention among men who have sex with men (MSM) has not yet been addressed due to a strong cultural resistance to homosexuality, and a lack of data showing the public health value of attending to the sexual health needs of this group. We conducted an exploratory study on HIV risk among MSM in Kigali using snowball sampling involving peer leaders. The 99 respondents were demographically, socially, and sexually diverse. Respondents reported relatively high numbers of male and female partners, and considerable HIV risk behaviors including commercial sex with men and women, low condom use during anal and vaginal sex, and high mobility. Many respondents reported verbal and/or physical abuse due to their sexuality. This first study of MSM in Rwanda has brought attention to a previously neglected HIV risk group and their potential driving role in the Rwandan epidemic, demonstrating the need for sensitive and targeted interventions.

[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.]

Meet a Friendly Rectal Microbicide Advocate: Gerard Nkundimana

via IRMA

“Building on the growing scientific evidence around the escalating numbers of new HIV infections resulting from unprotected anal sex, I believe that everybody born on this earth needs to understand the urgency to develop safe, effective, affordable and acceptable rectal microbicides among the new HIV prevention technologies.” Gerard Nkundimana

Nkundimana was born and raised in Butare town of southern Rwanda. He is a fifth year medical student at the National University of Rwanda and serves as an advisor and fundraising task force coordinator for the Medical Students’ Association of Rwanda (MEDSAR). Nkundimana became involved with IRMA in 2009 through the Prevention Research E-Learning Centre (http://www.hivpreventionresearch.org/), created by the Global Campaign for Microbicides to help trial staff, advocates, policy makers and other stakeholders understand and speak about the complexities of HIV prevention research. In the last year Nkundimana has used IRMA resources to stay up to date on the scientific, political and funding issues around rectal and vaginal microbicide development, and to engage with experts that are discussing HIV prevention research results and their implications in the real world.

Nkundimana also loves to socialize and to make friends, and enjoys taking part in the global student effort to prevent HIV/AIDS.

“Rectal microbicides are needed to help protect men and women who engage in anal sex. It is clear that they need and deserve protection from HIV and it makes a sense for the world to give it serious consideration on the global agenda to meet their needs.”-Gerard Nkundimana

Read about other friendly rectal microbicides advocates

Learn more about IRMA membership

[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.]

Exploring HIV Risk among MSM in Kigali, Rwanda

Thanks to the Global Forum on MSM and HIV for putting this on the IRMA radar.]

Executive Summary

This report presents findings from a behavioral surveillance study (BSS) of men who have sex with men(MSM) in Kigali carried out in 2008-2009. The aim of this study was to describe the population of MSM in Kigali and explore the nature of sexual activity between MSM.

This study utilized a snowball sampling strategy involving peer recruiter/s with a double-incentive structure. That is, men completing the questionnaire were asked to recruit their friends, acquaintances and sexual partners into the study and they received a small incentive for completing the study and for each eligible respondent that they recruited. The questionnaire was interviewer-administered and took approximately one hour to complete. Ninety-eight (98) MSM aged 18 to 52 years, participated in the study. Key results include:

• Ninety-four respondents reported previous anal sex with another man, and 88 reported anal sex with another man in the 12 months prior to survey.Men reported an average of two male sexual partners in the 12 months prior to survey (median;mean=3.4; range: 1 to 36).

• Thirty-seven respondents reported casual sex in the one month prior to survey and 18 of these men reported unprotected sex with a casual sex partner in this timeframe.

• MSM have wide sexual networks. Sex with men whilst traveling outside Kigali was commonly reported. One-quarter of respondents reported sex with a woman in the year prior to survey and one in seven men reported commercial or transactional sex with a woman in the same time frame.

• Condom use among MSM in Kigali is low. Thirty-four respondents reported that they had never previously used a condom with a male or female sexual partner. Among men reporting sex with another man in the 12 months prior to survey,one-third reported consistent condom use with all male partners. One-third of respondents reporting sex with a female partner in the 12 months prior to survey reported condom use at last sex with a female partner.

Read the whole report.