Microbicides Conference Changing to a More Integrated HIV Prevention Conference

via AIDSmap.com, by Gus Cairns

The International Microbicides Conference held in Sydney this week will be the last of its kind, delegates were told in a closing plenary today.

From 2014 onwards, it is planned, a single biennial conference on all aspects of HIV prevention will be held.
Globally, the two largest funders of HIV prevention research are the US National Institutes of Health's Office of AIDS Research and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Gina Brown of the Office of AIDS Research and Stephen Becker of the Gates Foundation shared the podium to make a joint speech outlining the reasons for no longer funding separate conferences, and instead convening a programme committee to plan a biennial global HIV prevention conference.

They said they were proposing an "integrative prevention meeting" in recognition of the fact that no one HIV prevention method is likely to end the epidemic and that different methods can be synergistic. Stephen Becker said that the demand for a more integrated approach to HIV prevention “was being voiced from the ground up", by community advocates and NGOs, as well as by donors who wished to see more efficiency and less duplication of effort within the field.

Cross-cutting dialogue between specialists pursuing different areas is more likely to generate combinations of prevention approaches than individual approaches being pursued in neighbouring research 'silos', Becker added.

There was duplication of effort in some areas. Much of the animal-model and mucosal-immunity work being done in the HIV prevention technologies underlay HIV vaccine development as much as it did microbicide development. he said. And, he added, the social and behavioural research that underpinned prevention technology research by helping to understand which populations need what HIV prevention methods formed the same backdrop, whether what was being developed was a vaccine, a microbicide or the roll-out of a circumcision programme.

Gina Brown said that a world HIV prevention conference planning committee would be convened immediately, comprising experts from all fields including social sciences and community advocacy. In common with the international microbicides conferences, which have been held biennially since 2002, the last of the the annual AIDS Vaccine conferences, which started in 2000, will be held in 2013 in Barcelona. Other prevention conferences, such as next week's second international Treatment as Prevention Workshop in Vancouver, will also no longer receive funding as separate events.

Read the Rest.


[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.]

NYC Forum next Weds: WHAT IS THE MESSAGE?! A community discussion on HIV prevention campaigns targeting gay and bisexual men

[check out IRMA's blog post on the controversial and problematic ad campaign released by the NYC department of public health recently]

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2011
6:30 pm to 8:00 pm
GMHC - The Tisch Building
119 West 24th Street – 12th floor
(between 6th and 7th Avenues NYC)

Guest panelists include:

Oriol R. Gutierrez Jr., Deputy Editor, POZ; Editor-in-Chief, Tu Salud

Jacoby Johnson, Managing Director - Black Men’s Initiative, Harlem United

Les Pappas, President & Creative Director, Better World Advertising

Tokes Osubu, Executive Director, Gay Men of African Descent (GMAD)

Daniel Siconolfi, MPH, Project Director - Center for Health, Identity, Behavior, & Prevention Studies (CHIBPS)

Monica Sweeney, MD, MPH, Assistant Commissioner – HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control, NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene


Guest moderator: Sean Cahill, PhD, Managing Director - Public Policy, Research & Community Health, GMHC


Topics to be discussed include:

• What are effective HIV prevention messages that reach gay and bisexual men?
• Do scare tactics work?
• How should AIDS service organizations and government agencies involve community in the development of campaigns
  
  

The discussion is free and open to the general public. Please bring your ideas for future HIV prevention campaigns.

For more information, please call (212) 367-1016 or write to krishnas@gmhc.org.

[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.]

Good sex, good marriage, less HIV

via The New Vision Online, by Catherine Watson


A campaign on good marriage could explain that sometimes a man may have less sex than he would like but that this trade off is worth it to maintain family harmony and avoid acquiring or transmitting HIV. Many men think falsely that going without sex will harm their bodies, that semen will accumulate. Neither is true. But the campaign would need to assuage men's fears.


Finally, a campaign on good marriage could explain that sex changes over a lifetime. Often we get problems because reality does not meet our expectations. Women may have less interest in sex in late pregnancy after birth and menopause. Men who are reassured of this may be less likely to take a "side dish". Both men and women need a better understanding of how their body works. Sex when we are older is not like sex when we are just married. And let us not over sexualize men: they can want less sex sometimes too.

Read the rest.

Chicago Female Condom Campaign Wants You to “Put A Ring On It!”

Health organizations launch citywide campaign to mark National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day and increase awareness, availability of female condoms

Both women and men engage in anal sex and the female condom is a great prevention tool to keep both partners safe and satisfied.

 

CHICAGO, IL (3/8/10) – An ubiquitous nugget of pop culture advice (“Put a ring on it!”) is the tagline of a new public awareness campaign launched today by a coalition of health organizations that aims to increase the use of a new-and-improved female condom among both women and men.

Timed to coincide with the observance of National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (March 10), the initiative is the brainchild of the Chicago Female Condom Campaign, a coalition of HIV/AIDS, reproductive justice, women’s health, and gay men’s health organizations that is working to boost awareness, accessibility and availability of female condoms.

The female condom is currently the only barrier method that can be controlled by the receptive partner, allowing both women and men to take control of their health in preventing unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) including HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

This kind of prevention option is urgently needed to keep Chicagoans healthy as numbers for STIs continue to rise. Cook County ranks first, second, and third nationwide for gonorrhea, chlamydia, and syphilis, respectively, and reported approximately 1,500 new HIV cases in 2008, state health figures show.

African Americans comprise just 15 percent of the Illinois population yet account for 54 percent of the state’s total HIV infections, according to state health data. Just as gay men of color bear the brunt of the HIV epidemic, African-American women are disproportionately impacted by HIV, accounting for 68 percent of all Illinois women diagnosed with HIV in 2008, while Latinas account for 10 percent.

“For many women and men, condom negotiation in the bedroom isn’t an option,” said AIDS Foundation of Chicago policy manager Jessica Terlikowski, who leads the female condom campaign. “The campaign is working to ensure that Chicagoans know about this highly effective safer sex tool and that service providers are equipped with the skills and knowledge to effectively promote it. The way we see it, five little words could save your life: Put a ring on it!”

The female condom is lubricated, and shaped like an open-ended tube, with a removable inner ring and an attached outer ring. The inner ring stays anchored to the cervix during vaginal sex. When used for anal sex, the inner ring can be left in, or taken out, depending on individual preference. The outer ring then covers the surface area around the vaginal or anal opening, providing increased protection against STIs that are spread by skin-to-skin contact. These unique features gave birth to the campaign’s hip tagline.

Like male condoms, there has been no research on the effectiveness of female condoms for anal sex. The Chicago Female Condom Campaign, however, as well as many leading public health organizations, confidently promotes the use of female condoms for safer anal sex.

“In a way, it’s unfortunate that it is called the female condom since it is really a tool for the receptive partner, and is a great prevention option during anal sex for both women and men,” said advocate Zoe Lehman of the Chicago Women’s AIDS Project, a founding organization of the campaign.

“Both women and men engage in anal sex and the female condom is a great prevention tool to keep both partners safe and satisfied.”

The Chicago Female Condom Campaign is spreading its “Put a ring on it!” message through its website, ringonit.org, a Facebook fan page and a Twitter account (twitter.com/ChiFemaleCondom). The campaign has also produced stylish palm cards, a “411 on Female Condoms” brochure with easy-to-read diagrams, and a tip sheet for health care providers on how to talk to patients about female condoms, all of which can be ordered for FREE through ringonit.org.

In May 1993, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first generation of the female condom, known as FC1 (Female Condom 1). The current, second-generation version known as FC2, was approved by the FDA in February 2009, and is made of a more affordable, hypo-allergenic synthetic rubber (instead of latex), making it a viable option for people with latex allergies. FC2 is also 30 percent cheaper than FC1.

The campaign has partnered with agencies across the city to distribute female condoms for free, and is currently reaching out to public health clinics, health care providers, family planning centers, and other community-based organizations to encourage bulk purchasing. Female condoms can be purchased in bulk through the campaign, at a cost of $.75 each, an incentive that campaign organizers hope will spur greater availability of the product.

“Female condoms provide a sense of power for women because they are able to choose to protect themselves. You don’t need to leave it to the guy,” said Dolores Benton, female condom enthusiast, and case manager for the Pediatric AIDS Chicago Prevention Initiative, a member organization of the campaign. “It’s not difficult to put it in. It’s a piece of cake.”

In the meantime, the Chicago Female Condom Campaign continues to take its message on the road. Through in-person trainings, campaign members equip service providers with the skills to positively promote female condoms, including knowledge of the correct ways to use them and where to access them.

Fox News (Chicago) coverage:



Three in-person trainings are scheduled to take place this week.  

• The 411 on Female Condoms: Training for Case Managers and Prevention Educators
  Wednesday, March 10 from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
  AIDS Foundation of Chicago, 200 W. Jackson Blvd., Suite 2200, Chicago, IL
   
• Protect Your Success
  Wednesday, March 10 from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
  Young Women's Leadership Charter School, 2641 S. Calumet Blvd., Chicago, IL
   
• How 2 Get Down Political Education Training
  Friday, March 12 at 12:30 p.m.
  Lincoln Library, 326 S. 7th St., Springfield, IL
   
• Condom Hunt & Demonstration
  Friday, March 10 from 4:30 to 6:00 p.m.
  1823 W. 17th Street, Chicago, IL

The Chicago Female Condom Campaign is a coalition of HIV/AIDS, reproductive justice, women’s health, and gay men’s health organizations dedicated to increasing access, affordability, availability, awareness, and utilization of female condoms.

Kenya: HIV prevention strategy that ignores anal health - "simply incomplete"

It struck us that in the 25 years that Kenya had been battling the HIV epidemic, no one had tried targeting anal sex 

for preventing HIV transmission...

Yet we knew it happens and not just in the homosexual community, but also among some heterosexual couples... 

... an HIV prevention strategy that does not encompass 

anal health is simply incomplete. 

via allAfrica.com  - Research - Country in Denial Over Homosexuals

Research about homosexuality in Kenya suggests it's not just a decadent foreign influence, and it's not confined to tourists at the Coast. And one thing is certain: pretending it doesn't exist has its consequences.

It's hard to imagine a Kenya where homosexuality is viewed as anything but a moral and religious abomination. The majority still link it to foreign influences or drug abuse, or dismiss it as a perverted habit practised in upper class social cliques.

As the national debate intensifies, interviews with a few gay Kenyans, and five years of research conducted by the Kemri/Wellcome Trust Research Programme in Kilifi, challenge these bedrock cultural and religious beliefs around homosexuality.

Read the rest.

Uganda: Campaigns tackle "the complexity of sexuality"

[Seems to IRMA that microbicides could be useful tool in relationships, where condoms are seldomly used. What are your thoughts on "zero-grazing", "Go Red for Fidelity", "True Manhood" and other campaigns?]

From UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - June 22, 2009

KAMPALA, 22 June 2009 (PlusNews) - New HIV prevention campaigns in Uganda are beginning to reflect the complexity of sexual relations, but experts warn they constitute only a small first step.

"Go Red for Fidelity" is one approach; it seeks to encourage faithfulness within marriage or long-term relationships, where over 40 percent of new infections reportedly occur.

"The Go Red campaign highlights the complexity of adult sexuality, which is something we haven't really approached before," said Cathy Watson, executive director of the Straight Talk Foundation, a local NGO that produces mass media messages on HIV for young people.

Uganda's much-lauded prevention campaign in the 1990s cut HIV prevalence in the adult population from about 18 percent to roughly six percent in 2000. But over the past few years prevalence has begun to creep up again, to around 6.4 percent.

A UNAIDS Modes of Transmission survey completed in 2008 found that 43 percent of new HIV infections in Uganda occurred in monogamous relationships, highlighting the need for prevention messages to shift from the traditional target of unmarried youth.

That is the point of "Go Red", according to Monica Ariyo Rukundo, the spokesperson for Program for Accessible Health, Communication and Education (PACE), which runs the campaign in conjunction with the Uganda AIDS Commission (UAC).

"After a strong emphasis on 'zero-grazing' [a campaign promoting faithfulness to one sexual partner] in the 1990s, the focus changed; it stopped being the marrieds," Rukundo said. "This campaign is trying to encourage marriage and promote mutual faithfulness among 25-to-45 year-olds."

Since February 2009, billboards, television and radio spots, wristbands and viral text messages have encouraged Ugandans to be 'Reliable, Exceptional and Dependable'. The campaign seeks to "create a movement of passionate fidelity ambassadors" who identify themselves by wearing a splash of red "as a spark to ignite a conversation", the web site says.

Other recent public awareness programmes have also tried to deal with the more complex aspects of HIV transmission: an earlier PACE campaign focused on curbing cross-generational sex, while True Manhood, launched in June by local NGO, Young People Empowered and Healthy (YEAH), targets young men and the factors like alcohol abuse and transactional sex that puts them at high risk.

Read the rest