IRMA-led Global Collaboration Supports Lubricant Advocacy Projects in Africa

Social marketing material developed by Centre for Popular Education and Human Rights, a 2014 GLAM grantee in Ghana

AVAC, amfar, COC Netherlands and International Rectal Microbicide Advocates (IRMA) are pleased to announce seven Global Lube Access Mobilisation (GLAM) awards to projects in Africa.

GLAM, an initiative of IRMA’s Project ARM (Africa for Rectal Microbicides) in collaboration with amfAR, AVAC, and COC Netherlands, promotes advocacy in support of increased access to safe, condom-compatible lubricants for all Africans who engage in anal and vaginal intercourse, including GMT (gay men and other men who have sex with men, and transgender individuals) and heterosexual men and women.

In response to a request for proposals widely disseminated in February 2014, GLAM partners received 36 proposals representing 17 African countries (Botswana, Cameroun, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe). A diverse team of 20 advocates and public health professionals with an interest in lubricant access in Africa (from Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya, Zambia, Liberia, South Africa, Rwanda, Benin, Canada, Netherlands and the United States) reviewed the proposals.

Seven projects were selected for funding. These projects began in early July 2014 and will complete their efforts in December 2014. Following is a list of these projects.

Alternatives Cameroun (Douala, Cameroun)
Working in collaboration with other organizations in Douala and Yaoundé, Alternatives Cameroun plans to organize meetings and workshops with health officials and other HIV stakeholders in the country. The meetings and workshops will underscore the importance of providing safe, condom-compatible lubricant as part of comprehensive HIV and STI prevention programming. These activities support the ultimate goal of developing and securing a channel for the distribution of safe, condom-compatible lubricant throughout Cameroun.

Centre for Popular Education and Human Rights (Accra, Ghana)
Centre for Popular Education and Human Rights (CEPEHRG) will campaign to increase access, availability, and use of safe, affordable, condom-compatible lubricant by all who engage in sexual intercourse in Ghana, with special attention given to the LGBT community. The group will call for the inclusion of condom-compatible lubricant in the national essential drug list. Educational and social marketing efforts will take place at the community outreach level and through CEPEHRG’s national advocacy work.

Centre Stage Media Arts Foundation (Bulawayo, Zimbabwe)
Centre Stage Media Arts Foundation (CSMA) will convene policy advisory seminars to engage stakeholders from the Ministry of Health, legislators and members of civil society in support of three goals. One, integrate access to safe, condom-compatible lubricant in the Zimbabwe National HIV/AIDS Strategic Plan. Two, advocate for inclusion of lube as a line item in the national HIV prevention budget. Three, campaign for policy and program changes to allow for the distribution of lube through the same public health distribution channels that condoms are distributed through. A policy brief on the integration of lube access into national HIV prevention policies and programs will be produced. Traditional and social media will be utilized.

Community Health Education Services & Advocacy (Dar es Salaam, Tanzania)Securing government leadership and commitment to amend the national condom policy and include the provision of safe, condom-compatible lubricant in public health facilities is the chief goal of Community Health Education Services & Advocacy (CHESA). The group will work to build multi-sectorial awareness of the importance of lubricant and will engage the Minister of Health and Social Welfare, health care practitioners, community based organizations, as well as members of the GMT community. The public health message will be “Condom Compatible Lubricant Reduces New HIV Infections.”

Men Against AIDS Youth Group (Kisumu, Kenya)
Men Against AIDS Youth Group (MAAYGO) seeks to increase access to safe, condom-compatible lubricants through several methods. The group will conduct a needs assessment and implement a targeted advocacy campaign in Kisumu County for the GMT community, health care workers, and policy makers. Educational workshops will be conducted with the goal of developing a cadre of lube access advocates who will work to improve government policies and programs. A print/social marketing campaign highlighting the importance of lubricant access in HIV/STI prevention programming will be launched.

New HIV Vaccine and Microbicide Advocacy Society (Lagos, Nigeria)
The strategy New HIV Vaccine and Microbicide Advocacy Society (NHVMAS) will take to improve lubricant access in Nigeria will be to create public demand for these important products for both men and women. Advocacy will be conducted at the state and national levels to promote government investment in lube access. NHVMAS will utilize its listserv, engage the media, and conduct trainings to enhance community awareness of the importance of safe, condom-compatible lubricant in HIV/STI prevention programming.

Partners in Health Research and Development (Thika, Kenya)
The work of Partners in Health Research and Development (PHRD) will seek to improve knowledge of and access to condoms and safe, condom-compatible lubricant among key populations in Kenya. In addition, the group will undertake actions in support of the establishment of a sustainable condom and lubricant delivery system. Sensitisation sessions will be conducted for stakeholders including HIV prevention advocates, civil society coalitions, policy makers, government officials, donors, condom distributors and the media. The inclusion of safe, condom-compatible lubricant in the National Strategic Plan is one of the project’s key projected milestones.


Related materials:

Click here for the GLAM Toolkit in English in French.

The GLAM initiative supported three African projects in 2013. Click here for a GLAM PowerPoint presentation that includes information on these projects.

Click here to access the Project ARM report, "On the Map: Ensuring Africa's Place in Rectal Microbicide Research and Advocacy", published in 2012.

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*Join IRMA's robust, highly-active. moderated, global listserv addressing rectal microbicide research and advocacy as well as other interesting new HIV prevention technologies by contacting us at rectalmicro@gmail.com. Joining our listserv automatically makes you a member of IRMA - a network of more than 1,100 advocates, scientists, policy makers and funders from all over the world.

*Please look for us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/InternationalRectalMicrobicideAdvocates, and you can follow us on Twitter: @rectalmicro.

  *Also, please note that shared news items from other sources posted on this blog, Facebook, and Twitter do not necessarily mean IRMA has taken any position on the article's content.

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Sept 10 at #USCA2013 - Everything You Need to Know About #Anal Health

This Tuesday, September 10 at the United States Conference on AIDS in New Orleans join IRMA and friends from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. for this fun workshop on anal health and rectal microbicide research and advocacy.

Session 5: Imperial 9, Level 4. See ya there - show your rectal pride!

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 *Join IRMA's robust, highly-active. moderated, global listserv addressing rectal microbicide research and advocacy as well as other interesting new HIV prevention technologies by contacting us at rectalmicro@gmail.com. Joining our listserv automatically makes you a member of IRMA - a network of more than 1,200 advocates, scientists, policy makers and funders from all over the world.

*Please look for us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/InternationalRectalMicrobicideAdvocates, and you can follow us on Twitter: @rectalmicro.

 *Also, please note that shared news items from other sources posted on this blog do not necessarily mean IRMA has taken any position on the article's content.

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Meet Coco Alinsug, A Friendly Rectal Microbicide Advocate

Check out this interesting mini-bio of  Coco Alinsug, the latest in IRMA's "Meet a Friendly Rectal Microbicide Advocate" series on the IRMA website here.  Coco is one of five new bios posted this week.

  
Coco Alinsung
Boston, Massachusettes, USA

A native of the Philippines and a resident of Lynn, Massachusetts with his partner, Coco Alinsug has made a lifelong commitment to devote his time and energy to social justice, HIV/AIDS prevention, and issues facing LGBT youth.

Coco started his career as an HIV Counselor and Tester at the Gay and Bi Men's Health Program in Beverly, MA and later was appointed as the Executive Director of the North Shore Alliance on GLBT Youth which is funded by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health to provide HIV/STI education to youth 14-24 years old - a position he has held for eight years.

Currently Coco works as the Clinical Trials Field Recruitment Manager at The Fenway Institute where he has been for nearly seven years. It was in this role that Coco first came into contact with rectal microbicide advocacy as he was tasked with recruitment for all clinical trials, including the rectal microbicide study called Project Gel.

In his role at Fenway, Coco oversees outreach and recruitment for research studies looking at everything from possible HIV vaccines to microbicides to the use of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to prevent HIV transmission. Coco and his team travel around New England, educating people about HIV and STD transmission and safer sex practices while also recruiting potential study participants.

Coco is also Chair for Community Education and Recruitment group for both HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN) and HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN) and sits as a member of the protocol team for two studies, HVTN505 and HPTN069. Coco also is a consultant for various HIV and STD Outreach Programs both in the North Shore and Boston, and sometimes organizes and hosts shows in several clubs.

Coco would also like to encourage IRMA to keep up the good work and always stay fabulous.

Thank you for all your work Coco, and you stay fabulous too!


------------------- *Join IRMA's robust, highly-active. moderated, global listserv addressing rectal microbicide research and advocacy as well as other interesting new HIV prevention technologies by contacting us at rectalmicro@gmail.com. Joining our listserv automatically makes you a member of IRMA - a network of more than 1,100 advocates, scientists, policy makers and funders from all over the world.

*Please look for us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/InternationalRectalMicrobicideAdvocates, and you can follow us on Twitter: @rectalmicro.

*Also, please note that shared news items from other sources posted on this blog do not necessarily mean IRMA has taken any position on the article's content. -------------------

Press Release: More than 500 Endorsers Demand Answers on Lubricant Safety

 

Global coalition of organizations and individuals calls for research agenda to determine safety of sexual lubricants

For Immediate Release

June 12, 2013 – Over 500 organizations and individuals from nearly 60 countries have endorsed a Global Call to Action on Lubricant Safety. They all demand answers on whether sexual lubricants are safe for vaginal and anal intercourse. As the Call to Action points out, there are more questions than answers about the safety of sexual lubricants, and there are concerns that some of the products available on store shelves and at community-based organizations worldwide may actually cause harm.

International Rectal Microbicide Advocates (IRMA) launched the call to action, which prominent organizations across the globe subsequently endorsed, including the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), the Global Network of People Living with HIV (GNP+), the Global Network of Sex Work Projects, the Johns Hopkins Center for Public Health and Human Rights in the U.S., the Microbicide Trials Network, the Gay Men’s Health Crisis, National Black Gay Men’s Advocacy Coalition, Chicago Women’s AIDS Project, Woodhull Sexual Freedom Alliance, the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation, African Men for Sexual Health and Rights, Terrence Higgins Trust, the Canadian AIDS Society, Asia Pacific Coalition on Male Sexual Health, and numerous other organizations devoted to sexual health and HIV prevention.

Several lubricant manufacturers—such as Trigg Laboratories (makers of WET), Davryan Laboratories (PROBE), Gel Works Pty (Wet Stuff), The Yes Yes Company (Yes), and Abra Advanced Research International Pte (SuperSlyde)—also joined this overwhelming global demand for answers on lubricant safety.

“After more than thirty years of the HIV pandemic, we still have no clear answers on whether sexual lubricants increase, decrease, or have no impact on the risk of acquiring HIV and other STIs,” said Marc-André LeBlanc, coordinator of IRMA’s International Lubricant Safety Working Group. “This is unacceptable. We urgently need a Lubricant Safety Research Agenda that will provide answers on lubricant safety.”

“Many men, women and transgender individuals all across the globe use sexual lubricants for both vaginal and anal intercourse," said Jim Pickett, IRMA chair. “Public health has long promoted the use of condoms with condom-compatible water-based or silicone-based lubricants to prevent HIV and other STIs. Lubricants help ensure condoms don’t break, and that condoms stay on during sex. So, it’s pretty critical we understand if any of these condom-compatible lubricants could actually be putting people in harm’s way.”

There are hundreds of different sexual lubricants on the market; however, researchers have only tested a few for tissue damage and to preliminarily assess potential impact on HIV and STIs. Because of this and relatively inconclusive results, it is nearly impossible to recommend or argue against specific brands of water-based or silicone-based lubricants.

While releasing this list of endorsers, IRMA continues to promote the development of a lubricant safety research agenda in partnership with advocates, researchers, and manufacturers across the globe. IRMA is working closely with key partners, such as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which is conducting lube safety research, and the United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which is developing a Lube Safety Research Agenda with its Scientific Advisory Board.

IRMA eagerly awaits the release of data from the CDC’s latest study and PEPFAR’s Lube Safety Research Agenda. The new data and a PEPFAR -endorsed research agenda will move the lube safety issue forward.

“As a lubricant manufacturer, we are committed to working with advocates, funders, researchers and regulators to develop the safest possible products,” stated Sarah Brooks, CEO of Yes Yes Company Ltd. “That is why we enthusiastically endorse the Global Call to Action on Lubricant Safety. We want to be active partners by lending our expertise as a lubricant manufacturer.”

# # # #

Founded in 1985 by community activists and physicians, the AIDS Foundation of Chicago (AFC) is a catalyst for local, national, and international action against HIV/AIDS.

International Rectal Microbicide Advocates (IRMA) is a global network, housed at AFC, comprised of more than 1,200 advocates, scientists, policy makers and funders focused on rectal microbicide research and advocacy and related issues such as the safety of sexual lubricants.

See the Global Call to Action on Lubricant Safety and the complete list of endorsers here.

Learn more about lubricant safety here.

 

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*Join IRMA's robust, highly-active. moderated, global listserv addressing rectal microbicide research and advocacy as well as other interesting new HIV prevention technologies by contacting us at rectalmicro@gmail.com. Joining our listserv automatically makes you a member of IRMA - a network of more than 1,100 advocates, scientists, policy makers and funders from all over the world.

 

*Please look for us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/InternationalRectalMicrobicideAdvocates, and you can follow us on Twitter: @rectalmicro. *Also, please note that shared news items from other sources posted on this blog do not necessarily mean IRMA has taken any position on the article's content.

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Global Call to Action: Demand Answers on Lubricant Safety (Have You Endorsed Yet?)

Have you or your organization endorsed the Global Call to Action Demanding Answers on Lubricant Safety?

Since Valentine's Day, 140 organizations and 293 individuals in nearly fifty countries have endorsed the call to action - and numbers continue to grow! Please add your name if you haven’t already. Full lists of endorsers is below.

Background:

Recent studies have raised questions about the impact of sexual lubricants on the risk of acquiring HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

It is outrageous that more than 30 years into the HIV pandemic, we don’t know whether sexual lubricants increase, decrease or have no impact on the risk of acquiring HIV and other STIs. In fact, it is only recently that most advocates, HIV prevention workers, researchers and regulators have even realised that we don’t yet know the answers to these fundamental questions.

Today, there are only a few disparate studies related to lube safety underway. These studies do not form part of an overarching plan to answer questions about lubricant safety because there isn’t one.

This is unacceptable. We demand answers on lubricant safety.

Click here to endorse the call: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CalltoActionLubeSafety

We demand a Lubricant Safety Research Agenda and insist upon its quick implementation. We must know whether or not various types of sexual lubricants are safe for vaginal and rectal use. We must understand fully what impact they have on the risk of acquiring HIV and STIs.

•As advocates, funders, researchers, lubricant manufacturers and regulators, we are committed to come together to develop and implement a Lubricant Safety Research Agenda.

•As advocates, we support more research, funding, and collaboration to determine whether lubricants are safe.

•As funders, we will support the research and collaborative work required to determine whether lubricants are safe. Funding for lubricant safety research will not come out of budgets for microbicide research or other new prevention technologies.

•As researchers, we will conduct the appropriate studies required to determine whether lubricants are safe.

•As lubricant manufacturers, we will list the ingredients used to manufacture lubricants and work with researchers and regulators to ensure that our products are safe.

•As regulators, we will provide guidance into the research data required to ensure that lubricants available on the market are safe.

Endorse the Call to Action on Lubricant Safety

Men, women and transgender people from around the globe who engage in vaginal or anal intercourse deserve access to safe, condom-compatible sexual lubricants.

Please endorse this global Call to Action on Lubricant Safety. You may endorse the Call to Action as an individual or as an organization.

Click here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CalltoActionLubeSafety


Endorsements –  both lists in formation, next page

GMHC presents: The Bottom Line on Rectal Microbicide Research - 1/23/13 in NYC

You are invited to a discussion and video presentation on rectal microbicide research and advocacy with IRMA and friends at Gay Men's Health Crisis in NYC, from 10am til noon on Wednesday, January 23, 2013.

View a special screening of the new video "The Rectal Revolution is Here: An introduction to rectal microbicide clinical trials."

Light refreshments will be provided. Event is FREE and open to the public.

For more details, click here for the fyer. Or click on the image below.

Click image to enlarge.

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*Join IRMA's robust, highly-active. moderated, global listserv addressing rectal microbicide research and advocacy as well as other interesting new HIV prevention technologies by contacting us at rectalmicro@gmail.com. Joining our listserv automatically makes you a member of IRMA - a network of more than 1,100 advocates, scientists, policy makers and funders from all over the world.

*Please look for us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/InternationalRectalMicrobicideAdvocates, and you can follow us on Twitter: @rectalmicro.

  *Also, please note that shared news items from other sources posted on this blog do not necessarily mean IRMA has taken any position on the article's content.

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Chemical & Engineering News: Studies Raise Questions About Safety Of Personal Lubricants

via Chemical & Engineering News, by Lauren K. Wolf

Although most people will list only K-Y Jelly when asked to recall the names of personal lubricants, hundreds of the products are being used for sex across the globe. These sex aids are designed to make things easier. So it’s a little unsettling that experiments carried out in recent years have indicated that some of the products might be smoothing the way for disease transmission.
 

Used to reduce friction and increase pleasure during intercourse, lubricants are about a $219 million market in the U.S. alone, according to the Chicago-based market research firm SymphonyIRI Group.

But a handful of studies have called into question the safety of these sex aids, although none have shown cut-and-dried proof of risk. Some of the experiments have shown that personal lubricants can damage cells lining both the vagina and rectum, potentially making the body more vulnerable to sexually transmitted infections (STIs). And one epidemiological investigation, published early this year, reported that participants who consistently used personal lubricants for rectal intercourse had a higher prevalence of STIs, such as chlamydia, than inconsistent users (Sex. Transm. Dis., DOI: 10.1097/olq.0b013e318235502b).

Complicating matters is that these same lubricants are being eyed as components of low-cost microbicide gels that could protect people from HIV. The thinking is that because so many people already use the sex aids, they will go right on using them for pleasure as well as protection once a virus-killing drug is added. But the new safety concerns about lubricants have made researchers consider reformulating the gels.

Still, most of the recent lab-based safety studies conducted on personal lubricants fall short of indicting the products. “We have signals that are concerning,” says Jim Pickett, chair of the International Rectal Microbicide Advocates (IRMA) group, a global network pushing for safe and effective STI-preventing products. “But we don’t know what they mean yet. Just because a lubricant causes cell damage in the lab, we don’t know whether that has anything to do with disease transmission in humans in the real world.”

In response, Johnson & Johnson, which dominates the personal lubricant market with its K-Y brand products, says, “We continually review new research as it evolves. K-Y brand products have provided effective lubrication and moisturization for millions of couples and are safe when used as directed.”

Right now, the Food & Drug Administration doesn’t typically require testing of personal lubricants in humans. The agency classifies them as medical devices, so the sex aids have to be tested on animals such as rabbits and guinea pigs. Rectal use of lubricants is viewed by the agency as an “off-label” application—use at your own risk.

Read the rest.

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*Join IRMA's robust, highly-active. moderated, global listserv addressing rectal microbicide research and advocacy as well as other interesting new HIV prevention technologies by contacting us at rectalmicro@gmail.com. Joining our listserv automatically makes you a member of IRMA - a network of more than 1,100 advocates, scientists, policy makers and funders from all over the world.

*Please look for us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/InternationalRectalMicrobicideAdvocates, and you can follow us on Twitter: @rectalmicro. *Also, please note that shared news items from other sources posted on this blog do not necessarily mean IRMA has taken any position on the article's content.

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Married 'Heterosexual' Kenyan Men Who Have Sex With Other Men Form Support Group

via Identity Kenya

A new group of otherwise heterosexual men who engage in sexual activity with other men has been formed to create awareness on HIV and also fight blackmail that most of their members have fallen prey to.

The group, Married Men Initiative (MMI), so far, boasts of fifty to sixty married men who meet regularly in social places to talk and interact.

‘Over 90% of the members are married to women; some have children from their marriages and the other 10% consists of men with girlfriends or are live-in marriages,’ said Samuel Kabuga*, one of the members to Identity Kenya.

Most of the members are deeply closeted out of fear of being outed and to avoid blackmailing by those who take advantage of their marital status. Apart from the risk of contracting HIV through unprotected anal sex, most married men face also face extortion from some of their boyfriends.

‘One of the main reasons we formed the group was to offer support and aid to those members who had fallen prey to blackmailers. These are people, who after sex, demand for money and knowing that we are married or in the closet, take advantage of that,’ said Otieno*, a member said.

Read the rest.


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*Join IRMA's robust, highly-active. moderated, global listserv addressing rectal microbicide research and advocacy as well as other interesting new HIV prevention technologies by contacting us at rectalmicro@gmail.com. Joining our listserv automatically makes you a member of IRMA - a network of more than 1,100 advocates, scientists, policy makers and funders from all over the world.

*Please look for us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/InternationalRectalMicrobicideAdvocates, and you can follow us on Twitter: @rectalmicro.

*Also, please note that shared news items from other sources posted on this blog do not necessarily mean IRMA has taken any position on the article's content.
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Kenya's HIV Challenge: Easing Stigma For Gay Men

via NPR, by Jason Beaubien

Health officials in Kenya say reducing the transmission of HIV among gay men is a central part of their national AIDS strategy. But they face serious challenges, including the fact that homosexuality is still a crime in the East African nation.

HIV rates among gay and bisexual men in Kenya are far higher than the national average.

Mutisiya Leonard, who runs an HIV prevention, treatment and support program for men who have sex with men in northwestern Kenya, says homosexuality is so stigmatized in Africa that many men don't want to refer to themselves as gay. This makes reaching them with safe-sex messages and HIV-prevention campaigns difficult. These men are reluctant to seek medical care for sexually transmitted diseases, he says, and they don't want to get tested for HIV.

Nationwide, roughly 6 percent of adults in Kenya are infected with HIV. But the rate among men who have gay sex is more than three times the national average. Among male prostitutes in the capital, Nairobi, 41 percent are infected.

In order to address HIV in any community, health workers need to be able to get people to talk frankly and honestly about their sex lives. But Leonard says gay men in Kenya face stigma, discrimination, violence and even jail if they come out of the closet. "The fear of the law, the fear of arrest makes it difficult for people to be open about it," he says.

Read the rest.


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*Join IRMA's robust, highly-active. moderated, global listserv addressing rectal microbicide research and advocacy as well as other interesting new HIV prevention technologies by contacting us at rectalmicro@gmail.com. Joining our listserv automatically makes you a member of IRMA - a network of more than 1,100 advocates, scientists, policy makers and funders from all over the world.

*Please look for us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/InternationalRectalMicrobicideAdvocates, and you can follow us on Twitter: @rectalmicro.

*Also, please note that shared news items from other sources posted on this blog do not necessarily mean IRMA has taken any position on the article's content.
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aidsmap: HIV treatment may be stabilising HIV epidemic in Danish gay men

via aidsmap, by Michael Carter

Excerpt:

Danish safe-sex poster from '89

“While unsafe sex among MSM [men who have sex with men] has increased substantially and the number of HIV-positive MSM living in Denmark has enlarged, the incidence of HIV diagnoses in this population has remained stable for more than a decade,” write the authors. “Our findings indicate that this paradox is due to effective antiretroviral therapy and not increased awareness of safe sex.”

Read the rest.



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*Join IRMA's robust, highly-active. moderated, global listserv addressing rectal microbicide research and advocacy as well as other interesting new HIV prevention technologies by contacting us at rectalmicro@gmail.com. Joining our listserv automatically makes you a member of IRMA - a network of more than 1,100 advocates, scientists, policy makers and funders from all over the world.

*Also, please note that shared news items from other sources posted on this blog do not necessarily mean IRMA has taken any position on the article's content.

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Sexually Explicit Media Analyzed as a Means for Preventive Education

via Huffington Post, by John-Manuel Andriote

Public health officials recommended early in the AIDS epidemic that HIV-prevention education be targeted and explicit, using language and images familiar to those it is intended to reach. Controversy has swirled ever since over what, exactly, is meant by "explicit" prevention education and who should pay for it.

Prevention educators recognized early on the potential of sexually explicit media (also known as porn) to provide instruction in the mechanics of safe sex and, they hoped, increase the use of condoms and practice of safe sex among gay and bisexual men.

In the late 1980s, Boston's AIDS Action Committee attempted to produce a safe sex film featuring porn star Al Parker. Cindy Patton, who today teaches sociology at Simon Fraser University, in Vancouver, worked on the project. Writing about it in her 1996 book Fatal Advice: How Safe Sex Education Went Wrong, Patton explained that the video wasn't intended to "eroticize" safe sex, but rather "to retrieve already and always safe activities" gay men might do together that seemed to have been lost in the shuffle as everyone focused singlemindedly on eliminating unprotected anal sex.

"Porn videos," wrote Patton, "are useful if they suggest positive attitudes about gay male sexuality because that helps create and sustain a social environment in which safe sex is practiced because it is viewed as a positive aspect of gay male sexuality." The group at AIDS Action Committee reasoned that gay men would practice safe sex if they were persuaded to view it as something positive rather than as a kind of punishment for being gay -- as many men seemed to see it.

Although the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that "men who have sex with men" (MSM) comprise only 2 percent of the American population, we consume as much as 50 percent of the porn produced and sold in this country, annually spending as much as $6.5 billion on it.

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.]

The Role of Sexually Explicit Media (SEM) in the Transmission and Prevention of HIV Among MSM

via AIDS and Behavior, by B. R. Simon Rosser, Jeremy A. Grey, J. Michael Wilkerson, Alex Iantaffi, Sonya S. Brady, Derek J. Smolenski and Keith J. Horvath

Abstract

Although research has been conducted over the last half century to test the hypothesis that pornography, or sexually explicit media (SEM), influences behavior, information regarding usage and its effect on men who have sex with men (MSM) is limited. It is important for researchers studying online risk factors for HIV to consider the relationship between SEM consumption and risky sexual behavior, particularly given the exponential increase in SEM exposure as a result of the near-compulsory use of the Internet. In this commentary, we review findings regarding this relationship from studies of international and heterosexual populations. We then suggest future directions for research regarding MSM in the United States and practical applications of such research if the results from other populations extend to them. Research suggests there might be ways to use SEM to create innovative approaches to online HIV prevention, particularly among such at-risk populations as youth and MSM of lower socio-economic statuses.

Read the full study 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.]

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.

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.]

Reasons behind high risk behaviors in Chinese MSM

via BMC Public Health, by Guanzhi Chen, Yang Li, Beichuan Zhang, Zengzhao Yu, Xiufang Li, Lixin Wang, Ziming Yu

Background

Men who have sex with men (MSM) have become a high-risk group of HIV infection in China. To date, little is known regarding the behavioral, social and psychological characteristics in Chinese MSM, which makes the implementation of preventive and therapeutic strategies for this high-risk subpopulation of people extremely difficult.

Methods

A total of 714 questionnaires were retrieved from the database of a Chinese government-sponsored National Key Research Project titled "Risk Analysis and Strategic Prevention of HIV Transmission from MSM to the General Population in China". The respondents were categorized into a high-risk group and a control group. Their behavioral, social and psychological characteristics were comparatively analyzed.

Results

Of the 714 MSM analyzed, 59 (8.26%) had high-risk homosexual behaviors. This sub-group of MSM had a higher in-marriage rate, a higher monthly income, heavier alcohol consumption and more serious problems with sexual abuse in childhood, intentional suicide attempts and mistaken assumption on condom's role in protecting HIV infection, as compared with the control group (P < 0.05). In contrast, the two groups did not differ significantly the sexual orientation, level of education, types of profession, drug use, condom use and experience of social stigma and discrimination (P > 0.05). A vast majority of the individuals in both behavior categories expressed support of legally protected gay clubs as well as gay marriage legislation in China. There was a strong correlation between high-risk behaviors and sexual abuse in childhood, alcohol drinking, income level and a mistaken belief in perfect HIV protection through the use of condoms.

Conclusions

MSM with and without high-risk homosexual behaviors have different social and psychological characteristics, which should be taken into account when implementing behavioral and therapeutic interventions aimed at preventing HIV/AIDS transmission among MSM as well as from MSM to the general population in China.

Read the full study 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.]

Ongoing risk behaviour likely cause of high HIV incidence rate among gay men treated with PEP

via Aidsmap, by Michael Carter

HIV incidence is high among gay men who use post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), investigators from Amsterdam report in the online edition of AIDS.

Overall, users of PEP were almost four times more likely to become infected with HIV than gay men who did not use the therapy.

There was no evidence that PEP failure was the cause. The investigators believe this is because PEP users continued to put themselves risk of HIV after completing their treatment.

“Our study showed a high incidence of HIV among MSM [men who have sex with men] who used PEP, an indication of ongoing risk behaviour,” write the investigators. “This implies that PEP alone for this group is not sufficient to prevent HIV infection, and a combination of other more comprehensive preventative strategies is needed.”

HIV post-exposure prophylaxis is a four-week course of combination antiretroviral therapy, prescribed after an encounter with body fluids possibly infected with HIV.

It is estimated that the treatment can reduce the risk of infection by up to 81%.

Gay men are the group most likely to request PEP after a possible sexual exposure to HIV. Australian research has shown that gay men who used PEP continued to be at risk of HIV after completing their treatment.

Therefore, Dutch investigators compared HIV incidence among gay men prescribed PEP in Amsterdam between 2000 and 2009, and compared this to the rate of new infections seen over the same period among gay men enrolled in the Amsterdam Cohort Study.

A total of 355 men who received 395 PEP prescriptions were included in study. The majority of individuals took one course of PEP, but approximately 10% of men were provided with multiple prescriptions (two to four).

Adherence rates were high, with 94% of men completing their therapy. HIV status was monitored three and six months after baseline.

Eleven PEP users seroconverted. Two men tested HIV-positive at their three-month follow-up appointment; one individual who did not attend for his three month appointment was diagnosed at month six; and the remaining eight men were HIV-negative at month three, but were HIV-positive at month six.

This provided an HIV incidence of 6.4 per 100 person years among the individuals treatment with PEP.

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.]

When Condoms Ain't Enuf

via The Body, by Allen Kwabena Frimpong and Michael Terry Everett

"I also want to mention that we are increasingly becoming better at incorporating conversations about 'harm reduction' into the realms of substance use (needle exchanges, safe injection sites, pill testing, etc.), but we often fail to adequately translate this model when speaking of communicating risk reduction in sex (strategic positioning, sero-sorting, viral load suppression, etc.). My question back to the group then is, how do we more effectively communicate to young people the abstract concept of 'harm reduction' for sex within the context of a sex phobic society?"

This was a question posed by Jamie Forrest of Vancouver, Canada in the North America, Western Europe, and Caribbean CrowdOutAIDS Open Forum on Facebook. CrowdOutAIDS is UNAIDS new collaborative online youth-led project. He posed this question to the group after people were discussing what they considered to be the main reasons for HIV infection among young people.

Reading the responses on Facebook gave us one of those jolted reactions. The dominant message about sexual health in relation to HIV prevention has been focusing on condom usage. Jamie's question was one that I saw as challenging; given the propaganda that the HIV/AIDS field has been pushing around what it means to have safer sex. My colleague at the Harm Reduction Coalition, Michael T. Everett, was also raising this same question especially among young men who have sex with men (YMSM) of color given that their rates of infection have been steadily increasing while rates of infection among injection drug users has been on the decline.

The question for us became what (besides the exchange of needles) was accounting for the decrease in transmission of HIV among injection drug users, and how could we use what works in harm reduction messaging and education when it comes to drug use (if anything) for other high-risk populations greatly affected by the epidemic through sexual transmission. We considered this in light of the following:
a. We cannot exchange condoms like we do syringes.

b. We know people are not using condoms all the time, and the possibilities of HIV and other STI's has not scared enough people into doing so, and so ...

c. If people have been harboring condom use as the dominant end all be all harm reduction response- well then something is terribly wrong with this picture.

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.]

Pleasure as "Key Motivator" for Safe or Unsafe Sex

via The Pleasure Project, by Revati

I've been at the Asia Pacific AIDS conference for a week and so far, in all the sessions I have attended, only one person has spoken about pleasure and the need to recognise pleasure as a key motivator for safe or unsafe sex and that was a question from the audience.

But hurrah. At last I found someone who confronted the elephant in the room. Dr Malonzo, from Brokenshire College in The Phillipines, please step forward and take a bow.

Dr Malonzo’s study looks at why men having sex with men choose not to us condoms, or have “intentionally condom-less sex” aka “bare-backing”. bare- backing was initially a description used in the 1990′s by HIV positive men who declared their intention to have sex with other HIV positive men without condoms. It has now become the term used to describe condom less sex in a more generic view, regardless of HIV status. So for example, there are pornography studios who specialise in bare back films, sex workers or dating sites who use the term. Dr Malonzo studies the current phenomenon in Davao City in The Philippines in interviews with 40 young gay men.

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.]

PrEP: Prevention Revolution or Magical Thinking

One of the most exciting developments in the fight against HIV is a recent study that concluded that gay men could significantly reduce their risk of infection by taking an existing anti-HIV medication on a daily basis.


Earlier this month our friends at Feast of Fun and Lifelube hosted a forum in Chicago to discuss the iPrEx study published this winter. It was an energetic and exciting discussion with scientists, advocates, and real people taking the pill on the possibilities and concerns surrounding PrEP. For those too far or too busy to make it, Feast of Fun recorded the forum as a podcast, available for free on their website. Please check out the podcast and share your thoughts on the study.



Keith Green, Marc Felion, Dr. Bob Grant and Fausto Fernós - Forum Hosts and Participants


[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.]

HIV Risk of Anal Sex Misunderstood Among Heterosexuals

This news article features our very own Zoe Duby, an IRMA advocate and valued member of our community! Congratulations to Zoe, and thank you for working so hard as an advocate for rectal microbicides and HIV prevention in South Africa and worldwide.

Via PlusNews.

Vaginal sex, thigh sex, even armpit sex - people have sex in lots of ways, but in heterosexual anal sex, HIV prevention programming is silent about the high risk of infection that goes with it, and people may have mistaken this silence for safety.

The risk of contracting HIV through unprotected receptive anal sex is almost 20 times greater than the HIV risk associated with vaginal intercourse.

While this fact is often a focus in HIV prevention programming aimed at men-who-have-sex-with-men (MSM), it has been largely left out of programmes for heterosexuals, according to Zoe Duby of the University of Cape Town, South Africa, and the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation.

Duby presented the findings of her study, which interviewed almost 400 people in Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya, at the 1st HIV Social Sciences and Humanities Conference held recently in Durban, South Africa.

“Safer sex programming has, in my opinion, failed to take into account varying definitions of sex. The omission of anal sex in safe sex messaging has been interpreted as meaning that anal sex is safe,” she told IRIN/PlusNews.

“What people preach out there, it’s just vaginal sex - not information on anal [sex],” said a young woman from Salgaa, Kenya, who was quoted in the research. “So somebody thinks, ‘if I do [sex] this other way, then I will not get HIV.’”

Even more worrying was that research showed healthcare workers often held similar views, and some incorrectly believed HIV was only present in vaginal fluid. The virus is, in fact, also present in male sperm and blood.

“Me, I do not want to practice vaginal sex because that is the highest [risk] sex that transmits HIV, so it is a belief… that non-vaginal sex does not transmit HIV,” one Kenyan healthcare worker reported.

A nurse in Malaba, Uganda, said: “As you go and have sex vaginally you can get HIV, but these other methods, they do not expose you [to HIV].”

Read the rest 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.]

So, what about this "magic pill" that can prevent HIV?!

[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.]