The Black Informant | African American Commentary, News and Community Building

HIV rates soar among gay men in Asia
iht.com

By Tan Ee Lyn

Unprotected sex among gay and bisexual men is fueling the spread of HIV/AIDS in Asia, public health experts said urging governments to do more to fight the problem.

Discriminatory laws criminalising certain sexual behaviours, such as sodomy, ought to be repealed so these men can more easily obtain information on disease prevention, drugs and treatment, they told an HIV/AIDS seminar this week in Hong Kong.

“Unprotected male to male sex is once again fuelling the spread of HIV infection in the Asia Pacific,” Massimo Ghidinelli, regional HIV/AIDS advisor at the World Health Organisation told a news conference Friday.

“The situation is likely to get worse unless we collectively undertake very urgent action. There is a possibility it may even go out of control.”

HIV prevalence among gay and bisexual men in Bangkok rose to 30.7 percent in 2007 from 17.3 percent in 2003. In Jakarta, it increased to 8.1 percent from 2 percent within the same period. (more…)

So, let’s recap with similar stories around the world–including here in the US.

Dr De Cock, an epidemiologist who has spent much of his career leading the battle against the disease, said understanding of the threat posed by the virus had changed. Whereas once it was seen as a risk to populations everywhere, it was now recognised that, outside sub-Saharan Africa, it was confined to high-risk groups including men who have sex with men, injecting drug users, and sex workers and their clients.

[...]

Critics of the global Aids strategy complain that vast sums are being spent educating people about the disease who are not at risk, when a far bigger impact could be achieved by targeting high-risk groups and focusing on interventions known to work, such as circumcision, which cuts the risk of infection by 60 per cent, and reducing the number of sexual partners.

[...]

One of the danger areas for the Aids strategy was among men who had sex with men. He said: ” We face a bit of a crisis [in this area]. In the industrialised world transmission of HIV among men who have sex with men is not declining and in some places has increased.

[...]

In the US , the rate of infection among men in Washington DC is well over 100 times higher than in North Dakota, the region with the lowest rate. That is in one country. How do you explain such differences?“

And in the same post, I responded to that last excerpt with this~

“What is the number 1 complaint I hear from sistahs out in places like D.C., Atlanta, etc. regarding the men? I’ll let you guess that one. I don’t hear the same complaint coming from folks out in North Dakota.”

Also in that post, I challenged folks to stop using the face of African children infected with the virus as the face of AIDS. Instead, let’s deal with the real causes behind the heavy transmission of this disease (I broke down the common forms of risky sexual behavior in that post as well).

Folks keep saying we need to have an “honest discussion” on this issue. I say, let’s have one.