Despite the government's pro-gay stance, society's marginalizing and prejudice against men who have sex with men put them at a greater risk of contracting HIV, says UNAIDS.
Delegates from Hong Kong and Macau, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan voted unanimously last Friday to form a regional network to address similar epidemiological profiles, namely rapidly rising HIV and other STI infection rates amongst MSM and transgender people, among other commonalities.
70 delegates including health sector officials, researchers, United Nations officials and community representatives representing 40 organisations in Hong Kong/Macau, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, Thailand and China will convene at a landmark conference to be held in Singapore on Dec 2 & 3.
The Asia Internet MSM Sex Survey 2010 preliminary report which focuses on cross-country comparison was released at the Vienna AIDS conference on 22 July. The study is one of the largest of its kind in the world with 13,882 respondents. A more detailed analysis on risk factors will follow in a few months.
The world’s second-largest sex survey of men who have sex with men, focusing mainly on men in East and Southeast Asia, has found that 46% of those who had anal intercourse reported inconsistent condom use with casual partners, and higher levels of unprotected sex with regular partners.
If you are a man who has sex with other men, or a transgendered person, we invite you to participate in our community-driven survey. Participation is open to all those living in Asia.
Among other things, the survey found that 31% of respondents did not using condoms consistently with a regular male partner, and 21% did not use condoms consistently with their casual male partners.
Men who have sex with men (MSM) are 19 times more likely to be infected with HIV than the general population, yet nearly half of the 128 country reports fail to provide any data on MSM, says AIDS group amFAR.
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