New Asia Pacific Statistics Reveal an Alarming Incidence of HIV in MSM

New Asia Pacific Statistics Reveal an Alarming Incidence of HIV in MSM

November 29, 2007

APCOM Ready to Play a Key Role as Governments and Civil
Society in the Region Ponder Urgent Strategies to Tackle
the Crisis


    NEW DELHI, India, BEIJING and BANGKOK, Thailand, Nov.
29 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- On World AIDS Day 2007, hundreds,
perhaps thousands, of men who have sex with men (MSM) will
become infected with HIV in cities across the Asia Pacific,
becoming the latest statistics in an almost unrecognized but
ever-growing crisis that many governments in the region are
only just beginning to grapple with.  As these efforts take
shape, the Asia Pacific Coalition on Male Sexual Health
(APCOM) is offering its partnership to develop and support
new strategies aimed at tackling this regional challenge.

    Paradoxically, it may be more challenging for APCOM to
draw attention to the MSM HIV issue.  The recent adjustment
downwards of global HIV and AIDS figures has been construed
in some quarters as an indication that the AIDS crisis has
been "exaggerated" all along.  However, APCOM and
the stakeholders it represents are urging the Asia Pacific
region, and indeed the world, not to confuse the true
picture.

    Most MSM who contract HIV in city after city in the
Asia Pacific region will never know they harbour the virus
until they become ill with advanced symptoms.  Without that
knowledge, they probably will not change the very behaviours
that put them, as well as their partners and loved ones, at
risk.  A recent survey in a major Asian capital suggested
as many as 32% of MSM there are HIV positive.  In other
cities across the region, HIV infection rates for MSM range
from estimates anywhere from 5% to 15% or 20% and higher.  

    "Despite MSM having higher infection rates than
the general adult population, the financial investment for
HIV prevention, care and support services for this
marginalized group across the Asia Pacific is abysmally low
in national HIV and AIDS programme planning, usually between
zero and four percent," says Shivananda Khan, APCOM
Chairperson and CEO of Naz Foundation International. 
"Less than one in ten MSM in the region have access to
any sort of HIV services, woefully short of the eight in ten
that UNAIDS describes as optimal coverage necessary for
high-risk groups.  Is it any surprise then that we really
don't have a clear picture of the true extent of the HIV
crisis affecting men who have sex with men?"

    Edmund Settle, HIV/AIDS Programme Manager for UNDP
China, concurs.  "You've got these really alarming
statistics of ten, 20, 30 percent HIV infection rates among
MSM in some major cities, but when you ask whether this
picture holds true across other urban centres, or even in
suburban or rural areas, the answer's not at all simple. 
It ranges from `Yes, it's somewhat likely' to `Well, we're
not really certain.' Still, we do know more today than just
a couple of years ago."

    That growing clarity comes from a recent review of
available data, soon to be released by UNAIDS, that
describes the epidemiology of HIV and sexually transmitted
infections (STI), and behaviours of MSM in the Asia Pacific
region that put them at considerable risk of HIV and STI. 
As the paper states: "Severe and established HIV
epidemics are found among MSM in some countries while
imminent or beginning HIV epidemics were observed in
others."  The review also recommends ways to change
policy and programming that would confront this challenge
and help improve the situation.   

    "This collection of data in the upcoming review
allows us to highlight more accurately than before the
extent of the HIV scenario vis-¨¤-vis MSM in our
region," according to Geoff Manthey, Regional Advisor
on MSM for Asia Pacific UNAIDS Regional Support Team
(RST-AP).  "It also comes at a most opportune time,
with the recent creation of the Asia Pacific Coalition on
Male Sexual Health.  We hope that the work of APCOM, and
its strength in bringing together representatives from
governments, the UN system, donors and NGOs side by side
with affected communities will finally make the difference
in creating a truly regional strategy to address the MSM
HIV crisis -- and yes, even though it's an overused word or
sounds like a clich¨¦, this is a crisis, make no mistake
about that."

    In 2006, a year before APCOM's creation, JVR Prasada
Rao, director of UNAIDS RST-AP, had warned that "data
in Asia show that without interventions, male to male sex
will become one of the main sources of new HIV infections
in the region."  He added, "We are facing a
public health crisis, but you would never know it from the
region's almost invisible response so far" -- a fact
supported by a UNAIDS report published this past August,
Men who have sex with men -- the missing piece in national
responses to AIDS in Asia and the Pacific.

    The China Center for Disease Control and Prevention
(CCDC) recently stated that HIV prevention for MSM was the
latest hurdle for the government's drive to curb a
fast-rising AIDS epidemic.  In fact, China -- the world's
most populous nation -- was the first country in the region
to issue a specific national framework on MSM and HIV, which
calls for urgent efforts to engage civil society in a
concerted effort to reach out to men who have sex with men.
China recently reported that male to male sexual
transmission now accounts for 12.5 percent of new HIV cases
in 2007, up from 2.5 percent in 2005.

    Reflecting the growing regional awareness for enhanced
surveillance that incorporates epidemiology as well as
sociocultural awareness, the Center for HIV/AIDS/STI (CHAS)
in Laos PDR has conducted the first survey of HIV among MSM
in Laos and will soon be releasing the results.  As
governments and health partners across the Asia Pacific
wake up to the realization that national HIV prevention
strategies must include a significant MSM component, APCOM
and its partners stand ready to support and strengthen such
approaches.  

    "All of these surveys, these papers, these data
and statistics represent hope that our region is making a
breakthrough," says Dede Oetomo, who sits on APCOM's
interim governing board and is a noted long-time gay
activist in Indonesia, a country with limited but
successful and well-documented results in HIV and STI
prevention among MSM.  "However, the good work that's
emerged in recent times also serves as a warning that the
hard work now really begins.  With the multisectoral
strength that APCOM provides, we are poised to finally
reach out to MSM groups in a way that hasn't been possible
before.  It's an important, exciting time -- full of
challenges, yet full of promise. Let's go forward now and
get the work done."

    For more information, please contact:

     Shivananda Khan / New Delhi: [phone] 
(mobile) 
     Paul Causey / Bangkok:       [phone]  
(mobile)
     Edmund Settle / Beijing:     [phone]
(mobile)
     Geoff Manthey / Bangkok:     [phone]  
(mobile)

    APCOM BACKGROUND

    A concept that grew out of the mounting HIV crisis in
MSM populations across the Asia Pacific, APCOM was formally
launched in July 2007.  APCOM is a direct outcome of the
Male Sexual Health and HIV in Asia and the Pacific
International Consultation held in New Delhi in late 2006. 
This three-day consultation brought together community
members, government officials, policy makers and
researchers to provide an opportunity to inform and develop
strategic advocacy initiatives on key policy issues
concerning MSM and the transgender community.

    Opened to regional and sub-regional networks, as well
as national networks and individual organizations, APCOM is
governed by a 19-member Governing Board comprised of
community representatives from 7 Asia Pacific sub-regions:
the Pacific (including New Zealand), South Asia (including
Mongolia but excluding India), Greater Mekong (GMS), South
East Asia (excluding GMS), Developed Asia (Japan, South
Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Australia), China
and India. In addition, the board will consist of
representatives from the transgender community, government
sector, donors and a communication advisor. UNAIDS, UNDP
and UNESCO will support APCOM as technical advisors.

    A coalition of governments, UN partners, donors, NGOs
and populations that are directly affected by the AIDS
epidemic, APCOM's goals are ambitious but have been
meticulously planned.  Through increased participation and
MSM representation in regional and global bodies and
conferences, APCOM will seek to scale up and increase
attention to the needs of MSM in general and HIV issues in
particular.  Forums that APCOM has been, or will be,
represented at include ASEAN ministerial meetings, ICAAP-9
and the 2008 International AIDS Conference in Mexico.

    By the leveraging of technical assistance, support and
mentoring to MSM HIV projects, state and national
governments and to existing technical assistance
facilities, as well as by identifying and assisting the
development of MSM and HIV networks, APCOM will strengthen
community work and help partnerships so that work can be
shared and improved upon.  

    With the current vacuum of data on MSM and HIV in Asia
(although recent surveys and reports are gradually filling
some gaps), a critical role for APCOM is to assess and
track -- country by country -- both the degree and quality
of inclusion of MSM and HIV issues, and to report on
national AIDS plans.  All the while, APCOM will seek to
promote the principles of good practice and lessons learnt
to policy makers, service providers and MSM based on
qualitative research and cost effective studies.

    An APCOM website is being developed to serve as a focal
point for information and examples of good practice, a
repository of research papers with practical applications
as well as publications for anyone interested in the issues
of HIV and MSM, including academics, policy makers and
members of the MSM community itself.  The website will also
be an online governance tool for APCOM's trustees and for
its members.  APCOM will work with UNESCO in the creation
of a companion website envisioned to be a clearing house
for state-of-the-art information, BCC/IEC materials and
research data on MSM and HIV (particularly in the Asia
Pacific).  The APCOM website, scheduled to be online in
early 2008, will be located at http://www.msmasia.org .

    APCOM's temporary office is based in New Delhi.  

    Contact information:

     [e-mail]

     Aditya Bondyopadhyay, 
     Secretariat Coordinator,
     Flat 25 DDA SFS, Sector-6, Pocket-1, 
      Dwarka, New Delhi-110075, India
     Tel: [phone] or [phone]