New Asia Pacific Statistics Reveal an Alarming Incidence of HIV in MSM
According to the Asia Pacific Coalition on Male Sexual Health (APCOM) on World AIDS Day last year, hundreds, perhaps thousands, of men who have sex with men (MSM) were 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 APCOM is offering its partnership to develop and support new strategies aimed at tackling this regional challenge.
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 www.msmasia.org.
APCOM’s temporary office is based in New Delhi. Contact information:
apcom@msmasia.org
Media Contact:
Aditya Bondyopadhyay
Secretariat Coordinator
Flat 25 DDA SFS, Sector-6, Pocket-1,
Dwarka, New Delhi-110075, India
Tel: +91-981-117-0181 or +91-931-117-0181
According to the Asia Pacific Coalition on Male Sexual Health (APCOM) on World AIDS Day last year, hundreds, perhaps thousands, of men who have sex with men (MSM) were 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 APCOM is offering its partnership to develop and support new strategies aimed at tackling this regional challenge.
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 www.msmasia.org.
APCOM’s temporary office is based in New Delhi. Contact information:
apcom@msmasia.org
Media Contact:
Aditya Bondyopadhyay
Secretariat Coordinator
Flat 25 DDA SFS, Sector-6, Pocket-1,
Dwarka, New Delhi-110075, India
Tel: +91-981-117-0181 or +91-931-117-0181
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