HIV/AIDS rates skyrocketing among gays
Pastor Dale Morgan
HIV/AIDS rates skyrocketing among gays*
There is an alarming rise of new HIV infections among men who have sex
with men in developing countries, a leading American AIDS research group
said Tuesday.
Studies have found that infection rates are growing among men who have
sex with men in Africa, Asia and Latin America, and less than 5 percent
of those men have access to HIV-related health care, according to a
statistics released by the American Foundation for AIDS Research, or amfAR.
"It is estimated that one in 20 men who have sex with men have access to
appropriate HIV prevention, treatment, care and support services," Kevin
Frost, amFAR's chief executive officer, told reporters. "This is a
massive failure of the HIV/AIDS response globally and I think one that
needs to be addressed."
Statistics show the rate of infection with HIV - the virus that causes
AIDS - among men who have sex with men growing exponentially in parts of
the developing world.
In Kenya, around 40 percent are estimated to be HIV positive, compared
to a 6 percent prevalence in the overall population, according to amFAR.
In Senegal nearly 22 percent are thought to be infected, compared to 0.9
percent of the general population.
In Uruguay and Mexico, 21 percent and 15 percent are estimated to have
the disease.
"The frightening truth is that, in many parts of the world, we simply do
not know how bad the epidemics (are) among" men who have sex with men
because transmission in this group is not tracked in many countries, Dr.
Chris Breyer, director of the Johns Hopkins Fogarty AIDS program, said
in a statement released by amFAR.
Under a new initiative launched Tuesday at the Fourth International AIDS
Society Conference, amFAR will seek to raise US$3 million (EUR2 million)
over the next three years to provide grants for AIDS education and
research among men who have sex with men in developing countries.
The initiative will also aim to raise awareness about the group, who
have typically been left out of AIDS prevention strategies because many
men are married and do not identify themselves as gay or bisexual.
Male-to-male sex is illegal in 85 countries, meaning that the men who
have sex with men often do not receive global AIDS funding because they
are effectively marginalized by their own governments, Frost said.