Posted on November 25, 2013
Source: Gay Star News
Rates of HIV among young men who have sex with men (MSM) in Asia and the Pacific are at ‘epidemic’ proportions, a leading epidemiologist has warned ahead of the start of the 11th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific.
Speaking at an event convened by the Asia Pacific Coalition on Male Sexual Health (APCOM) earlier today, International AIDS Society president Dr Chris Beyrer said ‘we have an epidemic in this region, among young MSM.’
Beyrer urged governments and development organizations to move away from a narrow focus on individual-level practices and promotion of condoms alone to develop more comprehensive strategies to address HIV.
Biomedical approaches to prevention, including Pre-exposure Prophylaxis treatments and microbicides, should be encouraged alongside traditional safer-sex messages, to stem high rates of prevalence in the region, Beyrer urged.
