Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, for example, estimated that in the United States a 20-year-old gay black man has a 50 percent chance of becoming infected with HIV in his lifetime. Several nations have either approved or initiated PrEP projects to facilitate its use by gay men after research studies have proven its effectiveness in preventing HIV infection.īut for the most part, Beyrer says, the failure to get PrEP to the people who need it most -those who are HIV negative and are at high risk of infection-and the backsliding in terms of civil liberties for the gay community in nations such as Russia, Nigeria and Uganda have contributed to the continued high HIV rates among gay men. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) has been set up for key populations affected by the virus, including gay and other men who have sex with men. A new $100 million investment fund from the U.S. But while new HIV infection rates are falling among heterosexual men and women in many countries, that is not the case with gay men.įor their study, Beyrer and his colleagues analyzed published medical research from January 2007 through October 2015, to identify which elements of their call to action from 2012 had been achieved. HIV is no longer the death sentence it once was and many are living long lives with the virus carefully controlled with antiretroviral treatment. But the first step in taking on a problem is recognizing and articulating it and we've really done that here."īeyrer will oversee the 21st annual International AIDS Conference from July 18 through 22 in Durban, South Africa where failure to meet the needs of gay men will be one of many topics. "It's a tragic situation and it's painful that the history of AIDS is looking like its future, but that's actually where we are. Tutu Professor of Public Health and Human Rights at the Bloomberg School and president of the International AIDS Society. "While HIV rates have flattened overall in recent years, we're really concerned that the HIV epidemic is continuing among gay men and we're going in the wrong direction," says study leader Chris Beyrer, MD, MPH, the Desmond M.
The findings, published July 9 in The Lancet, come four years after the same group of researchers issued a call to action, laying out an ambitious plan to curtail HIV epidemics in gay men, setting targets for policy reform, funding and improvement in effective HIV prevention and treatment services, including expanded access to pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) which has been highly effective in dramatically reducing transmission among this population.