CDC turns to web to rally gay men against HIV: Atlanta agencies focus on group outreach

Ryan Lee
Washington Blade - June 1, 2007

Leaders at the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control & Prevention
are adopting an increasingly forceful tone when discussing rising HIV
rates among gay and bisexual men - demanding that gay men take
ownership of their effort to remain HIV-negative, while forcing the
rest of society to recognize how homophobia and other factors
facilitate risky behavior among gay men.

"The current rates of HIV infection among all [gay and bisexual men]
are unacceptable," Robert Janssen, director of the CDC's division of
HIV/AIDS prevention, said during a CDC webcast on May 17. "The HIV
infection rates among African-American and Hispanic [gay and bisexual
men] are especially alarming, and even more needs to be done to meet
the needs of these disproportionately impacted communities."

The two-hour CDC webcast - entitled "Preventing HIV/AIDS among Men Who
Have Sex with Men: Challenges & Innovations" - offered a bleak
assessment of the progression of HIV through gay America, noting that
unsafe sex is on the rise among gay and bisexual men, as are HIV
infection rates after more than a decade of decline.

"From the earliest days of AIDS in the United States, [gay and
bisexual men] have been at the center of the epidemic - they have been
the risk group that has been most affected, by far, and they were the
first to respond in the fight against HIV/AIDS," Janssen said.

"Social and economic factors including racism, homophobia, poverty,
lack of access to health care - they're all significant barriers to
receiving HIV prevention services, particularly for [gay and bisexual
men] of minority races and ethnicities," he said.

More than 300,000 gay and bisexual men in the U.S. have died of AIDS,
which represents half of all of this country's AIDS deaths, according
to the CDC. In 2005, gay and bisexual men made up 53 percent of all
new HIV cases in the U.S. and represented 72 percent of all HIV cases
among men.

In the early '90s, one-third of gay and bisexual men reported engaging
in unprotected anal intercourse, but now half of all gay men admit
having anal sex without condoms.

"These data do not mean that [gay and bisexual men] are no longer
concerned about HIV," Janssen said. "The majority of men continue to
take action to protect themselves and their partners from HIV, but the
strategies that some men are using have changed."

Changing strategies

Numb to the bi-polar debate about safe sex in America - either abstain
forever or never have sex without a condom - many gay men are hoping
more nuanced approaches to sex keep them safe. From "strategic
positioning" (where HIV-negative men assume the insertive role during
anal intercourse) to "serosorting" (sleeping only with men who have
the same HIV status), gay men are taking calculated risks in an
attempt to remain safe without condoms.

The CDC has adjusted its safe sex techniques as well - evolving from
the wholesale distribution of condoms that defined the early years of
HIV prevention, to efforts like the current "Diffusion of Effective
Behavioral Interventions."

Like all DEBIs, the CDC says the five programs that target gay and
bisexual men are "scientifically proven" to reduce HIV-infection
rates, usually by concentrating on smaller groups of men who are then
charged to disperse information to their friends and sex partners and
help create a broader safer sex culture among gay men.

The Atlanta-based National AIDS Education & Services for Minorities
implements the DEBI known as Many Men, Many Voices, which "gives CDC a
measuring tool" to ensure prevention dollars are having an impact,
said Patrick Kelly, NAESM community relations manager.

About 250 gay men per year participate in the "Prominent, Outgoing
Opinion Leader" DEBI at AID-Atlanta, said Jay Dempsey, gay outreach
program coordinator for the agency. Leaders participate in an hour-
long workshop on the history of HIV, how it is spread and how they can
share that information with their friends.

"It's so that when you're at a bar or party and [HIV/AIDS] comes up in
conversation, you're prepared to disseminate the current and correct
information," Dempsey said. "One of the challenges we're having is
that maybe gay men aren't prone to talk about that anymore since we're
not in crisis mode."

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Jim Pickett
via 'Berry
Running the Chicago Marathon AGAIN in support of HIV/AIDS
services. Please sponsor me here -
http://aidsmarathon.com/participant.asp?runner=CH-1001&EventCode=CH07