Overview : Early in 2008, the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the Group for Horizontal Technical Cooperation (GCTH) – along with the national AIDS program directors from 21 countries in the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) Region – held a consultation meeting to identify general lines of action to improve the quality of life and health for lesbian, transgender, bisexual, gay, and other men who have sex with men (MSM) in their respective communities. During that meeting participants agreed that a core line of action had to be focused on the provision of accessible, high quality health care services, since there is a disproportionate HIV disease burden in gay men and other men who have sex with men (MSM) which can be explained largely by the high per-act and per-partner transmission probability of HIV transmission in receptive anal sex. There continues to be a lack of HIV data for gay and other bisexual men, with only 87 countries having reported prevalence of HIV in MSM as of 2011. Several studies have shown that MSM are more likely to develop or have substance use, depression, violent victimization, and childhood sexual abuse than their heterosexual peers. The frequent co-occurrence of these conditions is associated with increased rates of unprotected sex and enhanced vulnerability to HIV and other STDs. Based on this data, a comprehensive package of HIV core services for gay and other men who sex with men is necessary |