"Closeted Calamity" -- How a Lack of Research on MSM Has Done a Disservice to Global HIV Prevention Efforts

There’s a great article in the latest issue of Scientific American by Bob Roehr, Closeted Calamity: The Hidden HIV Epidemic of Men Who Have Sex with Men, that discusses how a lack of research on MSM has “done a disservice” to AIDS prevention efforts worldwide. Pangaea is in full agreement that it’s time to make research re MSM a priority for the global HIV community and will be working closely with friends at the Global Forum on MSM and other groups to make this goal a reality.

According to the article, “MSM in developing countries are 19 times more likely to be infected with HIV than the general population.”  The article quotes Chris Breyer, director of the Johns Hopkins Center of Public Health and Human Rights as saying "The argument that gay and bisexual men are a trivial sideshow in the global fight against AIDS is wrong" and concludes, “This trend toward scientific omission has reinforced local social stigma and violence directed against this minority. The results are an amplification of new infections that might otherwise have been reined in, and a continued expansion of the pandemic.”