Event Title
Panel 1: AIDS/HIV
Location
Krongard Room
Start Date
29-3-2013 9:30 AM
End Date
29-3-2013 11:00 AM
Description
HIV infection rates are high and rising among gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men in the US and internationally. The highest rates are seen in young gay men, and particularly among young gay men of color, with African American men the most burdened. Yet when individual level risks for HIV infection are investigated, black men have fewer partners, are less likely to engage in sex while using drugs, and have lower rates of substance use with those drugs most associated with HIV infection, including stimulants. This seeming paradox can only be understood by exploring social and sexual network level factors, and social determinants of health, including lower levels of health insurance, access to regular clinical care, uptake of HIV and syphilis testing and treatment, and much lower rates of successful HIV treatment. We need new paradigms of risk and of prevention to address the needs of these men, and we will need social and structural reform to address the underlying health and social disparities which drive these disease burdens. This paper will review the evidence for HIV as a health disparity issue, and propose solutions and a research agenda for addressing HIV among these men.
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Panel 1: AIDS/HIV
Krongard Room
HIV infection rates are high and rising among gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men in the US and internationally. The highest rates are seen in young gay men, and particularly among young gay men of color, with African American men the most burdened. Yet when individual level risks for HIV infection are investigated, black men have fewer partners, are less likely to engage in sex while using drugs, and have lower rates of substance use with those drugs most associated with HIV infection, including stimulants. This seeming paradox can only be understood by exploring social and sexual network level factors, and social determinants of health, including lower levels of health insurance, access to regular clinical care, uptake of HIV and syphilis testing and treatment, and much lower rates of successful HIV treatment. We need new paradigms of risk and of prevention to address the needs of these men, and we will need social and structural reform to address the underlying health and social disparities which drive these disease burdens. This paper will review the evidence for HIV as a health disparity issue, and propose solutions and a research agenda for addressing HIV among these men.