Publications on Men Who Have Sex With Men (MSM)

This guide aims to help advance progress on the path to HIV epidemic control by providing HIV service providers with a practical framework to direct and advance the evolution of evidencebased, client-centered strategies to minimize the HIV risks associated with sexualized drug use, particularly among men who have sex with men (MSM). 

Get an overview of the HIV/AIDS situation for Men Who Have Sex with Men (MSM) in the Asia-Pacific region.

The aims of HARiS were to establish a community-based behavioural survey with collection of standardized strategic information; to provide data of a pre-defined set of core indicators among the major at-risk subpopulations for surveillance of HIV-related risk behaviours and HIV testing patterns; and to enable the indicators to be tracked and compared over time for evaluation of the coverage and effectiveness of health-promotion and surveillance programmes in Hong Kong.

An overview of MSM's mental health research shows that the number of publications on this issue in Vietnam is limited. Meanwhile, recent international research shows that mental health and its relationship with other factors are outstanding topics that many researchers are concerned about. In the limit of time and resources, the research focuses on the specific mental health aspects and three related factors, including social support, self-stigma, and sexual behavior. On that basis, the research suggests potential psychosocial interventions to improve mental health, reduce HIV risky sexual behaviors, and increase access to health services in the Vietnamese MSM community.

On the occasion of the 2021 International Youth Day, APCOM is delighted to launch its report Pulse Up! Young MSM Internet Sex Survey, covering three countries in Southeast Asia: Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand. Supported by ViiV Healthcare, the report aims to bring attention to the absence of data on young men who have sex with men (MSM) between 15-24 in the region as a major setback in the HIV response.

The criminalisation of drug use is prevalent globally, and the availability of harm reduction services is inadequate. However, harm reduction responses for sexualised drug use are even more inadequate, particularly compounded by criminalisation of sex between men. Gay men and other men who have sex with men and people who use stimulants are among the communities insufficiently served by existing or traditional harm reduction services. Furthermore, people engaging in chemsex have multiple vulnerabilities, leading to increased public health risks

The 2021-2026 Global AIDS Strategy has bold and critical new targets on realizing human rights, reducing stigma, discrimination and violence and removing harmful punitive laws as a pathway to ending inequalities and ultimately ending AIDS. To aid in the scale up of interventions to remove these societal barriers, UNAIDS has produced a series of fact sheets on human rights in various areas, highlighting the critical need to scale up action on rights. They are a series of short, easy to digest and accessible documents outlining the latest epidemiology, the evidence of the impact of human rights interventions, the latest targets, and international guidelines, recommendations and human rights obligations relating to each topic. Fact sheets released in June 2021: HIV criminalization, HIV and people who use drugs, HIV and gay men and who have sex with other men, HIV and transgender and other gender-diverse people, HIV and sex work, HIV and people in prisons and other closed settings and HIV and stigma and discrimination.

A new scoping review examines sexualized drug use (SDU) among men who have sex with men and transgender women in Asia, in order to understand the socio-sexual context of drug use, to inform effective HIV and drug policy and programmatic responses in Asia, and to guide future qualitative research in the region.

Men who have sex with men are a key population in the global response to HIV. Global targets are for 95% of men who have sex with men to be reached by HIV prevention, diagnosis and treatment services by 2025. To monitor progress to these important targets, estimates of the number of men who have sex with men need to be as close to the true number as possible. 

The report provides an overview of the organisation’s activities and achievements over 2019, the organisation’s twelfth year of working to improve and protect the health and rights of gay men, other men who have sex with men and people of diverse sexual orientation, gender identify and expression and sexual characteristics (SOGIESC) across Asia and the Pacific.