Fresh Gay Men’s HIV Prevention

posted: 16/03/2011

HIV prevention work for gay and bi men in England has been freshened up in the latest edition of Making it Count. Making it Count is the HIV prevention framework used in England by gay men’s and other HIV prevention organisations.
 

Making it Count first appeared in 1998 and the new edition describes how to do HIV prevention and education with gay and bisexual men. It’s been totally rewritten and is available here. It's produced by the CHAPS gay men's HIV prevention and sexual health partnership.

George House Trust is not part of CHAPS but we play a lively and active role. At the CHAPS conference last week we made two conference presentations based on our experience of the sexual health and HIV support needs of HIV+ gay and bi men.

George House Trust also made detailed comments and suggestions for improving the latest Making It Count.

Risky Choices

The new edition of Making It Count considers the various choices facing men who have sex with men that make a difference to HIV transmission, and puts more emphasis on what motivates and drives men in making these critical decisions on sexual risks.

Making It Count brings education and empowerment together in HIV prevention, in a way that values and respects gay and bi men, including men with HIV. It includes using social norms to influence men’s sexual behaviour.

Best Sex with Least Harm
Making It Count aims to promote the best sex with the least harm among gay men and bisexual men.

Making It Count Briefing Sheets

Making It Count Briefing Sheets are also available. These are handy summaries of the evidence on important HIV prevention and sexual health issues.

Making It Count Briefing Sheets already available are 

• Using fear in HIV prevention
• Herpes
• LGV
• Gonorrhoea, chlamydia and non-gonococcal urethritis (NGU)
• Hepatitis C
• Social marketing.

Future Briefings will soon be added for

• Poppers
• Microbicides
• PEP
• Undiagnosed HIV infection.

Making It Count Briefing Sheets

Making It Count from Sigma Research

Gay Men - Count Me In

posted: 03/12/2010

HIV affects gay men’s lives and thinking in some odd and complex ways. To stop the spread of HIV amiong gay and bi men, we must be serious about tackling the common wrong-headed ideas and actions that lead to HIV transmissions.

Count Me In is a community campaign from GMFA (Gay Men Fighting AIDS).

GMFA are asking gay men to make five simple pledges and for gay men’s health organisations, the gay media and community leaders to join GMFA in tackling these issues head on. The work may not be easy or straightforward, and some messages can be be difficult to hear. However, if we want a change in the health of the gay male community, this is what we need to do.

Our five steps to heaven?
The campaign asks gay men to join the campaign and commit to stop the spread of HIV by agreeing this simple five-point personal action plan:

• I will know my HIV status
• I will not assume I know anyone else’s HIV status
• I will take personal responsibility for using condoms
• I will value myself and my health
• I will stay informed about HIV and how it’s spread

If every gay man in the UK commits to each of these, we can significantly reduce the spread of HIV in our community.

• GMFA’s goal for ‘Count Me In’ campaign is
  
• for all gay men to be confident and empowered to take responsibility for our own health
• to support each other,
•  to openly discuss issues such as HIV status and safer sex without fear or stigma and
• where the barriers to effective condom use are overcome.

By working together we can prevent new infections and make a real difference to the wellbeing of gay and bi men.

GMFA Count Me In

Facebook Count Me In

HIV Pledge for Gay Men

posted: 15/11/2010

Gay men’s health charity GMFA has a new HIV awareness campaign. Count Me In asks gay men to make a five-point pledge to look after their own health, and not to assume they know the HIV status of other men. GMFA say that if every gay man in the UK kept the pledge, rates of HIV would fall dramatically.
 

Knowing about HIV and how condoms can stop transmission are key parts of any prevention strategy. However, knowing is not enough. We must also deal with the things that help spread HIV and discourage effective and consistent condom use. GMFA believes that three of the main causes of HIV infection among gay men in the UK are:

1. Mistaken stereotypes of gay men with HIV and taking sex risks based on those mistaken stereotypes
2. Men not knowing their own HIV status because of not testing regularly
3. Poor mental and emotional wellbeing affecting sexual risk-taking.

For more information on these, visit the campaign at the GMFA blog OutSpokenOnHealth.com

It is these three things that discourage men from using condoms consistently and taking responsibility for their sexual health and behaviour.
 

Matthew Hodson at GMFA, said: “This isn’t just about what we can do around World AIDS Day – it’s what we can all do on an ongoing basis to stop the spread of HIV in our community.
“We’re delighted that so many have recognised the importance of what we’re trying to achieve and have joined us in the campaign. With their support, we hope to encourage gay men to re-commit to tackling the virus and to make a real difference.”
 

Gay Men's HIV Pledge:

• I will know my HIV status
• I will not assume I know someone else’s HIV status
• I will take personal responsibility for using condoms
• I will value myself and my health
• I will stay informed about HIV and how it is spread

Sign the Pledge

To sign the pledge and find out more please visit the gmfa Count Me In campaign blog

First Viral Load Predicts

posted: 10/06/2010

The first viral load is a good predictor of how HIV may develop in each person, British researchers have found. That makes regular check-ups at a specialist HIV clinic important, especially if the person’s first viral load was above 10,000.
 

At each HIV clinic visit people have blood tests. Two of the most important are those which monitor the CD4 cell count and Viral Load .

The CD4 cell count gives a rough picture of the health of the immune system. The higher it is, the healthier the immune system.
 

Viral load measures how much HIV is circulating in the blood. Low Viral Loads are best – ideally when they can’t find any HIV in the bloodstream, because it is ‘undetectable’.
 

New UK research from London’s Royal Free Hospital has underlined that it is important to check both CD4 count and Viral Load regularly. Usually HIV clinics do this 3 or 4 times a year, sometimes more often.
 

Close relationship between Viral Load and CD4

The new study shows that there is a very close relationship between the viral load going up and the CD4 cell count falling. Exactly how this works hasn’t been clear to doctors and the investigators wanted to find out more.
 

First ever Viral Load - 'Baseline' - is good predictor

So they studied 1169 people for around 10 years. On average, CD4 cell counts fell by 66 each year. But the higher a person’s first ever viral load (often called the ‘baseline viral load’), the faster the person lost CD4 cells. And the more viral load increased from the ‘baseline’, the faster a person’s CD4 cell count fell.
 

10,000 or more

A person with HIV becomes vulnerable to potentially life-threatening illnesses when the CD4 cell count falls to around 200. The research showed that 96% of patients whose CD4 cell count fell to 200 had had a ‘baseline’ viral load above 10,000. And 86% of people whose CD4 count fell dangerously low, to around 50, started with their first viral load, the ‘baseline’ at 50,000 or so.
The researchers also found that falls in CD4 cell count predict increases in viral load.
 

“We show here that variability in CD4 cell count decline is linked more closely to viral replication than has previously been documented,” conclude the researchers.
 

Results help decide when to start treatment
This information may help people and their doctors decide when to start HIV treatment. If the first ever Viral Load, the 'baseline' was 10,000 or above, it makes even more sense to go for regular check-ups at the HIV clinic and to think seriously about starting treatment at a CD4 count of 350. Treatment should work better if it starts at 350, than if the CD4 count is allowed to fall below 350, before HIV treatment is started.

For more information on tests used to monitor health with HIV, you may find NAM’s booklet CD4, viral load and other tests helpful.
 

Source with reference

Making It Count - Gay HIV Consultation

posted: 19/04/2010

The latest version of the gay / bi men’s HIV prevention and sexual health strategy for England, Making It Count, is now open for your comments. Making it Count, is rewritten and fully updated from the third version, which appeared in 2003.

Making it Count is the planning framework for CHAPS, the multi-agency partnership for HIV prevention and education of gay and bisexual men in England.

The latest edition picks out the key choices facing men who have sex with men that affect HIV transmission rates, and pays attention to what helps motivate men.

It’s designed to bring together education and empowerment, with the values and social norms that will promote the best sex with the least harm among gay men and bisexual men.

This draft doesn’t have the final stamp of approval from the CHAPS partners, but there is broad agreement. They want your views first.

Some of the questions to think about are :

• How well does it meet the sexual health and onward HIV transmission needs of gay / bi men diagnosed with HIV?
• Is positive prevention given enough priority?
• Are men diagnosed with HIV involved enough in positive prevention?

Making It Count 2010 – draft     pdf 840KB

or by direct download from Sigma Research

Deadline for comments      09.00am, Monday 14 June 2010.

Making comments

• phone 020-7820 8022 and speak to Ford Hickson
• email Ford, either with comments made on the pdf or in an email message
• post to Sigma Research, 77a Tradescant Road, London, SW8 1XJ, writing your comments on a paper copy.