August 07, 2008

Focus of AIDS Prevention Returning to Gay Men?

Yes, if the words of these world leaders are heeded.

From Bloomberg.com:

Discrimination against men who have sex with men must end, and countries must gear up prevention programs against AIDS in this high-risk group, the secretary general of the United Nations said yesterday.

Speaking at the opening ceremonies for the International AIDS Conference in Mexico City, UN chief Ban Ki-moon was one of several world leaders and health officials who spoke about the need for targeting the epidemic among homosexual men.

Margaret Chan, head of the World Health Organization's China unit, said health officials in all nations, including the U.S., need to acknowledge setbacks in a group that pioneered the earliest response to the disease. In the U.S., infections among gay men have risen 75 percent in 15 years, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

``We need to engage them, we need to take care of them, we should not forget about them,'' Chan said, referring to the homosexual community worldwide.

Click here to read the rest of the report.

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