Mother City Men's Health Project team members Ben Brown, Earl Burrell, Daniel Ndzuko with Tannie Evita
Since 1986, almost all HIV/AIDS related education, prevention, treatment, and research programs in South Africa have focused on heterosexual transmission patterns. While this group bears the burden of disease in this country, we cannot neglect the sexual transmission of HIV between men.
Created in 2006, the Mother City Men's Health Project (MCMHP) initiates HIV prevention and treatment research among high-risk homosexual men. A collaborative effort between the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation and Triangle Project (a local LGBT social advocacy group), the Men's Health Project is working to provide men with the opportunity to be proactive in their healthcare through involvement in community based HIV related projects.
There are currently several gay male-focused studies taking place in greater Cape Town. Our current research topics include social and sexual networks, sexual risk behavior, addiction, identity formation, community stigma and discrimination, human rights violation, attitudes towards and understandings of HIV research, HIV incidence, prevalence, and recombinant subtype, strategies for recruitment and retention of long-term cohorts, and efficacy and toxicity of chemoprophylaxis for HIV prevention.
We have also identified a need for accessible, LGBT-friendly VCT in Cape Town. We now offer a mobile sexual health clinic catering to the special needs of homosexuals, including HIV VCT+ every last Friday of the month in Green Point.
Recent News
We have launched two street-based projects consisting of a short survey and the donation of a saliva sample for an anonymous HIV test. We are not offering test results, but are providing LGBT-friendly HIV counseling and testing referrals and will compensate all volunteers for their time.
In the first, we are canvassing gay-identified venues looking for volunteers to fill out a self-administered sexual health questionnaire and donate a saliva sample using the OraSure® collection device. This mapping exercise will give us more information on the sexual risk behaviors and HIV prevalence of men who visit these establishments and help us design important HIV prevention projects.
In the second, we are asking volunteers and their friends to answer a counselor-administered questionnaire and donate a saliva sample using the OraQuick® device. This project will help us understand levels of HIV knowledge among homosexual men, as well as document any stigma and discrimination faced by these men in their communities. We will use this information to advocate for better LGBT rights protection - including health care rights - at the local and national level.
The Men's Health Project was also recently invited to its first international HIV conference focusing on men who have sex with men (MSM) in Southern Africa. Preliminary data from one of our studies was presented and valuable contacts with donors were made - a huge success!
Thanks again to all those who have participated in our surveys and helped make this meeting possible.
