With HIV Diagnoses Among Gay Men Up 17%, GMHC Urges Congress to Increase Prevention Funding for Gay Men

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact:
Krishna Stone | 212.367.1016

Atlanta, GA — On Monday, June 14, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released new data on the HIV epidemic in the United States. The CDC reported a sharp increase in new diagnoses among men who have sex with men (MSM) and African Americans.

The overview reported that HIV still disproportionately affects certain populations.  Men who have sex with men (MSM), blacks/African Americans, and Hispanic/Latinos are the groups most affected by HIV infection.  In fact, MSM are the only risk group with increasing annual numbers of new HIV infections.  

From 2005-2008, estimated diagnoses of HIV increased approximately 17% among MSM. During the same period, estimated HIV diagnoses increased approximately 12% in blacks/African Americans.

"Greater prevention efforts targeted toward gay men are clearly needed," said Marjorie Hill, PhD, Chief Executive Officer of GMHC.  "We commend President Obama for proposing a new $28 million initiative in his Fiscal Year 2011 budget to expand innovative HIV prevention with gay and bisexual men. We call on Congress to follow the President's lead and appropriate additional funding targeting MSM."

During the Bush - Cheney administration, funding for the CDC's HIV prevention efforts declined by 19% in inflation adjusted dollars. Last year, the Obama - Biden administration only modestly increased this funding.

To combat the rate of HIV infection among MSM, GMHC continues to encourage the implementation of the following innovative preventive measures:

• Comprehensive sex education for middle school and high school students that explicitly addresses same-sex behavior.
• School interventions that promote tolerance and acceptance of LGBT youth, such as gay-straight alliances and anti-bullying curricula. Such interventions correlate with lower HIV risk behavior among gay and bisexual men, and better health and school performance outcomes.
• Scaling-up community-level interventions encouraging families to accept their gay sons. Gay youth accepted by their families are 3.4 times less likely to have unprotected sex.
• Community-level interventions, including social marketing campaigns, and use of social media, to address HIV stigma and homophobia.

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GMHC is a not-for-profit, volunteer-supported and community-based organization committed to national leadership in the fight against AIDS.  We provide prevention and care services to men, women and families that are living with, or affected by, HIV/AIDS in New York City.  We advocate for scientific, evidence-based public health solutions for hundreds of thousands worldwide.