HIV Infections Continue to Rise Among Young Men Who Have Sex with Men; New Studies Confirm Risky Behaviors

December 2, 2009 - New York, New York - The NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene commemorated World AIDS Day by releasing new data to highlight continuing challenges in the struggle to contain HIV in New York City. The number of new HIV diagnoses has not changed significantly in recent years; the total for 2008 is not yet final but appears very close to the 2007 total of 3,965. Yet the number and proportion of new diagnoses among men who have sex with men (MSM) continues its alarming trend upwards. Preliminary numbers suggest that MSM accounted for 42% of the city’s new HIV diagnoses last year, up from 37% just four years earlier. And for men between 13 and 29 years old, that rising proportion reflects a rapid increase in actual infections – from 551 in 2004 to 706 in the partial count for 2008.
The reasons for HIV’s persistence among MSM are no mystery. Recent studies by the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene confirm that risky sexual behavior continues among MSM under 30, and is a major contributor to the rise in HIV diagnoses. As part of a national study coordinated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 25 cities last summer, the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene researchers invited MSM who were at least 18 years old, and attending gay-oriented venues such as bars, clubs and popular outdoor locations, to get tested for HIV and talk about their sexual behaviors. Of the 550 participants, 457 were tested for HIV and 29% tested positive. Of the 479 who believed they were HIV-negative at the time of their interview, nearly one in five (19%) had engaged in unprotected anal intercourse with two or more male partners during the past year, and 10% had done so with a male partner who was HIV-positive or didn’t know his status.
"The gay community should be up in arms over these figures," stated Oscar Raúl López, Director of Health Policy at the Latino Commission on AIDS. "It should shock us into action that the LGBT community makes up less than 4% of New York City but MSM accounted for 42% of the city’s new HIV diagnoses last year. This is unacceptable."

Representatives of the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene suggested that New Yorkers need to face AIDS by using the tools readily available to prevent the spread of this infection and that MSM and others at risk need to use condoms consistently and choose fewer partners when they’re not in monogamous relationships. But López, suggests that maybe it is time to stop relying on what has not proven to be effective and come up with new messaging and new prevention efforts. "If we regurgitate the same ineffective messaging that we have been promoting for the past 30 years, who will be accountable to when the numbers increase again next year."

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ABOUT THE LATINO COMMISSION ON AIDS
The Latino Commission on AIDS (LCOA) is a nonprofit membership organization founded in 1990 dedicated to fighting the spread of HIV/AIDS in the Latino/Hispanic communities. The Commission is the leading national Latino AIDS organization coordinating National Latino AIDS Awareness Day and other prevention and advocacy programs in more than 40 States and Puerto Rico. For more information visit: www.latinoaids.org or www.nlaad.org. UNIDOS PODEMOS / UNITED WE CAN


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