Tuesday, July 7, 2009

HIV and MSM's in S.E. Asia

Rob Sutherland works for ACON (Aids Council of NSW) in Sydney, where he has recently returned from a 12-month placement within the UNAIDS Regional Support Team in Bangkok looking at the incidence of HIV among Men who have Sex with Men (MSM's), and the types of education and support programs in place.


Since his return Rob ran a report-back session to interested parties in Sydney last month. This session included:
  1. The context of Men who have Sex with Men (MSM's) and the HIV epidemic in the Asia Pacific region
  2. The organisational response occurring at a regional level
  3. The ACON and Rainbow Sky Association of Thailand partnership and the collaborative work developed through this placement.

During his term in Bangkok Rob worked closely with various HIV support programs both in Thailand, as well as the Mekong delta regions of Laos and Vietnam.

And Rob discusses his findings with Allan on Orange Ribbon this week. He will talk about the 10-year epidemic projections for the Asian region if nothing is done vs. those same projections if "best practice" HIV programs are implemented.

But we also get to find out just a little about Rob himself, which provides an insight as to how and why he came to be involved in ACON and HIV-related activities in Sydney.

Join Allan and Rob for this somewhat different Orange Ribbon discussion this week on JOY 94.9 at 7:00pm.

2 comments:

Adam Barralet said...

This was a great interview Allan - Adam Barralet

Orange Ribbon team said...

Thanks Adam. Always good to receive positive feedback, as I am sure you know.