Latest news with #gaymen
The Guardian
10-07-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
High-risk HIV groups facing record levels of criminalisation as countries bring in draconian laws
People at higher risk of HIV, such as gay men and people who inject drugs, are facing record levels of criminalisation worldwide, according to UNAids. For the first time since the joint UN programme on HIV/Aids began reporting on punitive laws a decade ago, the number of countries criminalising same-sex sexual activity and gender expression has increased. In the past year, Mali has made homosexuality a criminal offence, where the law previously only banned 'public indecency', and has also criminalised transgender people. Trinidad and Tobago's court of appeal has overturned a landmark 2018 ruling that decriminalised consensual same-sex relations, reinstating the colonial-era ban. In Uganda, the 2023 Anti-Homosexuality Act has 'intensified the proscription of same-sex relations', and Ghana has moved in a similar direction with the reintroduction of legislation that would increase sentences for gay sex. The crackdown on gay rights comes as the fight against HIV/Aids has been hit by abrupt US funding cuts, which have combined with 'unprecedented' humanitarian challenges and climate crisis shocks to jeopardise hopes of ending the global epidemic this decade, UNAids said. Several groups of people, known as 'key populations', are more likely to be infected with HIV. They include sex workers, gay men and other men who have sex with men, people who inject drugs, transgender people, and those in prisons and other enclosed settings. In 2025, only eight of 193 countries did not criminalise any of those groups or behaviours, or criminalise non-disclosure of HIV status, exposure or transmission, according to the report. The number of people infected by HIV or dying from Aids-related causes in 2024 was the lowest for more than 30 years, according to the UNAids annual report, at 1.3 million and 630,000 respectively. Progress was uneven – ranging from a 56% fall in infections since 2010 in sub-Saharan Africa to a 94% increase in the Middle East and North Africa. But coupled with scientific advances – such as twice-yearly drugs to prevent infection – the world had the 'means and momentum' to end Aids as a public health threat by 2030, an internationally agreed goal, it said. However, that has been 'seriously jeopardised' in the early months of this year after sweeping US aid cuts that could undo decades of progress. In January, Donald Trump cut funding that had underpinned much of the global HIV response almost overnight. The report highlights HIV-prevention services as an area of concern, with many particularly reliant on donor funding. The reported number of people receiving preventive drugs in Nigeria in November 2024 was approximately 43,000. By April 2025, that number had fallen to below 6,000. Activists say access to prevention will be a particular issue for key populations, who may not be able to access mainstream healthcare due to factors such as stigma or fear of prosecution, but relied on donor-funded community clinics that have now closed. Key populations were 'always left behind', said Dr Beatriz Grinsztejn, president of the International Aids Society (IAS). The report is being released before an IAS conference next week in Kigali, Rwanda, where researchers will share data on the impact of cuts. Modelling by Bristol University calculated that a one-year halt in US funding for preventive drugs in key populations in sub-Saharan Africa would mean roughly 700,000 people no longer used them, and lead to about 10,000 extra cases of HIV over the next five years. UNAids modelling suggests that without any replacement for funding from US Pepfar (president's emergency plan for Aids relief), an additional 4m deaths and 6m new infections could be expected globally by 2029. However, Winnie Byanyima, executive director of UNAids, said 25 of the 60 low- and middle-income countries included in the report had found ways to increase HIV spending from domestic resources to 2026. 'This is the future of the HIV response – nationally owned and led, sustainable, inclusive and multisectoral,' she said.
The Guardian
10-07-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
High-risk HIV groups facing record levels of criminalisation as countries bring in draconian laws
People at higher risk of HIV, such as gay men and people who inject drugs, are facing record levels of criminalisation worldwide, according to UNAids. For the first time since the joint UN programme on HIV/Aids began reporting on punitive laws a decade ago, the number of countries criminalising same-sex sexual activity and gender expression has increased. In the past year, Mali has made homosexuality a criminal offence, where the law previously only banned 'public indecency', and has also criminalised transgender people. Trinidad and Tobago's court of appeal has overturned a landmark 2018 ruling that decriminalised consensual same-sex relations, reinstating the colonial-era ban. In Uganda, the 2023 Anti-Homosexuality Act has 'intensified the proscription of same-sex relations', and Ghana has moved in a similar direction with the reintroduction of legislation that would increase sentences for gay sex. The crackdown on gay rights comes as the fight against HIV/Aids has been hit by abrupt US funding cuts, which have combined with 'unprecedented' humanitarian challenges and climate crisis shocks to jeopardise hopes of ending the global epidemic this decade, UNAids said. Several groups of people, known as 'key populations', are more likely to be infected with HIV. They include sex workers, gay men and other men who have sex with men, people who inject drugs, transgender people, and those in prisons and other enclosed settings. In 2025, only eight of 193 countries did not criminalise any of those groups or behaviours, or criminalise non-disclosure of HIV status, exposure or transmission, according to the report. The number of people infected by HIV or dying from Aids-related causes in 2024 was the lowest for more than 30 years, according to the UNAids annual report, at 1.3 million and 630,000 respectively. Progress was uneven – ranging from a 56% fall in infections since 2010 in sub-Saharan Africa to a 94% increase in the Middle East and North Africa. But coupled with scientific advances – such as twice-yearly drugs to prevent infection – the world had the 'means and momentum' to end Aids as a public health threat by 2030, an internationally agreed goal, it said. However, that has been 'seriously jeopardised' in the early months of this year after sweeping US aid cuts that could undo decades of progress. In January, Donald Trump cut funding that had underpinned much of the global HIV response almost overnight. The report highlights HIV-prevention services as an area of concern, with many particularly reliant on donor funding. The reported number of people receiving preventive drugs in Nigeria in November 2024 was approximately 43,000. By April 2025, that number had fallen to below 6,000. Activists say access to prevention will be a particular issue for key populations, who may not be able to access mainstream healthcare due to factors such as stigma or fear of prosecution, but relied on donor-funded community clinics that have now closed. Key populations were 'always left behind', said Dr Beatriz Grinsztejn, president of the International Aids Society (IAS). The report is being released before an IAS conference next week in Kigali, Rwanda, where researchers will share data on the impact of cuts. Modelling by Bristol University calculated that a one-year halt in US funding for preventive drugs in key populations in sub-Saharan Africa would mean roughly 700,000 people no longer used them, and lead to about 10,000 extra cases of HIV over the next five years. UNAids modelling suggests that without any replacement for funding from US Pepfar (president's emergency plan for Aids relief), an additional 4m deaths and 6m new infections could be expected globally by 2029. However, Winnie Byanyima, executive director of UNAids, said 25 of the 60 low- and middle-income countries included in the report had found ways to increase HIV spending from domestic resources to 2026. 'This is the future of the HIV response – nationally owned and led, sustainable, inclusive and multisectoral,' she said.
News.com.au
28-06-2025
- Health
- News.com.au
Aussie girl Marleigh, 10, talks to A Current Affair about new blood donation rules
A 10-year old Australian girl who relies on blood donations to stay alive says she has a better chance at life from new rules that allow gay and bisexual men and transgender women to donate plasma. Mum Kate told A Current Affair her daughter Marleigh relies on blood donations because of an incurable condition that is potentially fatal and has no cure. Kate fought for years to have the rules changed in Australia that would allow more people to donate lifesaving plasma. Kate said Marleigh suffered seizures that lasted up to almost 40 hours and their gay male friends were heartbroken they could not donate blood when the young girl was at her sickest. 'Her immune system is wrongly identifying her healthy brain cells as foreign and attacking her brain,' she said. 'We have so many friends, particularly our gay male friends, who would love to donate for Marleigh. 'All they wanted to do was go and jump in a seat at Lifeblood and donate the blood.' According to Lifeblood, earlier rules prevented gay and bisexual men and transgender women from donating blood or plasma if they had sex with men in the past three months. Lifeblood will remove most sexual activity wait times for plasma donations from July 14, which means most people, and anyone who takes pre-exposure prophylaxis that meets other eligibility criteria, will be able to donate plasma. The lifesaving organisation expects an extra 24,000 Australians will be able to give about 95,000 donations of plasma each year. Lifeblood chief medical officer Jo Pink said with plasma now the donation type most needed by Australian patients, the change came at an important time. 'We're excited to be able to welcome more people from across the community into our donor centres from next month,' she said. Dr Pink said the Therapeutic Goods Administration was also in the process of approving their submission to remove gender-based sexual activity rules, which means all donors will be asked the same rules about their sexual activity. She said their submission to change rules for blood donation included data that showed a six month wait was the safest option for Australian patients. 'But we are committed to reviewing this as more evidence becomes available,' she said. 'There are many steps that Lifeblood needs to take before we can implement the new gender-neutral assessments, including working with state and territory governments to change the donor questionnaire. 'We hope to be able to implement this part of the changes next year. 'Blood safety is and always will be our top priority but we know the current donation rules have been very difficult for many people in the LGBTQIA+ community. 'While they were put in place to ensure a safe blood supply in the past, we know that they've contributed to the stigma faced by the community.' Health Equity Matters chief executive officer Dash Heath-Paynter said he welcomed this change that could unlock thousands of donations of lifesaving plasma. 'While there is still more work, the Therapeutic Goods Administration's approval for gender neutral assessments for blood donation is welcomed,' he said. 'In terms of plasma donations, these changes mean Australia's regulations are world-leading.' Kirby Institute head of global health program John Kaldor said Lifeblood had developed pragmatic and innovative new procedures for blood donations with scientific evidence that shifted societal expectations.
The Independent
18-06-2025
- Health
- The Independent
Australia lifts ban preventing gay men from donating blood and plasma
Australian authorities have lifted a ban that prevented sexually active gay and bisexual men from donating blood and plasma. The ban will be officially lifted on 14 July, making Australia the only country in the world to remove all sexual activity-based restrictions for blood and plasma donation. The previous rules barred gay and bisexual men, and transgender women who have sex with men, from donating blood. The rules were initially introduced to decrease the risk of HIV transmission through blood from higher-risk groups. Lifeblood, the national agency for donation services formally known as Australia's Red Cross Lifeblood, estimates the rule change will allow more than 600,000 people in the country to donate plasma. Lifeblood said the rule change meant "most people, including gay and bisexual men, and anyone who takes PrEP or pre-exposure prophylaxis, will be able to donate plasma without a wait period, providing they meet all other eligibility criteria". "Extensive research and modelling show that there will be no impact on the safety of the plasma supply with this change," the national blood, breast milk and microbiota donation service added. However, people taking the HIV prevention drug will only be allowed to donate plasma, and will be barred from donating blood. People with HIV or those with a partner with HIV will be the only group prevented from donating either. Lifeblood will no longer ask men if they had sex with men in the past three months. Instead, they will be given the same questions about sexual activity, regardless of their gender or sexuality. People with new or multiple partners will also be able to donate if they have not had anal sex in three months, the authorities said. Those in a sexual relationship of six months or more with a single partner will be able to donate blood. Lifeblood said the blood donation questionnaire change needed a "little bit of work" and will be implemented in 2026. 'We're excited to be able to welcome more people from across the community into our donor centres from next month," Lifeblood chief medical officer Jo Pink told News Breakfast. "We now anticipate an extra 24,000 donors and 95,000 extra donations of plasma to be made each year.' He said the organisation was in the process of taking steps before implementing the new gender-neutral assessments, including working with state and territory governments to change the donor questionnaire. Dash Heath-Paynter, the chief executive of Health Equity Matters, said the change "potentially unlocks thousands of donations of life-saving plasma". "Members of the LGBTQIA+ community can now help those whose lives depend on plasma donations without a donation deferral period," Mr Heath-Paynter was quoted by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation as saying.
Mail & Guardian
05-06-2025
- Health
- Mail & Guardian
It's the ‘Donald disease' that's making us sick
US President Donald Trump. 'Hello, sis. How are you? I hope you're fine. I mean, I'm not.' A lot has been going on out there, he told Bhekisisa in the voicemail, one of the many we recently received. 'You know, I'm a gay guy. I have sex with other men, without wearing condoms now, because when I try to fetch them from my local clinic, I'm told I get judged and told I want too many. You know what's happening in our industry.' We will call him Nkosi. Because he has sex with men and because his industry is sex work and because no one in the small community where he lives knows that he is gay or what he does for work. He even has a 'girlfriend' so people will think he's straight. Sex work has always been a dangerous profession. But ever since the administration of US President Donald The World Health Organisation says gay and bisexual men like Nkosi's chance of contracting HIV through sex That is what makes sex workers, as well as gay and bisexual men, what researchers call a ' But the Gone, too, are their health workers specially trained in how to work without discrimination. Gone is their tailor-made HIV treatment and testing services; their specialised mental health support and the condoms and lubricants they handed out for protection against HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. Gone are Preventive medicines like the daily pill are called 'So, sometimes I don't have PrEP,' says Nkosi. 'A partner can tell me he is on PrEP, but I don't trust that. Because where is he getting PrEP? Where am I going to get it? The black market? 'I don't know if it is even the real thing. Is it a counterfeit? Lube? That's another thing — you use everything, anything, as long as it's got jelly in it. The last time I did that I had an itchy penis for a week.' Nkosi calls the domino effect of the Trump administration's decision to pull funding 'the Donald disease because it is being caused by this guy, one man'. 'It's like crossing the freeway every day the way we're living now. One day, I know I'm gonna die.' What's with key populations? When Health Minister But why is there so much focus on these communities? 'Even the most self-interested people should be heavily invested in treatment and prevention of these populations,' says Francois Venter, who heads up the health research organisation, 'There's no clean, magical division between key populations and general populations. It's a Venn diagram of married men sleeping with sex workers, of drug-using populations interacting with your ostensibly innocent kids, gay men with your straight-presenting son, all needing HIV prevention and treatment programmes.' Although we have medicines like PrEP to prevent people from getting infected with HIV and antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) for HIV-infected people, which, if taken correctly, Studies, for example, show that getting people to use the anti-HIV pill, also called oral PrEP, each day, Moreover, the Some of the 1.1 million choose not to start treatment, but an even larger proportion, who do go on treatment, Pepfar programmes That's why having lost at least half of those workers — The difficulty with state clinics and key populations Government clinics are mostly Stigma and discrimination in public clinics — doled out by security guards, cleaners, health workers and patients in waiting rooms — keep people away from HIV treatment and prevention. Motsoaledi Because funding cuts mean already understaffed government health clinics now have even fewer staff, many people with HIV, or those wanting PrEP, have to travel further for treatment or wait in long queues. Here are some of their stories — we collected them via voice notes with the help of health workers who worked for Pepfar programmes that have now been defunded. Female sex worker: 'My child is going to be infected' 'Yoh, life is very hard. Since all this happened, life has been very, very hard.' 'I have tried to go to the public clinic for my medication. But as sex workers, we are not being helped. We are scared to go to the government clinic to treat sexually transmitted infections because we are seen as dirty people who go and sleep around. 'We even struggle to get condoms. We are now forced to do business without protection because it is only our source of income and it's the way that we put food on the table. My worry now is that I am pregnant and my child is going to be infected because I'm not taking my ARVs, and I have defaulted for two months now.' Transgender woman: 'The future is dark' 'I'm a transgender woman. My pronouns are she.' 'When the clinic closed, I was about to run out of medication so I went to the government clinic in my area. I introduced myself to the receptionist and the lady asked me what kind of treatment I was taking. I told her ARVs and that I'm virally suppressed [when people use their treatment correctly the virus can't replicate, leaving so little virus in their bodies that they can't infect others], so I can't transmit HIV to others. 'The lady told me that they can't help me and I need to bring the transfer letter. I told her that the clinic is closed so I don't have the transfer letter. I asked to speak to the manager and the manager also refused to help me. The manager! How can she let someone who is HIV-positive go home without medication? 'I had to call one of my friends and she gave me one container. If you're not taking your medication consistently, you're going to get sick, you're gonna die. And the future? The future is dark.' Migrant farm worker: 'Lose my job? Or risk my health?' 'When we were told that the clinic was closed, I was actually in another town trying to get a seasonal job on the farms. But when I went to the nearest clinic, I was told that I needed to get a transfer letter. So I ended up sharing medication with friends. But then their medication also ran out. 'Then I got a job on the farm. Before the mobile clinics came to the farms and we had our clinical sessions there. The nurse was there, the social worker was there. Now we went to the clinic and spent the whole day there because we had to follow the queues. 'And because our jobs were not permanent jobs, you know, you just get a job if you apply by the gate. So if you are not there by the gate on that day, then the boss will automatically think that you are no longer interested in the job, so they employ someone else. 'I went to the government clinic and asked to get at least three months' supply. But the clinic said no because it was my first initiation so I had to come back. So I went back to the farm to see if I could still have my job. I found that I was no longer employed because they had to take up someone else. 'What am I going to do? If I go to the clinic, I stand a chance of losing my job. If I stay at my job, I am at risk of getting sick.' Transwoman: 'I'll just stay home and die' 'Accessing treatment is difficult because of the long queues. Even that security guard keeps on telling me to go away when I ask for lubricants and he tells me every time there's no lubricants. 'We need the trans clinic back. I need to speak to somebody, a psychologist. On Tuesdays we had our psychologist come in, and the doctor. But now I don't have the funds to go and see even a psychologist. 'It is bad. It is super bad. I don't know when I last took my meds. Another friend of mine just decided, oh, okay, since the clinic is closed and I no longer have medication, I'll just stay home and die.' *These stories were edited for length and clarity. 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