Care and support for people living with HIV/AIDS
Care and support for people living with HIV/AIDS
Care and support for people living with HIV/AIDS
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Report on the global <strong>HIV</strong>/<strong>AIDS</strong> epidemic – June 2000men presenting <strong>for</strong> voluntary counselling <strong>and</strong> testing, nearly tripling from 1.3% in1997 to 3.7% in 1999.Figure 25. Rectal gonorrhoea <strong>and</strong> sexual risk behaviour among men whohave sex <strong>with</strong> men, San Francisco, USA, 1994-1998100cases of rectal gonorrhoeaper 100 000 populationproportion reporting risk behaviour (%)8060404233232021273838442001990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998multiple partners in the past six months unprotected anal sex in the past six months rectal gonorrhoea rateSource: San Francisco Department of Public Health (Cali<strong>for</strong>nia), USA, 1999The San Francisco surveys show that risk behaviour is increasing most rapidlyamong men under 25. In this age group, the percentage who had had unprotectedanal sex <strong>and</strong> multiple partners in the past six months rose from 22% in 1994 to 32%in 1997. In 1997, 68% of the young men reporting unprotected anal sex <strong>with</strong> morethan one partner in the previous six months did not know the <strong>HIV</strong> status of at leastone of their partners. Alarming rates of continuing <strong>HIV</strong> infection have been detectedelsewhere in the country too, <strong>with</strong> the help of methods that allow public health officialsto calculate what proportion of <strong>HIV</strong> tests are recent infections. Among nearly3500 young gay men aged 15–22 in seven US cities, nearly 3% became newlyinfected <strong>with</strong> <strong>HIV</strong> each year between 1994 <strong>and</strong> 1998, <strong>with</strong> the highest rate of newinfections seen in African-American men.Complacency may not be the only factor involved in these worrying trends amongmen under 25. It is possible that some young men are not using condoms becausethey do not identify <strong>with</strong> the group of <strong>HIV</strong>-positive gay men, or because in<strong>for</strong>mationprogrammes have failed to reach or convince them. The time may have come <strong>for</strong>66