Negotiating Positive Living: A 10-Country Study by APN+ on Issues Facing HIV-Positive MSM in the Asia Pacific

There is now overwhelming evidence that the epidemic among MSM (Men who have Sex with Men) is well established and increasing. While some actions are now being put in place on a regional and country basis to address prevention amongst MSM, there has been very little work done in regards to the issues for MSM who are already positive. To fulfil this gap, community-based organisations of positive people linked to the Asia Pacific Network of People Living with HIV (APN+) through a participatory research methodology, learned to design and implement a study to explore the issues affecting positive MSM in the region.

This study provides a timely critique on the lack of community-centred discussions surrounding sex, sexuality, and sexual identity. The ongoing global attention on quantifiable markers to health, universal access to treatment, medication adherence and condom use, while certainly important, only skim the surface of deeper quality of life for positive MSM; which necessarily depends on looking deeper into the meanings HIV has had on the lives and stories of those who have to live with it. Thus, it has been found that positive MSM in the Asia Pacific are left to mend their lives, their sexual identities, and relate anew post-HIV with the world outside, the best they can; in many cases with minimal social or institutional support. This gross injustice needs to be redressed if we are truly serious about being sensitive and responsive to the actual needs of communities affected by HIV. Perhaps only then will we have an enabling environment and politics that are yet to be.