A ground breaking new survey is aiming to find out more about the sex lives and health of young gay and bisexual men in the greater Mekong region of South East Asia to help improve the regional response to alarming rates of HIV transmission.

The confidential survey is part of the PULSE initiative, a research, advocacy and capacity building project led by Asia Pacific HIV and rights community network APCOM in partnership with community organisations, researchers and health authorities in Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. The project is funded by French 5% Initiative on AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria implemented by Expertise France under Ministry of Foreign Affairs oversight. The survey is online at: www.pulseasiasurvey.org

The survey has launched in Thailand, Cambodia and Laos and will be open for approximately six weeks, with surveys in Vietnam and Myanmar to launch shortly after.

HIV is a rising threat to the health of men who have sex with men (MSM) right across Asia, with MSM on track to account for more than half of the 300,000 new HIV transmissions per year that researchers expect to occur in the region by 2020.

Young MSM between the ages of 15 and 24 account for tens of thousands of these new cases every year. Young MSM are particularly vulnerable with low levels of HIV education, condom use and HIV testing. Many young MSM across the region also have limited access to HIV services and increased opportunities for sex through online dating.

However, the full picture about young MSM and HIV in Asia remains unclear due to a lack of recent and high quality epidemiological and behavioural data for young MSM. Also, young people are increasingly living their lives online but long-established data sets used by HIV researchers don’t capture this new reality. All these factors limit the effectiveness of HIV responses targeting young MSM in Southeast Asia, especially programmes using digital communications.

APCOM Executive Director Midnight Poonkasetwattana says the data generated by the PULSE survey will be crucial for filling in the gaps and will greatly improve HIV programmes for young MSM. Read more via APCOM