New HIV prevention pilot for London’s gay Latino communities

METRO Charity starts new and innovative HIV prevention pilot working with London’s gay Latino communities.

UK Latino men who have sex with men (MSM) are around twice as likely to be HIV positive than the general MSM population, and there is very little understanding of the HIV prevention needs of this community.

A recent report by Guy’s and St Thomas’ describes the Latino MSM community as “invisible and with specific vulnerabilities and needs”.

MAC AIDS Fund who help people living with HIV worldwide joins with METRO who work supporting people living with HIV through initial needs assessments, advice and advocacy, referrals, group work and peer support, in recognising that more work must be done to understand the cultural factors influencing the sexual health of these communities in London.

Building on their long-standing relationship with METRO, now in its 5th year, MAC AIDS are funding an innovative peer support programme that delivers HIV prevention through sessions led by Latin American MSM for Latin American MSM.

Dr Greg Ussher, METRO CEO, said: “We are simply thrilled to be working on our 3rd project with the MAC AIDS Fund, they are such a smart funder, always looking to embrace new cutting edge work around HIV. London’s gay Latino communities will truly benefit thanks to MAC AIDS’ foresight combined with METRO’s award winning community engagement around health and wellbeing.

“There are so many intricate facets – faith, race, discrimination, immigration and social networks  – that we are really interested in exploring with London’s Latino MSM communities. The project will take a novel peer-led approach, empowering Latino MSM to have a voice in shaping effective HIV prevention interventions for the future.”

The research team is looking for enthusiastic and reliable volunteers to take part in this exciting, innovative and ground-breaking new programme.

Volunteers must be gay, bisexual and/or trans (including travesti) and identify as Latin/South American. It is important volunteers can attend meetings, training sessions and groups over the full course of this 12 month project. Knowledge of Spanish and/or Portuguese in addition to English is preferable.

If you’re interested email: tony@metrocharity.org.uk for more information.