Let’s do the black talk – HIV and black gay men in Europe

Just as I return from Stockholm where I attended the first European conference “The Future of Prevention for MSM in Europe” (FEMP) specifically addressing prevention issues affecting men who have sex with other men (MSM), I am surprised, as much as you should be, that this was the first European conference of its kind since the outbreak of the epidemic 30 years ago.

The US and South Africa have been exemplary in leading the way with innovative approaches to HIV prevention, treatment and advocacy.

As a black gay man of African origin living in the United Kingdom, the challenges I face in my everyday life are in no way different from those faced by black gay, bisexual and other MSM in America.

However, whilst there is a history of over 200 years of black civil rights movement in America, there is little that can be said about similar black organisations in Europe.

But the problem has deeper roots. Most amazingly, the results of the recent HIV prevalence survey conducted by the European Centre for Disease Control (ECDC) do not differentiate the HIV epidemic in Europe according to ethnic origin mostly because the French and the Germans do not allow for identifying and recording racial background.

The hypocrisy of the French “equality” motto is that by denying the existence of epidemiologic differences related to racial background it further oppresses ethnic minorities, mostly black, by denying them the rights to tailored healthcare.

In the UK the Health Protection Agency (HPA) estimates that 86,500 people are living with HIV in 2010.

An estimated 4% of Black Africans living in England have been diagnosed with HIV, compared with 0.1% of the white population. The disease disproportionately affects MSM who represents nearly half of those newly infected with a consistently higher proportion of black MSM.

The latest HIV diagnosis data for 2001-10 from the HPA shows a steady increase in the number of new diagnosis in the black MSM population (Black Caribbean, Black African and Black other) from 100 in 2000 to 112 in 2010.

If these data can be translated to the European scale, the choice of the French and German government to ignore race is raising serious questions about the real HIV prevalence in the black/African community in Europe.

With an incomplete picture and missing data, how can we advocate for black gay, bi and MSM driven and led HIV prevention and treatment?

Unlike the French and the German agencies, the UK Health Protection Agency has one of the most comprehensive datasets on HIV prevalence, taking into account race and ethnicity in the whole of Europe.

This may explain why many UK black gay advocates attended FEMP and why they have been at the forefront of the battle for similar data collecting system in other European countries.

However, these data should not hide structural and cultural issues affecting Black MSM and suggesting that number of infection remains underestimated.

The impact of institutional racism and community discrimination on the self-confidence of young black gay/bisexual men and MSM to access healthcare in the UK was investigated by the Monya project, funded by Newham Primary care trust in London and carried out by Naz Project London.

Surveys showed that more than 60% of MSM of African origin agreed that they did not fit into the mainstream, predominantly white, gay setting.

As many as 45% criticised the healthcare professionals for being heteronormative and almost 70% said the counselling they received at the sexual health clinics did not meet their needs for full sexual happiness and fulfilment.

Whilst the ECDC agreed that there is a need for concrete intervention for HIV prevention for heterosexual migrants from high epidemic countries, there was nothing said about the need for tailored HIV prevalence for MSM from the same region.

We cannot blame the ECDC for being limited by red tape and national policies, but I was shocked that despite 5 plenary and more than 15 breakout sessions, there was not one single session talking about black gay, bisexual men and MSM at the FEMP conference.

The one session on migration was flawed by an ambiguous EMIS definition of migration and data collected on migration that do not distinguish between internal and external migration. Further, the panel consisting of two Spanish researchers could not provide convincing answers about the epidemic of black gay/bi sexual and MSM from high epidemic areas like Africa.

While I strongly believe that there is a need for a European MSM conference, I think that this conference failed in acknowledging and accepting that there is a need to put black and African MSM men on the agenda.

Even the number of black and African gay men at the event was nothing to be proud of, with fewer than 10
of them amongst 200 participants. The HIV Epidemic in the community is a time bomb waiting to explode and we are turning our back to it.

I went to this meeting to assess and investigate the need to establish a European-wide MSM HIV prevention and treatment advocacy, but whilst the conference raised good points, I returned to London having failed to achieve my aim, as there was no platform for black gay men to meet and discuss the issues that matters to
them.

As we plan for the next FEMP conference, it is important we start talking about the hidden and mostly ignored HIV epidemic in the black MSM community and what roles social factors like religion, culture, self confidence and racism are playing in the increasing epidemic in the black community in Europe.

We, the black MSM community in Europe, should be demanding for research-driven prevention policies from health care authorities and our governments. We have a lot to learn from our brothers from America and we need them to help us in organizing and lobbying. We do not want to wait for another five years and then to become the agenda of the “HIV do-gooders” trying to save the endangered species.

Mandatory HIV testing: Public health vs Human rights

At the ongoing British HIV Association conference (BHIVA) taking place in Birmingham UK, a session on Late presenting of HIV highlights the characteristics of the epidemic in the UK raising the need for more community awareness amongst Men who have sex with Men (MSM) and people of African origin

Dr Valerie Delpech of the HPA in her presentation stated that as at the end of 2011, there are almost 120,000 people living with HIV in the UK, and that since the breakout of the epidemic 30 years ago, the UK has seen 20,000 AIDS related death and of the people living with HIV as at 2012, 25% of them are unaware that they have the virus. And these are mainly the population driving the epidemic. Furthermore, she started the epidemic is concentrated between MSM and African communities in the UK.

However, there is something that sets the African community aside from the MSM, and this is CD4 cell counts at the time of diagnosis. In the UK, African communities account for the highest number of late diagnosis of HIV. In this article, late diagnosis of HIV will be diagnosis of HIV at a CD4 cell count less than 350. This is because at this stage, the immune system (the cells that protect the body from disease attacks and they are the cell the virus needs to reproduce in the body) has weakened and do not have the power to fight the virus anymore.

Dr Valerie Delpech

At this stage of low CD4 cell counts, a person will start developing what is known as opportunistic infections and this will eventually leads to AIDS if not treated on time. The only treatment for HIV still remains Anti-HIV drugs.

In the UK we are seeing the rate of late diagnosis to be as high as 50%, however while more MSM are testing on time for HIV (Prompt testing), we are seeing an increase in late diagnosis amongst Heterosexual men from Africa. Of the 50% of people that presented late for HIV testing last year, 63% of them are heterosexual men of African origin. This data from HPA reaffirms the challenges African HIV charities are facing in the UK.

Age has also been identified as one of the key areas where there is an increasing rate of late diagnosis with 62% of people over 50 years diagnosed so far are diagnosed late.

Dr Marthin Fisher from the Royal Sussex Hospital Brighton raised the challenges of late diagnosis in relations to treatment adherence and effectiveness. He argued the later someone present for HIV the more difficult it is for the person to have better Quality of Care (QoC) and this will further reduce the chances of the individual to respond to treatment and even reduce their options for further treatment with new drugs.

Therefore the question is, should we offer mandatory HIV testing for everyone from high risk population? (When I say high risk, I am talking about the people that belong to the population with high rate of HIV epidemic MSM and Africans). If the answer to this question is yes, then how do we deal with the issue of fundamental human rights of an individual to say NO to HIV testing?

How do we make HIV testing attractive and easy to take up for people and most importantly for African heterosexual men? With the advent of better treatments that are prolonging life span of HIV positive people, it is not then a good public health issue to test people early and put them on treatment as soon as possible?

Dr Marthin Fisher

The other positive outlook to treating HIV early is that as we put people on treatment we reduce the transmission risk of HIV as seen in a study called HPTN 052. And this can only be possible if we test more people and put as many people in treatment as possible.

This is indeed an advocacy need of African communities in the UK but most importantly the need for African men to take the mantle of leadership in the fight against HIV and late diagnosis in the UK.

Though there will continue to be controversy over mandatory testing of HIV and fundamental human rights, but there is always a way out and one of it will be that everyone be offer routine HIV testing irrespective of race, gender or sexual orientation. Another important solution will be looking at the option of non conventional testing centers like community testing.

Finally we need to talk more about the advantages of testing for HIV and confront stigma and discrimination attached to HIV most especially within the African communities in the UK.