Posted
by Kent Klindera, September 24, 2012
Today,
I’m in Dhaka, Bangladesh, meeting with colleagues at the Bandu Social Welfare
Society (BSWS). amfAR
is funding BSWS as part our “Evidence in Action” project—funded
by ViiV Healthcare
Positive Action
and the Elton John AIDS Foundation in order to increase
the knowledge base about effective, community-based HIV/AIDS services for gay men, other men who
have sex with men, and transgender individuals (collectively, GMT).
The
project is working with past amfAR grantees in need of more formalized
evaluations to scale up their programs. BSWS is pretty amazing, having
been around for 15 years serving sexual minorities. For their current
project with amfAR, they are tackling very challenging issues in Bangladesh, working
with gay men and other men who have sex with men (MSM) who are living with
HIV.
Staff and beneficiaries at Bandu Social Welfare Society
I
was honored to have lunch with a male couple—very much in love, and both living
with HIV. One was a bit more effeminate (he did ALL the talking) and he told
me about their struggle to disclose their HIV statuses amongst their families
and their community. In fact, they are living openly as a couple and as HIV
people. Pretty amazing considering the double stigma. That is why BSWS is
engaging them—to figure out what has made them so courageous, and how they can
inspire others
amfAR
has secured an external evaluator to work with BSWS and conduct a formal
evaluation of the project, which also includes helping GMT living with HIV
adhere to medication and find social support. They will also be launching a
campaign to reduce HIV stigma (sadly, 30 years into the epidemic, still quite
strong in Bangladesh) among GMT individuals in general. Whatever the
results of the evaluation, BSWS and amfAR will have data to offer to larger
donors—including the Bangladesh Ministry of Health—which will hopefully
encourage scale-up investment. We should have results in about a year, so
watch this space!