Posted by Kent Klindera May 2, 2014
.jpg "Members of GMT-Initiative grantee partner Gender DynamiX at the 67 minutes of SHAME march in Cape Town, protesting hate crimes against LGBT (Photo: Gender DynamiX)")
Members of GMT-Initiative grantee partner Gender DynamiX at the 67 minutes of SHAME march in Cape Town, protesting hate crimes against LGBT (Photo: Gender DynamiX)
Today, amfAR launched Lessons from the Front Lines: Research Impact Analysis. The new report highlights how, using a relatively small budget, community-led research can powerfully impact community-based organizations’ response to HIV among GMT populations. The studies also provide data and information about GMT that is lacking in many areas of the world where the population is highly marginalized and often criminalized. As many of you know, quality research data greatly strengthens advocacy efforts to reduce the great disparities in investment in HIV programming for GMT.
In this latest Lessons from the Front Lines report, we outline some of the most successful community-led research studies our grantee partners have implemented, using amfAR support, to improve HIV testing, treatment, and awareness among GMT in five regions—Africa, Asia-Pacific, the Caribbean, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and Latin America. Highlights include: grantee partner Silueta X’s study of trans-specific health and human rights issues—the first of its kind in Ecuador; Jóvenes de la Vida Real’s look at male sex workers and their clients in the Dominican Republic; an investigation into the factors that prevent MSM sex workers in Vietnam from accessing health services, undertaken by the STDs/HIV/AIDS Prevention Center (SHAPC); Safe Pulse of Youth (SPY)’s survey of how satisfied LGBT in Serbia are with the health services they receive; and Gender DynamiX’s study of HIV knowledge, sexual behavior, and access to clinical services among 80 trans women in South Africa.
Engaging community organizations in the design, implementation, analysis, and presentation of research studies is essential to their success. These highlighted organizations have used the study results not only to improve their own programming, but also to successfully urge governments, donors, and health systems to increase the effectiveness of their HIV services for GMT. Lessons learned from these formative studies are also helping amfAR support “implementation science” research to develop scalable intervention models that will truly impact the HIV epidemic among GMT populations worldwide. Check it out today and pass it on!