Purple Sky Network Elects Board Chairs

October 2010—The Purple Sky Network—a coalition of HIV/ AIDS groups representing men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgenders in the Greater Mekong Sub-region, for which TREAT Asia serves as regional coordinating secretariat—has established a formal governance structure and elected its first chairs in July.

The Purple Sky Network's five-member executive board is chaired by Vieng Akone Souriyo of the Lao Youth Action for AIDS Programme, in Vientiane, Laos, and co-chaired by Nay Oo Lwin, MSM program manager at PSI Myanmar. The full board includes 17 members representing MSM communities, governments, and non-governmental organizations in Cambodia, China (Yunnan and Guangxi provinces), Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Viet Nam.

In addition to selecting its leadership, the Purple Sky Network's governing board discussed the network's goals and prioritized promoting advocacy efforts that reduce stigma and discrimination against MSM and transgender people in the region—an issue that cuts across the diverse social and political settings within the region.