You can find the Myanmar grant buried in this press release. And her name near the bottom.

[him] moderator

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amfAR
ANNOUNCES FUNDING FOR HIV SERVICES AND RESEARCH AIMED AT MEN WHO HAVE SEX WITH
MEN IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

More Than 100 Groups Apply for
Grants to Assist Men Who Have Sex With Men in Developing Countries

 

Contact:

Donald Kaplan, Director
of Program Communications, amfAR

(212) 806-1602 / (917) 435-8730 / donald.kaplan@amfar.org

Jennifer Samuels, Asst. Coordinator, Program Communications, amfAR
(212) 806-1756 / jennifer.samuels@amfar.org

 

NEW
YORK, February 21 – In an ambitious move to significantly
bolster global HIV program efforts targeting populations especially vulnerable
to HIV, amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, has announced the first
recipients of funding given out under its new MSM Initiative. These community
awards will fund 17 grassroots and frontline organizations in Africa, the
Caribbean and Southeast Asia that are working
to provide essential HIV/AIDS prevention, care and support services for men who
have sex with men (MSM), amfAR CEO Kevin Robert Frost announced today.

 

“MSM are one of the populations worst affected by HIV worldwide,
and this is the first global initiative of its kind supporting local
organizations working to address HIV among MSM in developing countries,”
Frost said.

 

According to UNAIDS, fewer than one in 20 MSM around the world have
access to appropriate HIV/AIDS services. Stigma, discrimination, and lack of access to health
services have sparked alarming epidemics that threaten the lives of MSM in
underdeveloped regions, mirroring the HIV epidemics that ravaged gay men in
North America and Western Europe in the 1980s. 

 

“The MSM Initiative is working to galvanize a much needed global
response to the enormous gaps in funding and services for MSM at risk of
HIV/AIDS through a partnership with amfAR, UNAIDS, and the Global Forum on MSM
and HIV,” said Dr. Peter Piot, Executive Director of the Joint United
Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). “Leadership in the gay community
was instrumental in the response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the West. This
initiative is fostering new leadership and support for this issue in developing
countries across the globe, including nations where male-male sex is illegal
and often heavily stigmatized.”

 

These awards mark the first funding cycle completed by the MSM
Initiative, which was launched just eight months ago in July 2007. First-round
funding includes support for organizations working in Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Curaçao, Ghana,
Haiti, Jamaica, Malaysia,
Mali, Mauritius, Myanmar,
Nigeria, Thailand and Zimbabwe. The MSM Initiative
received more than 120 applications from organizations in developing countries,
with more than 85 from Africa alone, far
exceeding expectations.

 

“The response to our first request for proposals (RFP) for
funding the MSM Initiative has been overwhelming, demonstrating the enormous
unmet need, particularly in parts of the world where vulnerable populations
have few established support systems,” Frost said. “Through the MSM
Initiative, we hope to foster
collaboration among organizations, promote advocacy that transforms attitudes
and discriminatory policies, and increase HIV/AIDS funding worldwide for
MSM.”

 

A second RFP will be issued on February 22. It will target groups
working in Central and South America and Asia
and the Pacific.

 

“For too long, countries around the world have simply assumed MSM
do not exist, leaving millions underserved and vulnerable to HIV
infection,” said Stella Iwuagwu, Executive Director at the Center for the
Right to Health in Abuja, Nigeria. “The MSM Initiative
provides important resources to help us expand our work to empower MSM in Nigeria
and ensure that education, condoms, and treatment are available to all.”

 

Data on HIV rates among MSM in developing countries are sparse but a
recent study by researchers at Johns
Hopkins University
produced some startling findings. Published in the online journal PLoS Medicine, their research showed that
in 38 low- and middle-income countries, MSM have an average 19 times greater
chance of being infected with HIV than the general population. In some
countries MSM are more than 100 times more likely to be infected, the study
found.

 

The MSM Initiative is facilitated
by amfAR, with valuable support from its partnerships with the Global Forum on
MSM and HIV and UNAIDS. Major donors to the MSM Initiative include the Elton
John AIDS Foundation, the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation,
GlaxoSmithKline’s Positive Action Programme and the M•A•C
AIDS Fund.

 

For more information about amfAR and the MSM
Initiative, visit www.amfar.org.

 

ABOUT amfAR

amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, is one of the
world’s leading nonprofit organizations dedicated to the support of AIDS
research, HIV prevention, treatment education, and the advocacy of sound
AIDS-related public policy. Since 1985, amfAR has invested $260 million in its
programs and has awarded grants to more than 2,000 research teams.

 

 

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