Associations between punitive policies and legal barriers to consensual same-sex sexual acts and HIV among gay men and other men who have sex with men in sub-Saharan Africa: a multicountry, respondent-driven sampling survey.

Background: Few assessments of associations between structural-level factors and HIV among gay men and other men who have sex with men (MSM) have been conducted, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Our objective was to examine HIV testing history, HIV status, and stigmas among MSM living in ten countries with heterogeneous legal environments.

Methods: This study used pooled data from ten country-specific, cross-sectional studies done in 25 sites in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Nigeria, Senegal, Eswatini, Rwanda, and Togo.

Experienced Homophobia and HIV Infection Risk Among U.S. Gay, Bisexual, and Other Men Who Have Sex with Men: A Meta-Analysis.

Experienced homophobia-negative treatment and perceptions that gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (MSM) encounter because of their sexual orientations-may promote HIV infection among MSM. We conducted a rapid review and meta-analysis to examine experienced homophobia in relation to HIV infection risk. We searched Embase, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and Sociological Abstracts to acquire data from U.

New pathogen, same disparities: why COVID-19 and HIV remain prevalent in U.S. communities of colour and implications for ending the HIV epidemic.

Introduction: The U.S. Ending the HIV Epidemic (EHE) Initiative was launched nationally in February 2019.

White Counties Stand Apart: The Primacy of Residential Segregation in COVID-19 and HIV Diagnoses.

Emerging epidemiological data suggest that white Americans have a lower risk of acquiring COVID-19. Although many studies have pointed to the role of systemic racism in COVID-19 racial/ethnic disparities, few studies have examined the contribution of racial segregation. Residential segregation is associated with differing health outcomes by race/ethnicity for various diseases, including HIV.

Risk for COVID-19 infection and death among Latinos in the United States: examining heterogeneity in transmission dynamics.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to ascertain COVID-19 transmission dynamics among Latino communities nationally.

Methods: We compared predictors of COVID-19 cases and deaths between disproportionally Latino counties (≥17.8% Latino population) and all other counties through May 11, 2020.

Assessing differential impacts of COVID-19 on black communities.

Purpose: Given incomplete data reporting by race, we used data on COVID-19 cases and deaths in U.S. counties to describe racial disparities in COVID-19 disease and death and associated determinants.

Understanding COVID-19 risks and vulnerabilities among black communities in America: the lethal force of syndemics.

Black communities in the United States are bearing the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic and the underlying conditions that exacerbate its negative consequences. Syndemic theory provides a useful framework for understanding how such interacting epidemics develop under conditions of health and social disparity. Multiple historical and present-day factors have created the syndemic conditions within which black Americans experience the lethal force of COVID-19.

HIV Acquisition and Transmission Potential Among African American Men Who Have Sex with Men and Women in Three U.S. Cities.

Black men who have sex with men and women (BMSMW) are at increased HIV risk, but few efficacious interventions meet their unique needs. Three HIV prevention interventions were evaluated with a common protocol. Baseline data were pooled to describe sexual behavior involving transmission risk with male, female, and male-to-female transgender partners and identify factors associated with transmission risk.

Sources of racial disparities in HIV prevalence in men who have sex with men in Atlanta, GA, USA: a modelling study.

Background: In the USA, men who have sex men (MSM) are at high risk for HIV, and black MSM have a substantially higher prevalence of infection than white MSM. We created a simulation model to assess the strength of existing hypotheses and data that account for these disparities.

Methods: We built a dynamic, stochastic, agent-based network model of black and white MSM aged 18-39 years in Atlanta, GA, USA, that incorporated race-specific individual and dyadic-level prevention and risk behaviours, network attributes, and care patterns.

Preventing HIV and Hepatitis Infections Among People Who Inject Drugs: Leveraging an Indiana Outbreak Response to Break the Impasse.

Providing clean needles through syringe services programs (SSPs) prevents the spread of disease among people who inject drugs (PWID). The recent HIV outbreak in Scott County, Indiana was a wakeup call with particular significance because modeling suggests that Scott County is but one of many counties in the United States highly vulnerable to an HIV outbreak among PWID. It is a painful recognition that some policy makers ignored the evidence in support of SSPs when it was primarily blacks in inner cities that were affected, yet swung into action in the wake of Scott County where 99% of the cases were white.

Understanding the HIV disparities between black and white men who have sex with men in the USA using the HIV care continuum: a modeling study.

Background: Black/white disparities in HIV incidence and prevalence among men who have sex with men (MSM) in the United States remain largely unexplained. We examined the impact on HIV prevalence and incidence of interventions that decrease disparities in HIV care. Deciding which interventions have most impact on reducing disparities is critical.

Social discrimination and resiliency are not associated with differences in prevalent HIV infection in black and white men who have sex with men.

Objectives: To examine the associations of homophobia, racism, and resiliency with differences in prevalent HIV infection in black and white men who have sex with men (MSM).

Methods: The Involve[ment]t study is a cohort of black and white MSM aged 18-39 years in Atlanta, GA, designed to evaluate individual, dyadic, and community level factors that might explain racial disparities in HIV prevalence. Participants were recruited irrespective of HIV serostatus from community-based venues and from Internet advertisements and were tested for HIV.

Correlates of sexual risk for HIV among US-born and foreign-born Latino men who have sex with men (MSM): an analysis from the Brothers y Hermanos study.

Little research has been conducted to examine whether correlates of sexual risk vary by nativity among Latino men who have sex with men (MSM). We used cross sectional data collected from 870 Latino MSM recruited with respondent-driven sampling techniques. For each sub-sample (US-born and foreign-born), we assessed the association between each of the potential correlates (substance use, acculturation, social support, and social discrimination) and sexual risk behavior.

A holistic approach to addressing HIV infection disparities in gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men.

Gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (MSM) have been disproportionately affected by HIV and AIDS since the beginning of the epidemic in the United States and in many other parts of the world. The HIV epidemic is inextricably tied to other health problems that disproportionately affect gay, bisexual, and other MSM including psychological comorbidities, substance use, sexual victimization, stigmatization, and multiple forms of discrimination. These interrelated health problems and social issues can be characterized as a syndemic of mutually reinforcing conditions or epidemics.

Comparisons of disparities and risks of HIV infection in black and other men who have sex with men in Canada, UK, and USA: a meta-analysis.

Background: We did a meta-analysis to assess factors associated with disparities in HIV infection in black men who have sex with men (MSM) in Canada, the UK, and the USA.

Methods: We searched Embase, Medline, Google Scholar, and online conference proceedings from Jan 1, 1981, to Dec 31, 2011, for racial comparative studies with quantitative outcomes associated with HIV risk or HIV infection. Key words and Medical Subject Headings (US National Library of Medicine) relevant to race were cross-referenced with citations pertinent to homosexuality in Canada, the UK, and the USA.

Common roots: a contextual review of HIV epidemics in black men who have sex with men across the African diaspora.

Pooled estimates from across the African diaspora show that black men who have sex with men (MSM) are 15 times more likely to be HIV positive compared with general populations and 8·5 times more likely compared with black populations. Disparities in the prevalence of HIV infection are greater in African and Caribbean countries that criminalise homosexual activity than in those that do not criminalise such behaviour. With the exception of US and African epidemiological studies, most studies of black MSM mainly focus on outcomes associated with HIV behavioural risk rather than on prevalence, incidence, or undiagnosed infection.

Having supportive social relationships is associated with reduced risk of unrecognized HIV infection among black and Latino men who have sex with men.

We examined the hypothesis that black and Latino men who have sex with men (MSM) who have supportive social relationships with other people are less likely to have unrecognized HIV infection compared with MSM of color who report lower levels of social support. We interviewed 1286 black and Latino MSM without known HIV infection in three metropolitan areas who were recruited using respondent driven sampling. Participants completed a computer-administered questionnaire and were tested for HIV.

Older partner selection, sexual risk behaviour and unrecognised HIV infection among black and Latino men who have sex with men.

Objectives: The authors examine whether young black and Latino men who have sex with men (MSM) who have older sex partners are more likely than those who do not have older sex partners to have unrecognised HIV infection. The authors examine whether the association stems from (1) increased sexual risk behaviour with male partners of any age, (2) heightened risk of being exposed to HIV infection by older partners or (3) a combination of these two factors.

Methods: The analytical sample consisted of 723 black and Latino MSM, aged 18-35 years, who were HIV negative or of unknown serostatus at study entry.

Mistaken assumptions and missed opportunities: correlates of undiagnosed HIV infection among black and Latino men who have sex with men.

Objective: To identify demographic, behavioral, and psychological variables associated with being HIV positive unaware among black and Latino men who have sex with men (MSM).

Methods: Participants recruited in 3 cities completed a computer-assisted interview and were tested for HIV infection (OraSure Technologies, Bethlehem, PA). HIV-positive unaware MSM were compared with MSM who tested HIV negative in bivariate and multivariate analyses.

Homophobia and racism experienced by Latino men who have sex with men in the United States: correlates of exposure and associations with HIV risk behaviors.

Using cross-sectional data collected from 1081 Latino men who have sex with men (MSM) recruited with respondent-driven sampling (RDS) techniques from Los Angeles and New York, we examined the extent to which Latino MSM reported exposure to social discrimination (i.e., experienced both homophobia and racism, homophobia only, racism only, or neither homophobia nor racism).