Commentary: COVID-19 healthcare barriers around vaccine uptake among migrant workers within the Canadian Prairies.

This commentary explores the vulnerabilities faced by temporary foreign workers (TFWs) in Manitoba, Canada within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. TFWs often endure substandard working conditions and lack access to essential healthcare services due to their status as non-citizens. The COVID-19 pandemic has further exacerbated their precarious situation, with TFWs experiencing disproportionately high rates of infection.

Toward improving anal health care among GBMSM in Kenya: Lessons from a patient's illness, treatment and recovery journey.

We aimed to illuminate the challenges of treating anal diseases among gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (GBMSM) in a homophobic climate amid resource constraints. Building on a long-term Kenyan-Canadian collaboration, an anal healthcare intervention study, known as the WEMAH Project, was initiated in January 2022. The initial collaborative work strengthened existing anal health services provided at a community-based clinic serving GBMSM in Nairobi.

Expanding options for HIV testing: A process evaluation of a community-led HIV self-testing intervention among men who have sex with men in Kenya.

Background: Men who have sex with men (MSM) in Kenya continue to face barriers to HIV testing, which leads to delays in HIV prevention and care. An HIV self-testing (HIVST) intervention was implemented in three Kenyan counties to increase coverage and frequency of HIV testing among MSM communities with high HIV prevalence. The evaluation study examined how HIVST can increase testing among MSM who are unaware of their status by increasing coverage, frequency, and early uptake of testing and support linkages to prevention and treatment.

"…because the social work never ends": a qualitative study exploring how NGOs responded to emerging needs while upholding responsibility to HIV prevention and treatment during the war in Ukraine.

Introduction: Since the onset of the Russian invasion on 24 February 2022, the health system in Ukraine has been placed under tremendous pressure, with damage to critical infrastructure, large losses of human resources, restricted mobility and significant supply chain interruptions. Based on a longstanding partnership between the Ukrainian Institute for Social Research after Oleksandr Yaremenko (UISR after O. Yaremenko) and the Institute for Global Public Health at the University of Manitoba, we explore the impact of the full-scale war on non-governmental organizations (NGOs, including charitable organizations) providing services for key population groups in Ukraine.

Describing the effect of COVID-19 on sexual and healthcare-seeking behaviours of men who have sex with men in three counties in Kenya: a cross-sectional study.

Background: While the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted HIV preventative services in sub-Saharan Africa, little is known about the specific impacts the pandemic has had on men who have sex with men (MSM) in Kenya.

Methods: Data were from an HIV self-testing intervention implemented in Kisumu, Mombasa and Kiambu counties in Kenya. Baseline data collection took place from May to July 2019, and endline in August-October 2020, coinciding with the lifting of some COVID-19 mitigation measures.

Barriers to sexual health care for sexually diverse Muslim men: a scoping review.

Sexually diverse Muslim men (SDMM) are seen to present later and with more advanced symptoms of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs). The limited access to sexual healthcare services is attributed to the stigma associated with their multiple intersecting identities. We conducted a scoping review to synthesise research on barriers impeding SDMM's access to sexual health care.

'That is because we are alone': A relational qualitative study of socio-spatial inequities in maternal and newborn health programme coverage in rural Uttar Pradesh, India.

This qualitative study was conducted in Uttar Pradesh state, India to explore how interrelated socio-economic position and spatial characteristics of four diverse villages may have influenced equity in coverage of community-based maternal and newborn health (MNH) services. We conducted social mapping and three focus group discussions in each village, among women of lower and higher socio-economic position who recently gave birth, and with community health workers ( = 134). Data were analysed in NVivo 11.

Women in Health and their Economic, Equity and Livelihood statuses during Emergency Preparedness and Response (WHEELER) protocol: a mixed methods study in Kenya.

Introduction: Kenya reported its first COVID-19 case on 13 March 2020. Pandemic-driven health system changes followed and unforeseen societal, economic and health effects reported. This protocol aims to describe the methods used to identify the gender equality and health equity gaps and possible disproportional health and socioeconomic impacts experienced by paid and unpaid (community health volunteer) female healthcare providers in Kilifi and Mombasa Counties, Kenya during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Research on the barriers to accessing sexual healthcare for sexually diverse Muslim men: protocol for a scoping review.

Introduction: Sexually diverse Muslim men are seen to be at a higher risk for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections due to their limited access to sexual healthcare services. We outline a protocol to conduct a scoping review of research on the barriers that may impede these men's access to sexual healthcare.

Methods And Analysis: To conduct this scoping review, we will follow the methodological framework developed by Arksey and O'Malley and the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses' extension for scoping reviews.

Political homophobia and the effect on GBMSM programmes in Kenya: The significance of a community-led rapid agency assessment.

A recent Supreme Court ruling that permitted LGBTQ + rights organisations to officially register as non-governmental organisations has led to rises in political homophobia in Kenya. Community leaders initiated and led a rapid agency assessment to examine the effects of this rising political homophobia on sexual health services access for gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (GBMSM). This survey assessment engaged directors and programme managers running 20 community-based organisations (CBOs) representing 19 Kenyan counties, serving the sexual health needs of more than >25,000 GBMSM.

A cross-sectional survey exploring HIV and HCV prevalence among men who purchase sex in Dnipro, Ukraine.

Background: HIV programming in Ukraine largely targets "key population" groups. Men who purchase sex are not directly reached. The aim of our study was to explore the prevalence of sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections (STBBIs) among men who purchase sex from female sex workers.

Community Insights in Phylogenetic HIV Research: The CIPHR Project Protocol.

Inferring HIV transmission networks from HIV sequences is gaining popularity in the field of HIV molecular epidemiology. However, HIV sequences are often analyzed at distance from those affected by HIV epidemics, namely without the involvement of communities most affected by HIV. These remote analyses often mean that knowledge is generated in absence of lived experiences and socio-economic realities that could inform the ethical application of network-derived information in 'real world' programmes.

Assessing awareness and use of HIV self-testing kits after the introduction of a community-based HIV self-testing programme among men who have sex with men in Kenya.

Men who have sex with men (MSM) bear a disproportionate burden of new HIV infections in Kenya, while experiencing discrimination, leading to suboptimal levels of HIV care. HIV self-testing (HIVST) is a tool to increase HIV screening and earlier diagnosis; however, questions remain regarding how best to scale-up HIVST to MSM in Kenya. The main objective of this study was to examine changes in knowledge and use of HIVST after implementation of a community-led HIVST project.

The precarity of mobile loan debt and repayment among female sex workers in Nairobi, Kenya: Implications for sexual health.

Financial technology tools have been utilised to create readily available mobile loan platforms for urban-based, daily-wage earners in Kenya. From a financial lending perspective, this development signals greater inclusion and equality in formal bank financing systems. In this paper, however, we examine mobile loans and their repayment from the perspective of women who sell sex in Nairobi, drawing upon the qualitative findings of two community-based studies conducted in close collaboration with sex worker-led organisations serving the sexual health needs of their peers.

Awareness and Utilization of HIV Testing and Prevention Services Among Female Sex Workers in Dnipro, Ukraine: Implications for Prevention Program Strengthening From the Dynamics Study.

Introduction: Approximately 240,000 people live with HIV in Ukraine, concentrated among key populations, including sex workers. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) play an important role in the funding and delivery of HIV testing and prevention services in Ukraine. These services are set within the context of national healthcare reforms as well as ongoing armed conflict.

Sex work stigma and the recuperation of moral personhood through gendered labour: sex worker diaries in Ukraine.

Based on a diary writing exercise, this paper illuminates the complex ways in which sex workers in Ukraine actively work through and manage stigma in their daily lives. Pushing beyond the notion of stigma as a static and fixed psychosocial designation that can be readily measured, we argue that stigma is actively confronted by sex workers through various forms of gendered emotional and physical labour that enable them to recuperate a sense of moral personhood. This notion of moral personhood is often tied to wider gender-specific values pertaining to caregiving and motherhood.

Validity and reliability of the Neilands sexual stigma scale among Kenyan gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men.

Background: We evaluated the validity and reliability of the Neilands sexual stigma scale administered to 871 gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (GBMSM) at two research locations in Kenya.

Methods: Using cross-validation, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was performed on a randomly selected subset of participants and validated using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) on the remaining participants. Associations of the initial and final stigma scale factors with depressive symptoms, alcohol use, and other substance use were examined for the entire dataset.

Understanding socio-sexual networks: critical consideration for HIVST intervention planning among men who have sex with men in Kenya.

Background: HIV self-testing (HIVST) has emerged as a way of reaching individuals who may be less likely to access testing, including men who have sex with men (MSM). Understanding the social networks of MSM is key to tailoring interventions, such as HIVST, for particular locations.

Methods: We undertook a socio-sexual network study to characterize and identify patterns of connection among MSM and inform an HIVST intervention in three sites in Kenya.

Remaking the Technosubject: Kenyan Men Contextualizing HIV Self-Testing Technologies.

The Kenyan government offers free HIV self-testing kits to men who have sex with men. The value of self-testing is based on the imaginary of an autonomous technosubject empowered to independently control testing services, thereby "freed," through technology, from the social conditions that might inhibit health services utilization. Following a community-centered collaborative approach, community researchers interviewed their peers who examined and reacted to the technology.

Relationship between sociodemographics, healthcare providers' competence and healthcare access among two-spirit, gay, bisexual, queer and other men who have sex with men in Manitoba: results from a community-based cross-sectional study.

Objective: Little is known about barriers to healthcare access for two-spirit, gay, bisexual and queer (2SGBQ+) men in Manitoba.

Design: Data were drawn from a community-based, cross-sectional survey designed to examine health and healthcare access among 2SGBQ+ men.

Setting: Community-based cross-sectional study in Manitoba, Canada.

Socioeconomic Burdens of the COVID-19 Pandemic on LMIC Populations with Increased HIV Vulnerabilities.

Purpose Of Review: To review the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and its public health response on key populations at risk of HIV infection, with a focus on sex workers.

Recent Findings: Since last year several groups have documented how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the livelihoods and health of sex workers. We focus on case studies from Kenya, Ukraine, and India and place these in the broader global context of sex worker communities, drawing on common themes that span geographies.