UK News

African gay men with HIV ‘face triple jeopardy’

African HIV positive men who have sex with other men (MSM) face double or even triple amounts of stigma and prejudice in British society, according to Dr Jane Anderson, of East London’s Homerton University Hospital.

Cultural and religious differences in African communities make for more difficulties for men who have sex with men and there are only 40 studies on MSM from the whole of Africa, Dr Anderson told the AIDS Impact conference this summer.

A recent study conducted in east London found difficulties coming out to families and fellow Africans as well as difficulties integrating into either African communities or gay networks in the UK. There are high, but undisclosed, rates of racism among gays and homophobia among Africans. Whereas Africans make up just 1 per cent of the British population, in 2005 they made up 46 per cent of people in England, Wales and Northern Ireland receiving HIV care.

This is probably an underestimate, Dr Anderson said, and Africans who are gay and HIV positive face a double or triple jeopardy in this country.

Already stigmatised in their own communities, they often have nowhere to go for support, and find it impossible to disclose their status to family or friends. This leads to living a double life which in itself leads to more depression.

And if the gay HIV Africans are tied up in the asylum system in this country, they also can face deportation to or violence in their own countries as well fears that HIV drugs will not be available for them back in Africa.

Medically, African MSM are also late to test for HIV and late to present for treatments, Dr Anderson said, making them more at risk of rapid disease progression or early death.

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