life2live, ethnic minorities & sexual health

Ethnic Minorities Conference: ‘Work in progress!
A community-based approach'

The sexual health situation of ethnic minority groups in the Netherlands still trails behind that of the general Dutch population. This is cause for concern and at the same time calls for even more creativity and collaboration. This is what Ton Coenen, director STI AIDS Netherlands, contended at the 7th National Ethnic Minorities Conference which was held in Utrecht on 12 October 2012. One hundred and forty people came together to exchange thoughts on ways to enhance the involvement of ethnic minorities in STI and HIV prevention. ‘Work in progress! A community-based approach' was this year's theme at this seventh, and at the same time final, specific conference about ethnic minorities and sexual health. (read more)

For presentations click here
For pictures by Angelique Oostveen click here

Religious leaders with HIV fight multiple stigmas in Kenya

Religious leaders living with HIV say they face a double stigma, as their followers struggle to accept their leadership because they consider HIV a moral issue. After two decades of concerted awareness campaigns by a network of religious leaders who are publicly acknowledging their HIV status, stigma and discrimination against people living with the virus have significantly declined. But leaders say they run into a third stigma of religious intolerance of homosexuality while implementing their campaigns.
Read the complete article by Wairimu Michengi of the Global Press Institute (30th September 2012)

STIs in the Netherlands in 2011

In June 2012 the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) published the annual report with the most recent figures about the prevalence of Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs), including HIV, in the Netherlands in 2011. This is a brief summary on ethnic minorities and men who have sex with men (MSM).

The majority of the people go to their General Practitioner for an STI consult. In 2011 these were 170,000 people. Certain high risk groups can go to the low threshold STI centres of the Municipal Health Service (GGD). These high risk groups include MSM, people originating from STI/HIV endemic areas and people under 25 years of age. These groups are tested free of charge and anonymously by request. In 2011, 113,180 new STI consultations were carried out in the national network of STI centres in the Netherlands, an increase of 8 percent compared with 2010. More than one third (35 percent) of these consultations was carried out for persons within ethnic minority groups . In 14 percent of all consultations in 2011 one or more STIs were found. The percentage of positive STI tests had increased since 2004 from 13.3 percent to 14.3 percent in 2011. Read more click here

Growing threat of drug-resistant gonorrhoea

There has been a strong increase in the number of newly diagnosed gonorrhoea cases in the past few years, particularly among homosexual men who have sex with men (MSM) but among heterosexuals as well. Up until now, this STI could easily be treated and cured with antibiotics, but the spread of multiresistant gonococci is increasing worldwide.

For this reason the World Health Organisation (WHO) recently presented a global action plan (pdf) to fight the spread of gonorrhoea and especially antibiotic-resistant gonococci.

In 2011, 9 percent of MSM and 2 percent of heterosexual men and women were diagnosed with gonorrhoea in the Dutch STI clinics. In certain heterosexual ethnic minority groups the incidence of gonorrhoea appears to be relatively higher: six percent of Dutch citizens of Antillean/Aruban and Surinamese descent and 5 percent of Dutch citizens of Eastern European descent were diagnosed with gonorrhoea in an STI clinic in 2011. Among MSM these percentages are highest in the Dutch population of Eastern European, Antillean/Aruban, Latin American and Sub-Sahara African descent (12-13 percent). Among the native Dutch population tested at the Dutch STI clinics, the percentage of gonorrhoea cases is 3 percent in the heterosexual population and 8 percent in the group of MSM.

So far, antibiotic-resistant gonorrhoea has not yet been encountered in the Netherlands. However, research has shown a decreased sensitivity to the current first choice of antibiotics used to treat gonorrhoea. With the spread of antibiotic-resistant gonorrhoea worldwide and the decreasing sensitivity to the first choice antibiotics in the Netherlands the threat of drug-resistance in the Netherlands is also increasing in the Netherlands.

For more information on gonorrhoea click here

Magazine on African Hepatitis/HIV Treatment
Website of the African eye trust

Did you know that:

HIV is over-represented amongst migrants and ethnic minorities, especially those who come from Sub-Saharan Africa, and to a lesser extent from Latin America, the Caribbean or South East Asia.
Infection rates among certain minority ethnic groups have been explained by different studies as being due to engagement in higher risk sexual behaviour, such as having practicing unsafe sex with multiple or successive partners or due to not using condoms (consequently and correctly) during sex.
Unprotected sexual contacts with people in high endemic countries of origin might also contribute to the higher HIV prevalence rates.

The Top Seven STIs in the Netherlands:

Go here for interessting Facts and Figures

Ethnic Minorities Conference: ‘Work in progress! A community-based approach'