HONOUR YOUR HIV & LGBT HEROES AND WIN THEM FREE TRIP TO BANGKOK

Everyday across Asia and the Pacific, thousands of individuals and organisations are helping improve the lives of LGBT people and people affected by HIV. They are unsung heroes of our community but we have a chance to help them shine – plus win them one of eight free trips to Bangkok – by nominating them in the 2018 HERO Awards.

Standing for HIV, Equality and Rights, the HERO Awards is an annual gala event in Bangkok which acknowledges outstanding HIV and LGBT advocates and allies from across the Asia Pacific region. The event is produced by APCOM with the support of a range of community, corporate and diplomatic partners.

Nominations can be made across eight categories: Social Justice; Health & Wellbeing; Community Ally; Community Organisation; Young Achiever; Transgender Hero; HIV Hero; and Community Hero. The judging panels select three finalists and one winner for each category, with the winner being supported to travel to Bangkok for the awards ceremony in November. The nomination process is FREE and only takes a few minutes. Nominations close at 5pm on Sunday 30 September. To find out more or submit a nomination, please visit: www.HEROawards.asia

The awards ceremony will take place on Friday 30 November in the grand surrounds of the historic Ambassador’s residence at the British Embassy in Bangkok. The gala event will include a fabulously fun cocktail party with great live entertainment as well as a fundraising auction with an exciting range of products, services and unique experiences. Tickets are limited: www.HEROawards.asia

APCOM Updates

APCOM PARTNERS ON NEW PREP RESEARCH STUDY WITH BANGKOK SEX WORKERS

With the goal of reducing HIV transmission among sex workers, a new Bangkok-based research study is offering free HIV prevention drug PrEP to young Thai men and transgender women who have sex with men for money or other benefits. The project is looking to recruit 1200 participants between 18 – 26 years of age to take part in a special study of PrEP to assess how well it protects against HIV infection in a local context. The research is being led by a team from United States-based Johns Hopkins University in partnership with APCOM and several Bangkok-based community organisations. We’re producing the promotional campaign to recruit participants.

Read more… OR watch the video…

NEW ARTICLES HIGHLIGHT USE OF PREP
IN ASIA

Two new articles commissioned for our new PrEP MAP website are exploring how HIV prevention drug PrEP is being used in the Asia Pacific region. The first considers some of the challenges that need to be addressed to achieve a scaling up of access to the drug across the region. The second looks at how some gay men in Asia who don’t have access to PrEP in their own countries are travelling to places like Thailand for PrEP holidays where they can easily get up to six months supply of the drug. PrEP MAP is a digital hub produced by APCOM and provides a basic guide to understanding, accessing and advocating for PrEP in Asia and the Pacific.

Read more…

BALI MEETING TO FINALISE WAY FORWARD FOR NEW FINANCE INC. PROJECT

We’re hosting a special meeting in Bali in early October to consult with relevant country partners on the development of our new Finance Inc. project. With the support of a VOICE Global Influencing Grant, APCOM is working with organisations from Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR and the Philippines to help multilateral financial institutions improve their policies and practice so they are more inclusive of LGBT people. The project’s inception meeting with country partner organizations will take place in Bali from October 10 -12 and we’re looking forward to releasing further details of this exciting project over the next few months.

EQUAL RIGHTS COALITION PROFILED AT ILGA OCEANIA

In late August our Chief Executive Midnight Poonkasetwattana attended the ILGA Oceania Conference in Samoa where he met with LGBT advocates from Papua New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand, the South Pacific, Melanesia and the Micronesian Islands. At the conference Midnight was pleased to co-present a special session on intergovernmental Equal Rights Coalition (ERC) and its application in the Oceania region. The ERC is dedicated to the protection of and advances the human rights of LGBTI persons and promotes inclusive development in both member and non-member countries. The session provided feedback from some of the civil society advocates from Oceania who attended the ERC's second global conference in Vancouver in August. The session also included a discussion with the diplomatic representatives from the ERC member states based in Samoa on their support for LGBTI communities and how they protect and advance LGBTI rights in Samoa specifically and in Oceania more broadly.

Everyday Hero

HIV HERO LIGHTS THE WAY FOR YOUNG PEOPLE IN INDIA

Infected with HIV as a teenager, when he had just begun exploring his sexuality and entirely ignorant of the virus itself, Gautam Yadav felt his life would end there and then. The son of a humble auto-rickshaw driver, born and raised in a Delhi slum, Gautam weathered the initial blow, picked himself up, and decided to do something meaningful with his life – to help others affected by the virus. In the process, Gautam truly came into his own -- working through his own emotions, the ups and downs of living with HIV at such a young age, navigating relationships with family, friends, intimate partners and, not least, himself. Gautam has been and continues to be an inspiration for others in India and globally and his work was recognized last year when he was named HIV Hero at the HERO Awards in Bangkok. Read more about Gautam’s journey… OR Nominate your HIV or LGBT heroes for a HERO Award…

Regional News

• How Islamists stigmatise Indonesia’s transgender waria
  
  
• With sec 377 out, hopes now for renewed efforts of HIV prevention among high risk groups
  
  
• Opportunities and challenges for HIV self-testing in China
  
  
• The loneliness of Vietnam’s LGBT community
  
  
• A ‘Google Maps’ for condoms in the Philippines

Work at APCOM

To view any of these opportunities, please visit our Work With Us page on the APCOM website.

• Bangkok-based Social Change Creative Agency to Research, Identify, Develop and Produce Short Public Service Announcement (PSA) Video(s) to Educate Young Gay Men in Thailand on How to Minimise the Harm when Engaging in Chemsex
  
  
• A Consultancy Assignment on Consolidation of National Cost of Criminalisation Studies
  
  
• RFP for a Consultancy Assignment on End of Project Evaluation for Regional City-Based HIV Testing Campaign (testXXX) Programme for APCOM

Help Us Out

With HIV threatening to escalate significantly among gay men across Asia and the Pacific, the new HIV prevention drug PrEP provides a much-needed circuit breaker. However it’s only available in a few countries in Asia and the Pacific. If we’re going to meet the UNAIDS goal of ending HIV by 2030, then PrEP access needs to be scaled up significantly in Asia and the Pacific. Initiatives such as our PrEP MAP website (see above) help raise awareness about PrEP among community members and policymakers across the region. So does our other work such as supporting PrEP research and producing regional PrEP conferences. We’re starting to make a difference, but with your help, we could do so much more. By making a donation from as little as US$10 a month, you can help us make HIV history.

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