New intervention reduces risky sex among bisexual African-American men

A culturally tailored HIV prevention program developed and tested by investigators at UCLA and the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science has been shown to significantly reduce unprotected sex among bisexual black men.   The innovative approach, called Men of African American Legacy Empowering Self, or MAALES, is described in an article in the peer-reviewed journal AIDS.   The rate of HIV/AIDS among African-Americans is significantly higher than it is among any other ethnic or racial group. (According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, African-Americans accounted for an estimated 44 percent of new U.S. HIV diagnoses in 2010.) Among men who have sex with men, black men account for the largest estimated number of HIV infections. Yet there are few interventions available to reduce those rates, said the study's principal investigator, Nina Harawa, adjunct assistant professor of epidemiology at UCLA and associate professor of research at the Charles R. Drew University of Science and Medicine.   MAALES takes a holistic approach to minimizing behaviors that could put men at risk for HIV, engaging participants in small-group discussions about popular media, exercises such as negotiating condom use with sexual partners and activities to improve the participants' knowledge of sexual health. Importantly, the intervention is also culturally relevant, addressing participants’ shared legacies, including social expectations of African-America...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news