Abstract #15  -  Education by MSM leaders: a community-based prevention project in the city of Douala.
Authors:   Presenting Author:   Mr YOMB FILS ROGER YVES - ALTERNATIVES CAMEROUN
Additional Authors:  Mr Yves Roger YOMB,
Aim: Background: In Cameroon, prevention programmes for STIs and HIV have always been focused on heterosexuals. Article 347a of the penal code in Cameroon prohibits homosexuality and therefore impedes any public prevention programme aimed at MSM. Prevention programmes in the MSM population are carried out by Alternatives-Cameroun, an NGO fighting for the respect of human rights of sexual minorities. Because this prevention counselling takes place in night clubs and social venues, the number of people reached is very limited. If we want to have more effective actions and reach a greater number of MSM, we need to develop new strategies and design new approaches.
Method / Issue: Description: On World Aids Day, on December 1st 2008, we decided to experiment with a new approach based on education by MSM leaders. This approach consisted in recruiting MSM leaders in different areas of the city of Douala. After being trained up on the basic issues regarding HIV/Aids, their mission was to go from door to door in their respective neighbourhoods in order to orient, inform, educate and distribute prevention materials such as condoms and lubricant gels to MSM who had not been reached by our other prevention programmes. With ten MSM leaders, we managed to reach 212 homosexuals and MSM, distribute 836 condoms and 1,266 lubricant gels.
Results / Comments: Lessons learned and next steps:This door-to-door experiment showed us that a large number of MSM still do not know what a lubricant gel is, as many of those contacted had never seen one before. Others thought that using a condom wasn’t necessary in homosexual intercourse because the prevention messages they were used to seeing were always focused on heterosexual intercourse. This approach enabled us to reach the “underground” MSM (i.e. those who, because of pressure from family, traditions and culture, live at home with their wife and children while continuing their homosexual life). We decided therefore to institutionalise this approach in 2009, in order to reach the greatest number of MSM and especially those who are “underground”.
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