Across six presentations at EACS 2023, SIG and GHRCCA staff shared their research on HIV prevention and interventions in Kazakhstan and central Asia.
At the 19th annual European AIDS Conference (EACS 2023), SIG co-director Victoria Frye, Global Health Research Center of Central Asia (GHRCCA) project director Meruyert Darisheva, and former GHRCCA project director and current Columbia doctoral student in Sociomedical Sciences Tara McCrimmon took the opportunity to share their important research. Their combined six oral and poster presentations highlighted their own work as well as their colleagues’ and helped make the conference enriching and informative for attendees.
Victoria Frye
Oral abstract: "Designing a Sex-Positive “Do-It-Yourself” Intervention Condition to Promote Sexual Pleasure and Health for Gay/Bisexual/Same-gender Loving, Black/African-American Men in New York City."
This presentation highlighted the work of the P3 team, and included contributions from Keosha Bond, Dustin Duncan, Mark Paige, David W.C. Matthews, Elizabeth Kelvin, Wylliam Smith and Elise Knoffler of CAMBA, and Julian J. Walker and DaShawn Usher of MOBI.
Poster presentation: "AEGIDA: An Intervention to Support Uptake of HIV Self-testing and PrEP among Women who Exchange Sex and/or Use Substances in Kazakhstan." Partners on this work included GHRCCA and co-author Meruyert Darisheva, the NGO Amelia (led by Natalya Zholnerova) and the NGO Community Friends (and coordinator Ekaterina Grigochuk).
“The P3 “Do It Yourself” approach to sexual health self-care, which includes HIV self-testing and sexual pleasure self-assessments, was very well-received by the clinicians and others who attended the EACS!” Professor Frye said about her experience at EACS 2023. “Empowering clients and others in owning their sex lives and sexual health was seen as a needed, asset-framed approach.”
Meruyert Darisheva
Poster presentation: "New strategies for outreach are urgently needed to reach women who exchange sex and use drugs in the context of changing sex markets and high levels of stigma," also in collaboration with the NGO Amelia, the NGO Community Friends, and the Kazakh Scientific Center of Dermatology and Infectious Diseases and the Almaty City AIDS Center.
Poster presentation: "Community engagement in developing stigma reduction interventions to increase HIV testing and linkage to care/prevention for women who exchange sex and use drugs in Kazakhstan."
Poster presentation: "Crowdsourcing among Women who Exchange Sex and/or Use Drugs in Kazakhstan: Developing Community Responsive Interventions to Address Intersectional Stigma in Health Care Settings," highlighting the work of Brooke S. West.
Said Dr. Meruyert Darisheva of her experience at EACS 2023: "I am glad that the results of the HIV researches conducted in Kazakhstan among women who exchange sex and/or use drugs were presented at the European AIDS conference."
Tara McCrimmon
Poster presentation: "Substance use among women engaged in sex work in Kazakhstan: typologies and implications for HIV risk." The presentation is based on the NOVA study.
“I appreciated the strong body of research presented on Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and the opportunity to interact with others focused on this key region in the HIV epidemic," she said about attending EACS 2023.