Services and solidarity
Battambang is Cambodia’s second largest city, with a population of 137,000. In 2000, its HIV prevalence rate was 5.3% – double the then national average of 2.6%. Services for Battambang’s estimated 1,338 sex workers were limited and there was no targeted response for the estimated 1,250 men who have sex with men (a low estimate due to under-reporting).
Yet by the end of 2001, the project was reaching out to 1,717 female sex workers and 1,318 men who have sex with men – more than the total number originally estimated. By 2006, over 5,600 sex workers, men who have sex with men, and injecting drug users, were accessing the project’s services. This highlights the success of the programme, and also the need for better national data on men who have sex with men.
The direct and genuine involvement of key populations at every stage of project implementation has been central to this rapid uptake of services. “Key populations see the project as representing their own interests, which is a key factor in promoting their participation and supporting behaviour change,” confirmed KHANA’s project manager.
Supporting the formation of community-based organisations for men who have sex with men has meant these groups are at the forefront of delivering safer sex, positive prevention, and STI health messages, and distributing condoms and lubricants. It has also increased visibility and solidarity within the community. “Before, I just knew a handful of men who have sex with men … now I know over 200 just in this area alone,” said Bo, one of the outreach workers.
A network for men who have sex with men in Battambang has now been formed and successes have paved the way for the creation of Bandanh Chaktomuk, a national network which aims to raise awareness of HIV and drug use, and promote access to services and equal rights. Thanks in part to this work, the national centre for HIV and AIDS, NCHADS, included men who have sex with men in its routine HIV surveillance for the first time in 2006.
