Beyond Condoms: Risk Reduction Strategies Among Gay, Bisexual, and Other Men Who Have Sex With Men Receiving Rapid HIV Testing in Montreal, Canada.

Gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (MSM) have adapted their sexual practices over the course of the HIV/AIDS epidemic based on available data and knowledge about HIV. This study sought to identify and compare patterns in condom use among gay, bisexual, and other MSM who were tested for HIV at a community-based testing site in Montreal, Canada. Results showed that while study participants use condoms to a certain extent with HIV-positive partners and partners of unknown HIV status, they also make use of various other strategies such as adjusting to a partner's presumed or known HIV status and viral load, avoiding certain types of partners, taking PEP, and getting tested for HIV. These findings suggest that MSM who use condoms less systematically are not necessarily taking fewer precautions but may instead be combining or replacing condom use with other approaches to risk reduction.

[Not Available]. / Evaluation de REZO, un programme internet de prévention des ITSS et du VIH/sida destiné aux HARSAH au Québec.

The web currently offers a large spectrum of interactive tools enabling the dissemination of health-related messages aimed at prevention. The REZO programme, developed by the community-based organization Action Séro Zéro (based in Montreal, Quebec), provides a good example of how the Internet can be used to promote healthcare and health promotion among sexually active male homosexuals in Quebec. A recent assessment of this program suggests that the organization appears to be meeting the challenge of adapting to an exponential increase of knowledge in the field of sexual health and health prevention as well as to rapid changes in communication technologies.

Randomized controlled trial proves effectiveness of methadone maintenance treatment in prison.

A study on methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) undertaken by the Correctional Service of Canada in 2001 demonstrated that MMT has a positive impact on release outcome and on institutional behaviour. Now, a new study undertaken in an Australian prison system has demonstrated that MMT also reduces drug use and injection in prisons. The implications of this study are far reaching. They suggest that in all jurisdictions where community-based programs operate, prison-based methadone programs should be introduced or expanded.

Australian discussion paper on prison needle exchange programs released.

The Australian Injecting and Illicit Drug Users League (AIVL) recently released a discussion paper on prison-based needle exchange or distribution programs, expressing concern "about the gaps in service provision and neglect for the health and human rights of injecting and illicit drug users within the Australian prison systems."

The 1st Annual Awards for Action on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights.

The 1st Annual Awards for Action on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights were awarded to the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users and to Dr. Wan Yanhai, a Chinese physician and activist. The international attention and media coverage of the awards was heightened by the fact that the Chinese government had detained Dr. Wan for disclosing information about unsanitary blood collection practices in Henan province. An international outcry led to Dr. Wan's release on 20 September 2002.