A regional project that seeks to raise awareness on issues affecting sexual minorities in Southern Africa has kicked off.

Through the project, PSAf and partners will carry out a comprehensive study on sexual minorities, to establish their characteristics including variations in sexual identity and the behavioural risks associated with HIV infection, to measure the extent to which sexual minorities are being reached with services and identify facilitating and inhibiting factors for effective HIV prevention among sexual minorities; and to provide information for advocacy and for the development of communication strategies targeting sexual minorities.

The project is being supported by the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), through the SADC HIV and AIDS Fund which was created to finance small projects and activities intended to enhance the capacity, output, or impact of existing HIV and AIDS programmes in Member States. The SADC HIV and AIDS Fund Steering Committee took a position that a portion of the Fund should be used to conduct a comprehensive study aimed at characterising sexual minorities, their association with HIV and identify the opportunities for interventions in Zimbabwe, Zambia and Botswana. The project currently covers three countries namely Zimbabwe, Botswana and Zambia.

In recognition of the key role of the important role of the National HIV and AIDS authorities, the project will be implemented in collaboration with the national authorities to ensure adherence to existing systems.

The Project seeks to support the work of the national responses to HIV and AIDS in the implementing countries.

The study comes against the background of an increasing HIV burden among men having sex with men globally. Although not yet as widespread as in Latin American and Asian countries, MSM is becoming a key phenomenon on HIV dialogue Africa, where it is estimated to be ranging from 9-25%. While the presence of MSM is increasing, there has been no reciprocal response in terms of allocation of resources by African governments. In some parts of Africa, sexual minorities are subjected to various acts of violence and harassment and this makes them a highly difficult population to reach with HIV interventions.

This project will explore such details as the different identities of sexual minorities, their family support systems, sex behaviours, lifestyles, environmental issues and other topics around issues of relevance.