Approach to HIV Prevention in Cuba for Men Who Have Sex with Other Men

Abstract

This paper describes the main interventions for the prevention of human immunodeficiency virus infection, aimed at men who have sex with men, who constitute a risk group for acquiring the disease. For its preparation, the scientific literature published in national and international sources and documents considered relevant to the subject was selected. The analysis and recommendations focused on the health sector and the group of men who have sexual relations with other men. The approaches to the human immunodeficiency virus in Cuba are considered among the high-impact prevention programs, prepared both by civil society, through subsidies from the World Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, as well as by technicians from the National Program for Prevention and Control of STIs-HIV/AIDS. They include personalized service packages, which contain structural, biomedical and behavioral elements for key population groups in the social contexts where they are most needed. As is well known, the risk for each individual depends on their practices and not on the group to which they belong. These offer a common base for the development and promotion of effective programs for prevention, which allow organizing efforts directed at key populations, especially men who have sex with other men, and in this way reduce the number of new infections each year.