The 7th Taipei Conference on HIV/AIDS was held from July 17 to 20. I was invited to speak at the conference because I was conducting an epidemiological study of men who frequent gay saunas in Taiwan, commissioned by the Center for Disease Control.
That evening, newspapers and TV gave the report extensive coverage, which has stirred discussion in society and the gay community. There were even people who suggested that I was sensationalizing gay issues in the media.
My views on the research were solicited both directly and through my assistant. After the conference, I saw front-page headlines such as "8-way Sex in Gay Saunas" and claims that gay men in Taiwan go to gay saunas once every three weeks on average.
In the case of the headline, my assistant had given a figure only after she could no longer bear the reporter's persistent questions, and she emphasized that this figure was an exceptional instance. Regarding the average use of saunas, my research was misrepresented. My findings were that among gay sauna users, men infected with HIV-1 went to gay saunas once every three weeks, as opposed to once every five weeks for those who had not contracted HIV-1.
Even more absurd was one TV channel's report that there were 17-year-old and 73-year-old men contracting HIV via sexual intercourse in gay saunas. My report indicated that in gay saunas, the average age of the 36 HIV-positive people was 29, with an age range from 18 to 49. The average age of the 430 HIV-negative people was 34, with an age range from 17 to 73.
These reports leave me concerned about the professional standards of some Taiwanese media, as such coverage of subjects such as HIV/AIDS prevention and homosexual relationships lacks prudence and respect.
As opposed to heterosexuals, gay men -- or other men who have sex with men -- are especially susceptible to HIV/AIDS. Therefore, the government should offer more funding to help this community combat the HIV/AIDS epidemic. In the past four years, a joint project conducted by the AIDS Prevention and Research Center at National Yang-Ming University and the Living with Hope Organization has screened 1,578 people in gay saunas, and among them, 108 people turned out to be infected with HIV-1.
If these HIV-1 carriers did not receive HIV testing and did not know they had the virus, then they risked transmitting HIV to others. If, on average, these people could transmit the virus to one person per year, our research project has directly prevented 108 men from contracting HIV/AIDS each year. Moreover, the 1,470 HIV-negative people who anonymously received our HIV screening and counseling could adopt safer behavior. This is a very cost-effective project, and the government should consider promoting this screening strategy in southern Taiwan as well.
Gay saunas are venues for gay men to make friends. Health authorities should face the health problems inside these places. Kevin Frost, vice president of the American Foundation for AIDS Research, learned that some of Taiwan's gay sauna owners are reluctant to distribute condoms to their customers. He recommended that the Taiwan government demand that sauna owners offer condoms, and that if they refused to comply, the government should close their businesses. The gay community should also exert its collective power to make sauna owners provide free condoms.
Finally, I would like to express my deepest apology for the distress that the media's use of my research caused the gay community.
Arthur Chen is chairman of the Institute of Public Health and Director of the AIDS Prevention and Research Center at National Yang-Ming University.
TRANSLATED BY LIN YA-TI
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