Top2Btm MSM Symposium 2013

The documentary How to Survive a Plague, chronicling American gay activists’ response to the early days of the HIV epidemic, has been nominated for Best Documentary at the 85th Academy Awards.

A deep kiss is a complex olfactory exchange of chemicals, hormones and proteins and a way for us to gauge how virile, or even what state of health our potential partners may be in because mucous membranes inside the mouth are permeable to hormones such as testosterone, which our clever bodies can detect. Subconsciously we build a profile on the person that we are kissing as we analyse the chemicals in their mouth in our own oral laboratory.

Effectively responding to the high prevalence of HIV among men who have sex with men (MSM) in South Africa requires more research.

This was the call of numerous speakers at the second day of the Top2Btm symposium where researchers, medical professionals and policy makers met to discuss treatment, prevention and care of HIV for MSM. The symposium is based in Cape Town and hosted by the Anova Health Institute with support from PEPFAR.