Toward an iterative approach to preventing HIV risk among young mSM

Abstract

HIV/AIDS has transformed during its 30+ year history from lethal disease to chronic condition, akin to diabetes or hypertension. Troubling evidence that young MSM, especially young men of color, continue to have high rates of HIV+ seroconversion has drawn attention of research teams to factors that might cause this ongoing trend in this group. Four kinds of factors have received research attention in efforts to identify problem areas in prevention of HIV contagion: (1) factors related to serostatus and virus load status and individuals' knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about them, (2) factors related to mental health issues, (3) factors related to patterns of selecting sexual partners, and (4) factors related to community context. Rather than focus on one or two of these kinds of factors, the author suggests that future preventive interventions combine all of them into an iterative model that relies on highly interactive learning.