A SWOT analysis of health service access by men who have sex with men in South Africa: lessons for higher education institutions

Abstract

Few interventions to address heteronormativity in health education and practice exist within South Africa's Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). We conducted a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis of programmes that enhanced the competency of health workers with respect to men who have sex with men (MSM) and the MSM-focused HIV response in South Africa to develop recommendations for similar interventions within HEIs. We found that a combination of political will, MSM community mobilisation, appropriate training approaches, and dedicated funding have enabled the up-scale of HIV-related services for MSM. The implications of our analysis suggest that support from HEI management, student mobilisation, sensitisation training, dedicated financing, and mechanisms to address discrimination would Scheibe, Daniels, Kutner and Lane A SWOT analysis of health service access by men who have sex with men 220 facilitate expansion of practices at HEIs to include the health and wellbeing of sexual minorities. Keywords: heteronormativity, sensitisation training, men who have sex with men, lesbian gay bisexual transgender, higher education institutions BACKGROUND