Grant: Planning and Dissemination Grant - Institute Community Support

Despite major developments in HIV therapies and ongoing prevention work, Gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (GBM) in Canada continue to carry the highest burden of HIV infection--making up 46.6% of new diagnoses, despite representing less than 2% of the total population. The Engage Cohort Study Team represents a national partnership of researchers, public health, and community leaders whose shared goal is to facilitate high-quality, policy-relevant HIV research focusing on GBM. Our findings have been leveraged at the community level to develop intervention programs to aid in the uptake of HIV and STBBI preventative measures, and nationally to inform blood donation policy. Data collection for the longitudinal cohort study is nearly complete, making this meeting an important opportunity to disseminate our current findings and collaborate with key stakeholders on planning the implementation of our current findings as well as planning future studies and interventions. This meeting will focus on leveraging the findings of the Engage Cohort Study to improve knowledge, access, and uptake of HIV/STBBI prevention services. We will host a national in-person one-day event focusing on: 1) sharing the knowledge already obtained from the current and ongoing analyses with diverse stakeholders, and 2) discussing how these findings can be communicated to impact the HIV epidemic among Canadian GBM. Regarding the latter, our goals are to strengthen multi-sectoral and interdisciplinary connections among GBM researchers and knowledge users, identify key research needs within the GBM community and local, provincial, or national HIV prevention projects that can be supported by Engage Study outcomes, and use our research to better understand the diverse needs of GBM across Canada. This meeting event will take place as an ancillary event to a larger national meeting bringing together researchers, stakeholders, and community members with an interest in GBM health.