Grant: Planning and Dissemination Grant - Institute Community Support

Since the start of the HIV epidemic, gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (GBM) have carried the highest burden of HIV infection in Western countries, including Canada. Despite major developments in HIV therapies and ongoing prevention work, this remains true today. More than half (52%) of prevalent infections and 53% of incident infections occur among GBM, both significantly higher numbers than in other populations. Our group (the Engage Study Team) represents a national partnership of researchers, public health leaders, and community leaders whose shared goal is to conduct, support, and facilitate high-quality and policy-relevant HIV research on GBM. At this point, the original Engage study is nearing completion and we are about to begin an exciting new phase, by extending into a cohort study. Recognizing that there is a significant lack of understanding of the diverse needs of GBM across Canada, and that GBM continue to be affected and infected by HIV at alarming rates, the Engage Study Team aims to bring together expert researchers and community members in the field of HIV prevention. This national meeting will contain both a dissemination component and a planning component. Specifically, we will host a national in-person one-day even with two key activities: 1) sharing the knowledge already obtained from the current and ongoing analyses with diverse stakeholders, and 2) planning future data collection, analyses, and KTE events, to ensure we are best situated to produce evidence that will impact the HIV epidemic among GBM. Regarding the latter, our goals are to strengthen multi-sectoral and interdisciplinary connections among GBM researchers and knowledge users, as well as identifying key research needs within in the GBM community and local or provincial HIV prevention projects in GBM that can be supported by Engage Study outcomes. This meeting event will take place as an ancillary event to the Annual Canadian Conference on HIV/AIDS Research.