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 baseline data collection is complete for the Engage study and we have begun plans to disseminate these findings. Recognizing that the HIV prevention and care needs of GBM across Canada are diverse and rapidly evolving, the Engage Study Team aims to bring together expert researchers, decision makers, and community members in the field of HIV prevention. This national meeting will focus on how we can leverage the findings of the Engage Study to improve upon HIV/STBBI prevention and care related knowledge, ultimately improving access and uptake of prevention and care services. Specifically, we will host a national in-person one-day event with two key activities: 1) sharing the knowledge already obtained from the current and ongoing analyses with stakeholders, and 2) discussing how these findings can be communicated to impact HIV prevention and care services among Canadian GBM. Our goals are to strengthen multi-sectoral and interdisciplinary connections among GBM researchers and knowledge users. We also aim to identify key knowledge and research needs within the GBM community as well as local or provincial HIV/STBBI prevention projects 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.