Spotlight 3: Action for AIDS, Singapore

Action for AIDS was the first organisation working with gay men and other men who have sex with men (MSM) in the area of sexual health promotion in Singapore.

As the organisation enters its 25th year, they’ve evolved their functions and objectives to include greater coordination and collaboration, focusing on delivering complex prevention and care programmes in an increasingly globalised and inter-connected world.

The MSM team does venue-based outreach, online-outreach, venue-based anonymous testing, as well as many other programmes for MSM and transgender sex workers and young MSM.

One example is “Project Choice: Battlefield” (www.projectchoice.sg), which provides customers of gay clubs and saunas key messages on regular HIV testing, knowing their HIV status, staying negative and living healthy as PLHIV and has endeavoured to change the community’s perception of HIV infection.

Over many years, Action for AIDS has connected with increasingly greater numbers of MSM online through relevant social media platforms and online communication tools – achieving greater efficiency and effectiveness of their health promotion strategies.

‘Understanding and working with the diversity of sexualities and cultures within our society has always been an important focus for our organisation,’ said Joe Wong, Action for AIDS, Programme Executive.

‘We need to work even closer with stakeholders and community partners in these times when there is increasing HIV epidemic among MSM.’