Vitaly Djuma, ECOM’s Executive Director, was invited to participate and present at the annual meeting of the Funders Concerned About AIDS (FCAA), the only global association comprised of private philanthropic institutions concerned about and engaged in the global fight against HIV/AIDS.
In his speech, Djuma identified some of the main challenges to the HIV response among gay, MSM and trans* communities in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. “Wide-spread homophobia and transphobia are being increasingly used by politicians and governments,” Djuma stated. According to Djuma, a severe lack of data on the HIV epidemic among these populations is an issue: existing data is deliberately and arbitrarily skewed and distorted, in large part due to institutional homophobia. “Private donors are welcomed to invest in evidence building among MSM and trans* populations,” Djuma said.
Djuma also drew attention to the problem of donors leaving Eastern Europe and Central Asia, stating that “There is extreme lack of funding for HIV services for MSM and trans*, as the donors are leaving the region and the governments are not ready to take over the services for the populations they oppress.”
ECOM’s Executive Director engaged private donors to increase support for human rights interventions and to consider investing in the safety of both clients and staff of LGBT organizations. Djuma also encouraged participants to lobby the US Congress in order to change its current approach to global HIV funding, which ignores middle-income countries.
The session "Reaching MSM/Trans Populations", in which Djuma participated, was organized by the Global Forum on MSM & HIV, with sponsorship from the Levi Strauss Foundation.
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