30 Aug 2007

Pacific countries meet to discuss protection for men having sex with men

7:26 pm on 30 August 2007

Seven Pacific countries are holding a conference in Samoa this week to discuss how all men having sex with other men can get safe sex messages.

The conference is funded by the UNAIDS foundation and AUSAID.

The president of Samoa's AIDS Foundation, Ken Moala, says the conference is not for those who are open about their sexual lives but for married men on how to protect themselves and their families.

"That particular target group will have access to information, have access to treatment, have access to a lot of areas of the issue of men having sex with men, and how they should protect themselves. And especially in this very vulnerable stage in our lives when we are confronted with disease and a lot of human rights abuses."

The other countries involved are the Cook Islands, Tonga, Fiji. Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu.