The South African Marang Men's Project

To date, there is a dearth of surveillance data on the prevalence of HIV and associated risk behaviors among men who have sex with men (MSM) in South Africa. This is particularly true data collected from several sited using the same sampling approach.

This study called the Marang Men's Project was undertaken to fil this information gap. It was implemented among MSM in the three largest cities of South Africa, namely, Cape Town in the Western Cape, Durban in KwaZulu-Natal and Johannesburg in Gauteng.

The high HIV prevalence estimates found in our study among MSM in each of the three study cities call for a need to implement a national HIV bio-behavioural surveillance programmed for MSM.

The Marang Men's Project has demonstrated that there is an urgent need for interventions that respond not only to HIV among heterosexual people but also to HIV among MSM in South Africa.

The survey therefore provides valueable information to the South African National AIDS Council (SANAC), the national and provincial Departments of Health (DoHs), and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) organisations to both implement and advocate for improved programmers for the health of MSM>