On October 21 and 22 2016, over 70 participants attended the MOBILISE! Community Forum at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. The purpose of the forum was to identify ways to increase the use of combination prevention strategies and improve access to sexual health services for men who have sex with men.

To this end, initial data collected through the research activities of the MOBILISE! project were presented and discussed. Thus far, close to 100 people from diverse backgrounds have participated in the project’s “community teams” and over 400 respondents have completed our online questionnaire. A number of findings that emerged from preliminary analysis of the data were discussed in plenary sessions at the forum, in particular with respect to gaps and discrepancies in knowledge about different risk reduction strategies as well as obstacles that impede access to sexual health services.

A small group discussion allowed participants to sketch out potential solutions in terms of both structural change within the health system and capacity building within communities. In the coming months, we will be drafting a community consensus statement to articulate and communicate these solutions. The statement will be launched and disseminated at a larger conference to be held in the summer of 2017.

Learn more