[AIDS 2026] Managed Healthcare Executive: Community-led chemsex harm reduction programs boost HIV retention in South Africa, other countries
- It Starts and Ends with Us: Community at the Centre of Clinical Studies
- Donate
- Get involved
- Subscribe
[AIDS 2026] Managed Healthcare Executive: Community-led chemsex harm reduction programs boost HIV retention in South Africa, other countries
Back to the “HIV and Co-Infections News” list
Community-led programs across four countries show gains in HIV retention, mental health and service uptake among people who engage in chemsex
- Prevention
- Substance Use
August 1, 2026
Tags:
- AIDS 2026
- Chemsex
- Harm Reduction
Managed Healthcare Executive news story
Chemsex is the intentional use of psychoactive substances during sex to increase pleasure, decrease stress or prolong the sexual encounter. Examples include alkyl nitrites, colloquially referred to as “poppers,” methamphetamine and ketamine. Because chemsex can be associated with long sessions of unprotected sex and lowered inhibitions, it is associated with sharply elevated HIV risk, particularly for people who inject drugs. People who inject drugs face a risk of HIV acquisition roughly 14 times higher than the general adult population, and studies in Brazil have found chemsex prevalence among men who have sex with men ranging from 27% to almost 70%.
Despite this risk, structured, health-led responses to chemsex remain rare in much of the world, but outreach groups are trying to change that. Several of these groups presented their abstracts at AIDS 2026, during ‘Chemsex everywhere: Interventions across contexts.’ The session was led by Carolina Coutinho, Ph.D., a scientist and researcher at the National Institute of Infectious Diseases in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Read the full news story here
Source :Managed Healthcare Executive
Related HIV and Co-Infections News
See all related HIV and Co-Infections News
- August 1, 2026
[AIDS 2026] MedPage Today: Long-acting lenacapavir still delivered effective HIV PrEP after a year
- August 1, 2026
Results of the CAPRISA 012c clinical trial of a combination of two bnAbs to prevent HIV infection in young women in southern Africa announced at AIDS 2026
- July 30, 2026
[AIDS 2026] Health Policy Watch: Fiji has the world’s fastest growing HIV epidemic – and it is struggling
Get involved
Are you living with HIV/AIDS? Are you part of a community affected by HIV/AIDS and co-infections? Do you work or volunteer in the field? Are you motivated by our cause and interested to support our work?
- Become a member
- Support us
Subscribe
Stay in the loop and get all the important EATG updates in your inbox with the EATG newsletter. The HIV & co-infections bulletin is your inbox
This website uses cookies. Some cookies are necessary for the proper functioning of the website and can not be refused if you want to visit this website. Other cookies are used for social network sharing, video playback and analysis purposes. You can refuse them if you want. Read our cookie policy

![[AIDS 2026] Managed Healthcare Executive: Community-led chemsex harm reduction programs boost HIV retention in South Africa, other countries [AIDS 2026] Managed Healthcare Executive: Community-led chemsex harm reduction programs boost HIV retention in South Africa, other countries](https://todaytrendnews7.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/chemsex-2.png)