Check out this interesting mini-bio of Pedro Goicochea, the latest in IRMA’s “Meet a Friendly Rectal Microbicide Advocate” series on the IRMA website here.  Pedro is one of six new bios just posted today, including individuals from Kenya,Thailand and the US.  Each will be featured on the blog, and you can read all of them here right Read More >>

You met Tia IRMA (Auntie IRMA), a character created by IRMA’s South American chapter IRMA-ALC (housed at Epicentro) to create awareness about rectal microbicides in a fun way, in this post from March 2012. This is the second in a series of videos that will try to explain, in a very colloquial and humorous way, everything you Read More >>

Hola! Soy la Tia IRMA! Introducing Tia IRMA (Auntie IRMA), a character created by IRMA’s South American chapter IRMA-ALC (housed at Epicentro) to create awareness about rectal microbicides in a fun way. This is the first of a group of videos that will try to explain, in a very colloquial way, everything you might want to know Read More >>

Report from IRMA-ALC – our South American chapter. Don’t you just love Tia Irma??? Check out the cute video below… The Sexual Diversity Festival took place on Miraflores, a district of Lima on  Saturday, Cctober 8th. Epicentro was one of the hosting organizations IRMA ALC participated with Epicentro in our stand.. We had a roulette wheel with Read More >>

via Pubmed.gov, by Kinsler JJ, Cunningham WE, Nureña CR, Nadjat-Haiem C, Grinsztejn B, Casapia M, Montoya-Herrera O, Sánchez J, Galea JT. Abstract Conjoint Analysis (CJA), a statistical market-based technique that assesses the value consumers place on product characteristics, may be used to predict acceptability of hypothetical products. Rectal Microbicides (RM)-substances that would prevent HIV infection during receptive Read More >>

“If we create a circle of people around you that at least know a word or two about rectal microbicides I believe the work is done, because everyone has his own circle, so the knowledge in one way or another will flow.” – Daniel Julio Eduardo Nuñez, Lima, Peru Daniel Nuñez is studying law. While working towards Read More >>

by Steve Miralles On May 11th, IRMA ALC (América Latina y el Caribe), based at Epicentro Gay Men’s Community Center in Lima, Peru, hosted a presentation on PrEP and rectal microbicides. More than 15 men attended the presentation that was facilitated by IRMA-ALC leaders Steve Miralles and Jerome Galea. The 15 community members included doctors, lawyers, psychologists Read More >>

IRMA Steering Committee member Jerome T. Galea is lead author of this fascinating paper. Here he provides an overview of the study. Click here to access the full paper. “The study examined pre-exposure prophylaxis acceptability (PrEP) among female sex workers, male-to-female transgendered persons and men who have sex with men in Lima, Peru.  Focus groups explored social Read More >>

via International AIDS Society, by Mark Mascolini Circumcision did not protect men who have sex with men (MSM) from acquiring HIV infection, according to an analysis of more than 1800 men in Peru and the United States. The findings confirm results of earlier studies. Three randomized trials in Africa showed that circumcision does lower the risk of Read More >>

via IRMA Panduro is a psychologist from Huánuco, Perú that focuses on HIV/AIDS and people living with HIV/AIDS. While recruiting participants for a UCLA rectal microbicide study in Lima, Panduro stumbled upon IRMA-ALC, which had also been involved with the study. Since then, Panduro has been spreading the word about rectal microbicides and raising interest in the Read More >>