Advocates Archive - K

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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

 

Jeremy Wing Kien
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
IRMA Steering Committee Member

As the in-house program manager of the Pink Triangle (PT) Foundation, Jeremy has years of experience working as an advocate with Malyasia’s MSM community. His involvement on IRMA’s steering committee partially stems from his personal interest in discovering the benefits of rectal microbicides for the sexual health of gay men. At the same time, he was looking to network with other international HIV/AIDS organizations who work with at-risk groups.

With alarming increases in HIV infection among Malaysia’s vulnerable communities, Jeremy sees a need to introduce a new prevention approach. Easily accessible and affordable rectal microbicides will hopefully meet that need. Because microbicides are a prevention technique virtually unheard of in Malaysia, Jeremy has worked to educate the largely tech-savvy MSM and gay community about it via major Malaysian MSM and gay websites, including the community websites of the PT Foundation. He hopes to advocate for the need of microbicide research at the local level. Jeremy is also helping to present the workshop "Making Anal Sex Safer for MSM in the Developing World" with the IRMA team at the The Invisible Men pre-conference at AIDS 2008, sponsored by the Global Forum on MSM and HIV.

Jeremy finds joy in sharing knowledge and research with others for the sake of HIV/AIDS prevention on the Asian and international HIV/AIDS front. In his spare time, Jeremy enjoys reading self-help and inspirational books and listening to various genres of music. It is important to him to build relationships with members of both the gay and straight community while also volunteering his time with programs geared towards MSM and gay men, enriching his life as a gay Malaysian.
[Posted July 2008]

 

Ramakrishnan Krishna
Madurai, India

Ramakirshnan Krishna is an HIV/TB co-infection research assistant. After the Microbicides 2008 conference in New Delhi, Ramakrishnan eagerly began to learn more about rectal microbicides, via the IRMA website, blog and listserv.

Although he is new to the rectal microbicides realm of HIV prevention, Ramakrishnan is excited to be engaging in advocacy work. He is aware that reaching out to people who participate in anal sex is very difficult due to the stigma it attracts, but is confident that with determination and hard work, IRMA members will be successful in reaching the populations who are enagaging in this behavior. He looks forward to the day when a rectal microbicide is developed with the ability to prevent HIV.

In his free time, Ramakrishnan continues his education by attending trainings on HIV research
[Posted May 2008]