Brian Kanyemba

After ten years as advocate, Brian’s focus is now on HIV prevention and HIV funding in the African region. Brian’s advocacy has been directed toward obtaining better access to HIV education and prevention tools for the communities that need them the most. Before becoming a fellow, he brought this experience to his work at the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation, where he serves as a research assistant for the Men’s Health division. In this position, Brian worked daily with participants on the Global iPrEx study, and he has used this opportunity to refine his perspective on HIV biomedical prevention options.

Fellowship Focus
Brian’s project brought attention to underrepresented voices of the MSM community and fostered their engagement in HIV prevention research. He helped bring their ideas, opinions, concerns and knowledge to the question of how best to scale up PrEP as an HIV prevention intervention. He worked with service providers, community leaders, policy makers and other stakeholders to encourage them to involve MSM in future prevention programming and to increase their overall focus and inclusion of this vulnerable community in their work, research and/or services. Brian allowed for the mainstreaming of guidelines, national policies and laws to better reflect the opinions raised by MSM.

In Their Own Words
PrEP programs can be started quickly using existing facilities and staff. MSM are willing to pay for PrEP if delivered at an affordable price. Active education and outreach are needed to reach diverse groups of MSM for PrEP.