Over the past year, Asian Community AIDS Services (ACAS) has undertaken a challenging yet groundbreaking pilot needs-assessment project focused on heterosexual Asian men who have sex with men (MSM). The goal of the project is to gain a better understanding of this often hidden and hard-to-reach group of men, to assess their sexual health knowledge and safer sex practices, and to gather recommendations to fill any existing service gaps.
The Straight Talk Program was funded by the Toronto Urban Health Fund, and was guided a community advisory committee on targeted outreach strategies as well as the development of culturally-appropriate interview questions to engage participants from the target population. 1-on-1 interviews and focus group were held over this past year. To transfer the knowledge gained from the project, the program had presented at community forums such as Pagitipon! Coming Together, the ACAS Sex, Love, Asian, Men! Real – Sexual Health Forum for Asian Gay and Bi Men, and
