International Convenings

Since our inception in 2006, MPact has organized an event before each International AIDS Conference to provide a platform for activists, researchers, implementers, and donors focused on gay and bisexual men to share the most recent research, best practices, and advocacy strategies.

In the wake of the International AIDS Society’s decision to bring their upcoming conference to the United States during the Trump administration, we decided to seperate from their event and work with our global partners to organize the HIV2020 Online Conference.

In an extraordinary show of solidarity, an international group of people living with HIV, gay and bisexual men, people who use drugs, sex workers, transgender people, youth, and indigenous advocates worked together to design an alternative event specifically tailored to the needs of frontline community members.

 Learn More About our Previous Meetings:

The HIV2020 Conference was co-organized by key population-led networks including The Global Network of People Living with HIV (GNP+), The Global Network of Sex Work Projects (NSWP), The International Network of People Who Use Drugs (INPUD), and MPact.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the HIV2020 Conference was re-imagined as a series of 2-hour virtual sessions that took place on Zoom between the months of July and October. The virtual series retained the original goals and objectives of HIV2020:

  1. To reaffirm the leading role key population and communities play in the global HIV response by centering them in a reimagined peer exchange about new research and its implications for policy and practice; and
  2. To deliver recommendations to the International AIDS Society for how it could change its governance and conference structure to ensure key population concerns are heard, respected, and responded to seriously.

HIV2020 Online had a total of 7,397 participants from 131 countries who joined together for over 33 sessions to listen, participate, view, and interact with one another. All sessions were offered with simultaneous translation in five languages, which are now available online as video and audio recordings.

Nearly 500 experts and advocates joined together in July of 2018 in Amsterdam, Netherlands for Out With It, MPact’s Pre-Meeting and Reception is a day-long interactive youth-led event centered around generating and refining innovative, community-led solutions for the sexual health and rights of young gay and bisexual men.

This official AIDS 2018 pre-meeting facilitated exchange and discussion among top youth activists, researchers, and community members for MPact’s Global Challenge— a call for forward-thinking solutions on sexual health topics such as healthcare access, stigma and discrimination, LGBT rights and more.

Download the Out With It
2018 Program Book

Out With It participants learned about the key issues facing young gay and bisexual men through presentations from the Global Challenge Innovation Teams, as well as worked together with Innovation Team leaders to further develop proposals into fully-fledged solutions. Out With It will serve as a platform for incubating and showcasing new ideas. Bring your creativity, critical thinking skills, and personal experiences to drive community solutions for improved sexual health. The Pre-meeting will be immediately followed by a reception.

Of our 12 global challenge teams, Team Zimbabwe and Team Vietnam were selected by Out With It attendees to move their solutions on to a pilot testing phase where each of them received a $10,000 starting grant and a twelve month commitment of technical support from MPact.

Read the recap of our event here

MSMGF Celebrates 10 Years of Excellence in Advocacy for MSM

conferenceOne of the seminal events organized by MSMGF is a pre-conference event that takes place before each International AIDS Conference. We provide a platform for activists, researchers, implementers, and donors focused on MSM to share the most recent research, good practices, and advocacy strategies.

This year our Pre-Conference is held in Durban, South Africa on July 16th and our theme is Action + Access: Rights and Demands of Gay and Bisexual Men in the Global HIV Response. We will bring together 700 activists and advocates who understand the crucial need to bring MSM issues to the forefront in the HIV response if we are going to be successful in making progress towards ending AIDS, The Pre-Conference will cover a myriad of important issues like homophobia, discrimination, criminalization, violence, region specific challenges, drug use (chemsex), sex apps and other ICT, social media, PrEP, transgender issues, structural barriers, universal access, community mobilization and many more exciting topics.

Download the PDF here.

Since its inception in 2006, the MSMGF pre-conference has grown to become the world’s largest event focused on the health and human rights of MSM.

The Final Report of MSMGF activities at AIDS 2016 is now available here.

Photos from the Access & Action MSMGF Pre-Conference can be found using the following links: Pre-Conference Photos; Pre-Conference Breakout Sessions; Durban March.

More than 500 attendees representing 268 organizations across 59 countries attended the MSMGF Pre-Conference at AIDS 2014, entitled “Setting the Pace: Gay Men, MSM, and Transgender People in the Global HIV Response.”

Read the full report.

More than 650 attendees representing over 500 organizations from more than 100 countries attended the 2012 MSMGF Pre-Conference, entitled “From Stigma to Strength: Strategies for MSM, Transgender People, and Their Allies in a Shifting AIDS Landscape.”

Read the Full Report.

More than 500 attendees from over 80 countries came together for the 2010 MSMGF Pre-Conference, entitled “Be Heard: Gay Men and Other MSM in the Global HIV Pandemic.”

Read the Full Report.

More than 400 attendees from over 70 countries attended for the 2008 MSMGF Pre-Conference Satellite. The event focused on the global lack of research on HIV among MSM and its contribution to a dearth of resources to address the epidemic among MSM.

Read the Full Report.