UN launches chemical sex health toolkit

Two United Nations (UN) agencies launched a chemical sex health toolkit on Thursday during a two-day symposium held in Bangkok.
The toolkit is designed to assist health service providers in aiding people who engage in chemical sex to have access to proper healthcare when needed while being safe from stigmatisation.
Chemical sex (chemsex) is the use of specific drugs to enhance or prolong sexual experiences.
The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime launched the toolkit on the last day of the “6th Asia-Pacific Chemsex Symposium: Pleasures, Policies, Possibilities”. The Institute of HIV Research and Innovation, Universiti Malaya, Swing Thailand, HEART Taiwan, and the Malaysian Aids Foundation jointly held the symposium.
The symposium aimed to increase participants’ understanding of chemsex practices, drug policies, and their implications for healthcare systems in the Asia-Pacific region. It looked at people-centred, community-led models of chemsex-related service deliveries, including harm reduction services and regional policies.
Suniya Taimour, the UNAIDS Pakistan Country Office Community-Led Response Advisor for Pakistan and Afghanistan, told the Bangkok Post that the toolkit focuses on how to provide comprehensive healthcare to gay, bisexual men and men who have sex with men (GBMSM) and transgender women.
“It has been developed collaboratively … It comprises the insights and the experiences of key populations from different countries,” Ms Taimour said. “It also provided guides, tools, training through different modules, and it emphasises engagement with those who have engaged in chemsex to be done in a very empathetic and compassionate manner.”
This toolkit also considers the regulated environment in terms of gender and sexuality that many face in countries in the Asia-Pacific region, she said.
Asked what the problems are when those who engage with chemsex often experience accessing healthcare, Ms Taimour said there is a lot of stigma against such people. She also gave examples of healthcare providers not giving proper healthcare because of a lack of knowledge on drug use and chemsex. Sometimes, healthcare professionals focus too much on the patients’ drug use behaviour, making them forget they are duty-bound to give patients nonjudgmental and empathetic healthcare.
When asked how this toolkit could benefit Thailand, she said that, in comparison to other countries in the Asia-Pacific region, Thailand is considered progressive. She said Thailand could use this toolkit to make health service providers more aware of the issue. “We can start small by showing what a good example is and expand it to other services and across countries,” she added.