The Ibero-American network RIGHT PLUS, coordinated from the Can Ruti Campus, launches LAMIS 2025, a key study on the health of gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men in Latin America and the Caribbean

The LAMIS 2025 survey is an online and anonymous survey aimed at generating key information on the psycho-socio-sexual health of gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (GBMSM) living in 24 countries and territories in the region. This new edition builds on the one carried out in 2018, which reached more than 64,500 participants and generated essential data to understand the living conditions, access to healthcare, and needs of this population in the region.

Among the most significant findings from the LAMIS 2018 survey was that over 30% of participants had not taken an HIV test in the past year, even though more than 90% considered it important to know their serological status. This type of gap between knowledge and access is one of the dimensions that LAMIS 2025 aims to continue highlighting in order to drive more effective and equitable healthcare responses. In addition, this new edition of the survey seeks to explore recent regional changes in prevention, such as the expansion of PrEP in its various forms.

The LAMIS 2025 project is led by the Ibero-American Right PLUS Network, a network of academic and community organisations that is part of Coalition PLUS. The network is coordinated by the community research hub in Barcelona, made up of CEEISCAT - a research group of the Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute (IGTP) - and Coalition PLUS, based at the Can Ruti Campus. Right PLUS includes 25 community organisations and five academic centres from across the region, all of which have been actively involved in the survey design. The survey is available in Spanish, Portuguese, French and Dutch, and will be completed in a fully confidential manner. It is aimed at people over the age of 18 who identify as gay, bisexual, or other men who have sex with men, and who live in: Argentina, French Antilles, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela.

"Having updated data, developed together with the community, is essential to design public policies that truly respond to the needs of GBMSM in our region. That's why it's key to take part again: it will allow us to compare with 2018 and understand how realities have changed in these years," said Pablo Radusky, Community-Based Social Researcher and Field Coordinator of the project.

Cinta Folch, member of the scientific coordination team, added: "LAMIS 2025 will allow us to better understand the multilevel determinants affecting the psycho-socio-sexual health of GBMSM and propose recommendations at the individual, social and structural levels, promoting a combined prevention approach that integrates biomedical, behavioural and social change interventions."
Participation is completely voluntary, anonymous and confidential.