June is Men’s Health Month, and while the focus is on men’s attitudes about their health, we’ve also been reflecting on the health sector’s attitudes about men.

We hear many stereotypes about men and health. “Men are apathetic about their health.” “Men are poor health-seekers.” “Men are stubborn and difficult patients.” But how many of those are actually true?

The 11th South Africa AIDS Conference just concluded, and in one of the plenary sessions we had the opportunity to respond to the question: “Strategies for reaching men—are we seeing a return on investment?”

The short answer: Yes!

Since 2017, the percentage of men with HIV in South Africa who know their status has increased from 78% to 94%, nearly on par with women. We can attribute that in part to approaches like HIV self-testing that have made it quick, easy and private for men to learn their status.

We’ve also seen good progress on viral suppression, which has increased from 82% to 93%, again comparable to the rate among women – proof that men on treatment are fully capable of being adherent.

Yet only 70% of men who know they have HIV are currently on treatment – hardly any increase at all from 68% in 2017.

Read the full article about HIV treatment for men by Shawn Malone at PSI.