Last month, Sydney played host to the 18th World Congress on Sexual Health. 2007’s conference was themed ‘Achieving Health, Pleasure and Respect’ – and aimed to develop sustainable strategies to deal with often controversial elements of sexual health.
In a welcoming statement to conference delegates the President of the World Association President Eusiebo Rubio-Aurioles said: ‘The recent advances in the field of sexual medicine have created both an opportunity and a challenge. The opportunity comes from the fact that powerful therapeutic tools developed represent a real form of help for many people. The challenge is to prevent, with these powerful tools at hand, an oversimplification of the complexity of human sexuality’.
In recognition of the diversity of the global community, the conference included a number of sessions on LGBTI sexual health issues, addressing areas including transsexualism and married men who have sex with other men. Amongst the presenters was Youth Empowerment Against HIV/Aids (YEAH), the first not for profit health promotion organisation focused on HIV reduction through educative programs for young people. The conference also considered international perspectives on LGBTI sexual health with discussions on Sexuality and Islam and Sex-Gender-Sexuality Debates in Taiwan. The conference ran from April 15-19.
