Who are we?
The Gay Health Project is a cooperative effort between members of a gay association and a university research team led by Michael Häusermann and Dr. Jen Wang.
Michael Häusermann, co-founder of Dialogai, former director of the Swiss AIDS Federation, ran this project through Dialogai from 2000 until 2018. Notably, he oversaw the drafting of the very first document on gay health. This document articulated a vision for the project, a way to organize data collection on the ground and to disseminate and adapt the data to both the gay community in Geneva as well as health care providers. From this sprung the creation of community projects such as “Being Gay Together” (Être gay ensemble), “Checkpoint” and “Blues-out” to address the gay health needs revealed in research.
Jen Wang, head researcher on the project ( University of Zurich 1994-2014, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute 2006-2014 and the Vaud University Hospital Center since 2017) has led different stages of the research since 2001. This included focus groups, a scientific literature review, designing the baseline survey questionnaire in 2002, both in-depth surveys on mental health in 2007 and 2011, suicide research, publishing research in scientific journals and defending his doctoral thesis on the project.
Acknowledgments
To the gay and bisexual men in the Geneva Lake Region who took part in the focus groups, the surveys, the debates and discussions on the findings and the projects.
To everyone from Dialogai who contributed, especially Vincent Jobin who eagerly participated at every stage of the project, from data collection on the ground to project implementation (particularly Checkpoint), Richard Zahno for his interest and participation in the program Being Gay Together (Être gay ensemble) and Guillaume Mandicourt and Rocco Senatore for their active participation in Blues-Out.
To the members of the Gay Health working group, the science committee, Swiss and foreign experts, associations and organizations who lent a helping hand to the project.
We thank the following individuals and organizations for their varied contributions at different points in the project. Some participated from the very beginning, others at specific stages of research or implementation .
Scientific experts: Peter Aggleton, Sylvan Berrut, Vladeta Ajdacic-Gross, Anthony Jorm, Meichun Mohler-Kuo, Martin Plöderl, Lorenzo Soldati, Penelope Vounatsou, Mitchell Weiss, Hans Wydler
Initial Gay Health Working Group Experts: Juliette Buffat, Pierre Cochand, Christian Mounir, Jean-Marc Guinchard, Bernard Hirschel, Giovanna Meystre-Agustoni, Udo Rauchfleisch, Margrit Schmidt, Philippe Sudre, Ralf Thomas, Martin Werner
Canadian Experts: Ron Clarke, Bill Ryan
Dialogai volunteers and participants: Nabil Benaïssa, Fabien Bertrand, Helmut Eichinger, Philippe Kunzi, Alain Rias, Michel Thuriaux, Alexandre Rys
Project partner associations: Lestime, 360, Aide suisse contre le sida, Pro Mente Sana, Trajectoires
We would also like to thank the following organizations for their financial support since the launch of the project: Institute for Social and Preventative Medicine at the University of Zurich, The Swiss National Scientific Research Fund, The Canton of Geneva, The Federal Public Health Office, The Swiss AIDS Federation , and the French-speaking regional Lottery ( la Loterie Romande.).
Copyright
The site was designed by Stamina and the graphic design was done by Parson Research
Contact: santegaie@dialogai.org
This site was made possible through the support of the Canton of Geneva and the Federal Public Health Office.
