Monday, May 14, 2012

Investigating HIV/AIDs

We were sorry to note recently the death of Tony Coxon, who was the principal investigator of Project SIGMA, a major longitudinal study of gay men and HIV/Aids which informed government and World Health Organisation policies at the height of the epidemic. 



The Wellcome Library holds microfiche copies of the anonymised diaries of sexual behaviour kept by gay and bisexual men, 1987-1994, in connection with this study, along with some associated documentation. These were described at more length in the post announcing that the collection had been catalogued early last year. The importance of the diary method for obtaining information on actual practices of men having sex with men is described on the Project SIGMA website. This kind of detail is essential to developing strategies of education and prevention.