Hermanos de Luna y Sol - United States

Hermanos de Luna y Sol (HLS) is an empowerment HIV prevention programme for Spanish-speaking Latino gay/bisexual immigrant men living in the Mission district of San Francisco, CA, USA. The University of California, San Francisco's Center for AIDS Prevention Studies (CAPS) offers a series of discussion workshops that draw on culturally sensitive materials and involve participants' sharing their experiences with HIV/AIDS. Organisers invite these men to participate with this statement: "Regardless of your country of origin, HIV status, personal history, and interests, your experience is extremely important. Hermanos de Luna y Sol has as its objective to create and strengthen a community that is conscious, healthy, motivated, and active. In this community everyone is welcome and appreciated for who we really are." Specific aims of the programme include:

• enhancing social support, social belonging, and enhanced self-esteem in the context of a Latino gay identity and community
• promoting critical awareness of social and cultural forces that impact and shape participants' social and sexual lives
• increasing participants' sexual self-knowledge, with particular emphasis on sexual contexts and situations of personal vulnerability that limit ability to practice safer sex, and
• facilitating community involvement and activism to support a sense of increased personal agency and self-efficacy (instead of fatalism and victimisation) in response to oppressive social forces in participants' lives.

Main Communication Strategies
HLS consists of 3 types of interrelated interventions:

• Outreach and recruitment activities with Latino gay/bisexual men at Latino-identified gay bars in the Mission district and surrounding areas in San Francisco and the Bay Area at large - the aim is to create opportunities for communication and reflection about the impact of HIV and safe sex pratices, to advertise the project, and to encourage participation in group meetings.
• 6-week initial discussion workshops for 8-10 Latino gay/bisexual men each - these 2-hour-long structured sessions are designed to promote self-esteem, social support, and sexual self-regulation. Some of the topics addressed in the face-to-face meetings include relations with family; communication issues that participants have faced in their sexual experiences; sociocultural factors; and the impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in participants' lives. The groups are facilitated by gay, Latino men who are trained health educators; they do not "transmit" information or resources (unless specifically requested by the participants) but, rather, engage participants in reflective dialogue and experiential exercises that promote critical thinking and self-observation.
• A set of follow-up resources and activiites designed to help participants maintain safer sex practices over time, including participation in ongoing peer support groups, specialised workshops and retreats, a programme newsletter, and access to individual risk reduction counseling services. A "graduates" group, which meets weekly, is meant to provide continuous and stable support for the exchange of experiences and dialogue among participants.

Hermanos de Luna y Sol includes a group for youth between 14 and 25 years. In addition, a volunteer component facilitates the provision of our services: Volunteers help promote the programme and organise special events, as well as the social and artistic "Encuentros" activities that take place every 6 weeks.

Incentives are built in to this programme. Participants receive a US$10 food voucher at the end of each of the initial sessions, as well as a tee-shirt at the end of a 6-week cycle.