NIH Spent $464,272 to Find Out Why Gay Men Get Syphilis in PeruThe National Institutes of Health has spent millions of dollars studying
male sex workers in Peru, including more than
$400,000 to determine
why gay men get syphilis in the South American country.
The project,
“Syphilis: Translating Technology to Understand a Neglected Epidemic,” 
has received
$464,272 since 2012.
The
funding has gone to researchers at Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, a
private university in Lima, Peru. The school has
two other active studies from the NIH devoted to male sex workers.
A
$160,920 study is sending “motivational messages” 
via “mobile-phone text messaging, email, or instant messaging robots”
to encourage gay men to get tested for HIV in Peru.
Messages include information on HIV testing, not “stigmatizing and stereotyping messages or images about ‘being gay.’”
Another HIV prevention intervention study by the university is focusing on “
MSM/transwomen,” at a cost of $146,524.
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is conducting numerous studies on male sex workers in Peru, as well.
UCLA researchers are examining how community “skills building” can help “Fletes,” a term for bisexual male sex workers who engage in survival sex work for very low wages. The project cost $168,197 in 2013.
The university also received
$323,360 to give “partner therapy” to Peruvian male sex workers who have gonorrhea or chlamydia for another study beginning in 2011.
In all, the listed studies
have cost U.S. taxpayers $2,122,137.
