Miguel Munoz-Laboy

• DrPH
• Professor (Associate) at Temple University

Background Clínica Bienestar is a comprehensive HIV primary care clinic for Spanish-speaking Latinx with opioids use disorders (OUD). This article describes the barriers and trajectories to HIV viral suppression for Puerto Ricans with a transnational profile and dual diagnoses (HIV and OUD), and the strategies applied to increase retention in care....

Violence against women and girls is a global concern, and particularly salient in humanitarian settings. Successful efforts to prevent gender-based violence in humanitarian settings must address a wide range of issues, from discriminatory laws to explicit community support for violence, and yet, at the core of these efforts is reducing oppressive g...

Formerly incarcerated Latino men (FILM) have been significantly impacted by the HIV/AIDS and alcohol abuse epidemics in the United States. In this analysis, we examine the role of social, economic and cultural marginalization in the likelihood of alcohol-related sexual risk taking behavior among FILM. We recruited a non-random sample of FILM, ages...

One in five Latino men who have sex with men has experienced child sexual abuse. Although concerning in itself, child sexual abuse may increase an individuals’ likelihood of depression and risk-taking in adult life, including engagement in HIV risk behaviors and alcohol and substance use. It is therefore urgent that researchers and practitioners be...

Over the past two decades, we have seen an increase in the use of medical-legal partnerships (MLPs) in health-care and/or legal settings to address health disparities affecting vulnerable populations. MLPs increase medical teams' capacity to address social and environmental threats to patients' health, such as unsafe housing conditions, through par...

Numerous social factors shape girls’ lives in conflict-affected settings, affecting their vulnerability to gender-based violence (GBV). Qualitative research methods were used to examine spaces of perceived safety and risk for girls living in two conflict-affected populations: camps in Ethiopia hosting primarily South Sudanese and Sudanese refugees...

The HIV epidemic continues to be a major public health concern, affecting communities with varying prevention and treatment needs. In the U.S., Latino men who have sex with men (MSM) bear a disproportionate burden of HIV incidence. While recent studies have highlighted the relevance of relationship factors for HIV transmission among MSM generally,...

Syndemics research has made great contributions to understanding sexual risk among Latino men who have sex with men. However, such work often combines data for behaviorally bisexual men with data for men with exclusively same-sex partners. Using cross-sectional data from 148 behaviorally bisexual Latino men, this study explored the impact of syndem...

Latino men who have sex with transgender women make up an overlooked sector of the population that requires more attention than is currently given in sexuality and gender studies, particularly in regard to their non-commercial, long-term sexual and romantic relationships with transgender women. Sixty-one sexual histories were selected for this qual...

Introduction: While the link between childhood sexual abuse (CSA) and various adult health outcomes is well-established, few studies have focused on the lasting effects of CSA specifically among Latino men who have sex with men and women (LMSMW). Methods: We examined relationships between CSA and various sexual risk behaviors, STI incidence, polydr...

Background: The HIV epidemic continues to be a major public health concern, affecting communities with varying prevention and treatment needs. In the U.S., Latino men who have sex with men (MSM) bear a disproportionate burden of HIV incidence. While recent studies have highlighted the relevance of relationship factors for HIV transmission among MSM...

Background: Syndemic theory has been proposed as a framework for understanding the role of multiple risk factors driving the HIV epidemic among sexual and gender minority Latinos/as. Methods: We used linear and logistic regression to assess relationships among cumulative syndemic conditions – including depression, alcohol consumption, discriminatio...

As bisexual individuals in the United States (U.S.) face significant health disparities, researchers have posited that these differences may be fueled, at least in part, by negative attitudes, prejudice, stigma, and discrimination toward bisexual individuals from heterosexual and gay/lesbian individuals. Previous studies of individual and social at...

In the United States more than 10,000 people are released from state and federal prisons every week and often reenter the communities in which they were arrested. Formerly incarcerated individuals face considerable challenges to securing employment and housing. Subsequently, approximately two-thirds of former prisoners are rearrested within three y...

Alcohol consumption is a significant public health concern among Latino men and Latina transgender women who have sex with men. However, characteristics and behaviors associated with alcohol consumption in this population, particularly in regard to the complex influence of syndemic factors, remain understudied. The purpose of this study was to exam...

Introduction: Successful HIV prevention and treatment requires evidence-based approaches that combine biomedical strategies with behavioral interventions that are socially and culturally appropriate for the population or community being prioritized. Although there has been a push for a combination approach, how best to integrate different strategi...

We assessed the extent to which sociodemographic, personal, and behavioral factors are associated with human immunodeficiency virus/sexually transmitted infection (HIV/STI) testing among a diverse group of Latino men who have sex with men (MSM) in New York City. The triangulation approach was used to synthesize data from 176 MSM who completed an in...

We assessed the extent to which sociodemographic, personal, and behavioral factors are associated with human immunodeficiency virus/sexually transmitted infection (HIV/STI) testing among a diverse group of Latino men who have sex with men (MSM) in New York City. The triangulation approach was used to synthesize data from 176 MSM who completed an in...

Background: One in five Latino men who have sex with men (MSM) have experienced child sexual abuse (CSA). Although concerning in itself, CSA may increase individuals' likelihood of depression and risk-taking in adult life, including engagement in behaviors associated with increased HIV risk. It is therefore urgent that researchers and practitioners...

Background: Alcohol consumption is a significant public health concern among Latino men and Latina transgender women who have sex with men. The purpose of this study was to examine predictors of high-risk alcohol consumption (i.e., binge or heavy drinking). Methods: Between January and March of 2014, 176 Latino men and Latina transgender women in N...

Objectives: To examine how sexual and racial/ethnic minority status affects adolescent males' risks to ideate, plan, and attempt suicide. Methods: Data are from the 2013 CDC YRBS and collected from 13 states that recorded the participants' self-reported sexual orientation/gender identity, race/ethnicity, and suicidal behaviors. We analyzed data fro...

This article presents a systematic review of qualitative studies focusing on HIV/AIDS among Black men who have sex with men (BMSM) in the United States. . We reviewed qualitative studies that were published between 1980-2014. Studies included in the review employed the following qualitative methods: in-depth interviewing, focus group interviews, pa...

The empirical exploration of mental health problems among bisexual Latino men is scarce. Bisexual men experience stress because of their non-conforming sexuality from multiple-sources. In this study we focus on the family and work environments. We conducted a mixed-methods study to examine the impacts of these social environments among behavioral b...

Over the course of the past 25–30 years, there has been an explosion of public health research and programmes focusing on sexuality. Never before in the history of public health have sex and sexual issues been seen as more worthy of attention. In countries and communities around the world, researchers, practitioners, and policymakers have sought to...

Introduction Successful HIV prevention and treatment requires evidence-based approaches that combine biomedical strategies with behavioral interventions that are socially and culturally appropriate for the population or community being prioritized. Although there has been a push for a combination approach, how best to integrate different strategie...

This article examines the relationship between the work environment, type of occupation and sexual risk-taking among behaviourally bisexual Latino men, in which data were analysed from a mixed-methods study of 148 behaviourally bisexual Latino men, aged 18-60. The authors draw on both sex market theory and the literature on structural violence and...

Our analyses address the question of how bisexual Latino men organize their sexual partnerships. Heteronormativity can be understood as the set of social norms and normative structures that guide sexual partnering among men and women. We provide descriptive statistics to describe bisexual Latino men's sexual partnerships. Logistic and linear regres...

Migration and population movement are increasingly viewed as important factors associated with HIV transmission risk. With growing awareness of the potential impact of migration on HIV transmission, several perspectives have emerged that posit differing dynamics of risk. We considered available data on the role of migration on HIV transmission amon...

Background and Purpose: For more than a century, social scientists have argued the importance of social structures in shaping the health and well being of communities and populations, from the works of Engels and Marx, to the most recent works on structural violence and HIV/AIDS. The evidence suggests that social structures, particularly labor and...

The role of social support in the mental health of formerly incarcerated Latino men (FILM) is an issue overlooked in public health prevention efforts. The objectives of this analysis were to (a) describe the levels of social support perceived and received by FILM; (b) identify the associations, if any, between levels of social support and mental he...

In this paper, we examine non-lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender-affirming religiosity among behaviourally-bisexual Latino men as it relates to sexual attitudes, experiences and behaviours. We asked how does religiosity correspond to masculine identities, sex roles and condom efficacy? And how might religiosity influence contexts of health risk...

This chapter explores the formation of communities on the basis of sexuality and examines the emergence of sexual social movements. A sexual social movement is a social and psychological phenomenon in which communities unite in the face of opposition related to sexuality. This opposition can be cognitive, cultural, social, political, and economic—a...

Latino male bisexual experience has remained under-studied and under-theorized in much of the recent sexuality research. Based on long-term ethnographic research conducted in Rio de Janeiro and New York City, this article seeks to examine the cultural patterns and social contexts in which male bisexual experiences took shape in these urban centers,...

In this paper we examine the sexual identities of Latino men who have sex with men and women, in which an analysis was made of 150 sexual histories of Latino men aged 18-60. This study asks how the bisexual identity and experience of stigma is different for Latino men along the generational spectrum and how do these differences relate to kinship su...

Men who have sex with transgender women (MSTW) currently constitute a gap in the research community's understanding of male sexuality and sexual desire. In an effort to address this lack of knowledge, an ethnographic study of MSTW in New York City was conducted between December 2005 and May 2007, including in-depth interviews with MSTW (n = 15), ke...

ABSTRACT. The objectives of this study were to describe demographic factors and self-reported sexually transmitted infection (STI) rates, as well as to explore to what extent social factors were associated with self-reported STIs among formerly incarcerated Latino men (FILM) in New York City. FILM ages 18 to 49 years old (N = 259) who had been inca...

To identify the levels of untreated depression and the socio-environmental factors associated with it among formerly incarcerated Latino men (FILM). Cross-sectional survey with 259 FILM ages 18-49 who were released from prison/jail within the prior 5 years. Depression was measured by the brief symptom inventory (BSI). Backward elimination was used...

Sex markets (the spatially and culturally bounded arenas) that shape bisexual behavior among Latino men have been utilized as a deterministic concept without a sufficient focus on the ability of individuals to make autonomous decisions within such arenas. We nuance the theory of sex markets using the concept of sexual opportunity structures to inve...

Youth’s perceptions of violence within their social environments can provide relevant insights into the gender-based interpersonal violence epidemic in inner-city communities. To explore this issue, we examined two sets of narratives with young men and women, aged 15 to 21, involved in hip-hop culture in New York City. In the analysis, we reveal yo...

This chapter presents analyses of the sex marketplaces of Latino bisexual men in New York City between 2000 and 2009. Chapter aims are to identify the role that sexual marketplaces play in the sexual lives of Latino bisexual young men, particularly the impact of historical and geographic differences, as well as their implications for HIV prevention...

The Midwestern United States (U.S.) has a high number of recent Latino migrants, but little information is available regarding their sexual behaviors. A total of 75 behaviorally bisexual men (25 Latino, 25 Black, and 25 White) participated in an exploratory study on sexual health. The data presented in this paper are restricted to the 25 self-ident...

In terms of the examination of the relationship between masculinity and health, there has been limited exploration of how the ways in which formerly incarcerated Latino men (FILM) construct their masculinities may conflict with public health messages. Using information gained from three years of ethnographic research that was conducted with formerl...

Religious beliefs have had a key role in shaping local responses to HIV and AIDS. As the world's largest Catholic country, Brazil is no exception. Yet little research has been conducted to document how the religious doctrine is enacted in practice among its lay leaders and followers. In this article, we present ethnographic research from Recife, Br...

Black men who have sex with men (MSM) are disproportionately affected by HIV and AIDS in New York City (NYC). Black churches in NYC have a history of engaging in community mobilisation; however, research suggests that churches play a role in promoting stigma against Black MSM, which impedes prevention efforts. The goal of this study was to explore...

Research on behaviourally bisexual Latino men in the USA has not yet examined sexual health issues among men living in diverse areas of the nation, including the Midwest. A community-based participatory research approach was used to engage a diverse sample of 75 behaviourally bisexual men (25 White, 25 Black and 25 Latino). Semi-structured intervie...

The Casa Fonte Colombo (CFC) is a religious organisation that assists people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). The funding for its activities comes from public sources such as the Brazilian National STD/AIDS Program as well as the Catholic Church. Capuchin (Franciscan) priests run the CFC and it has an extensive group of volunteers made up mostly of wo...

This article provides an ethnographic analysis of Afro-Brazilian religious responses to the HIV epidemic in Recife. Drawing on participant observation and in-depth interviews conducted with Afro-Brazilian religious leaders and public health officials, it highlights the importance of the axé--a mystical energy manipulated in religious rituals that i...

Religious institutions, which contribute to understanding of and mobilization in response to illness, play a major role in structuring social, political, and cultural responses to HIV and AIDS. We used institutional ethnography to explore how religious traditions—Catholic, Evangelical, and Afro-Brazilian—in Brazil have influenced HIV prevention, tr...

This study explored the focus on youth in Catholic and Evangelical Pentecostal discussions about and responses to HIV and AIDS in Brazil. Key informant, oral history and in-depth interviews revealed a disconnect between young people's views of themselves as leaders in their religious institutions' responses to HIV and other social problems, and adu...

This analysis focuses on the evangelical Protestant responses to drug use and HIV prevention, treatment and care in the urban periphery of Rio de Janeiro. We question how religious institutions, and the positions of pastors, create or reduce various elements of societal illness and vulnerability. We aim to show that the views of pastors may symboli...

BACKGROUND: The majority of HIV-prevention interventions have failed to consider the role of families and social networks in the post-incarceration experiences of formerly incarcerated Latino men (FILM). Many HIV-prevention interventions also fail to address the complexities of reentry, such as how FILM respond to their families, manage their healt...

BACKGROUND: HIV/AIDS among formerly incarcerated Latino men (FILM) is a critical public health concern. Latinos are both disproportionately affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic and overrepresented in correctional facilities in the United States. Nationwide, Latinos represent more than a quarter of all inmates and 17% of the total population in State c...

BACKGROUND: Latinos in the United States are disproportionally affected by the AIDS epidemic, resulting in AIDS being the fourth leading cause of death among Latinos. Formerly incarcerated Latino men (FILM) are a critical group in the spread of the AIDS epidemic. Nationwide, Latinos represent more than a quarter of all inmates. Research suggests th...

This article offers an initial exploration of forms of cultural and political agency of Latino youth who experience sexual attraction to both men and women. The authors focus on young people’s perspectives about bisexuality, their views and critical responses regarding social categories of sexual identity, and their reflections about the relationsh...

Religious communities have been a challenge to HIV prevention globally. Focusing on the acceptability component of the right to health, this intervention study examined how local Catholic, Evangelical and Afro-Brazilian religious communities can collaborate to foster young people's sexual health and ensure their access to comprehensive HIV preventi...

There is only very limited research on the sexual landscapes of Latino bisexuals. This is in part due to the structural barriers confronted by expressions of bisexuality in Latino cultures in the United States and elsewhere. This chapter looks at the “erotic landscapes” of bisexually active Latino men in New York City. The concept of erotic landsca...

This article reports on a study that examined how religious discourses of inclusion and exclusion-in Roman Catholic, evangelical Protestant, and Afro-Brazilian religious traditions-affected people's rights to express same-sex sexual desires, behaviors, and identities in the socioeconomically marginalized urban periphery of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. U...

Families are of critical importance for Latino communities in the USA. Familism - or the cultural value that weighs on interdependence between nuclear and extended family members for support, emotional connectedness, familial honour, loyalty and solidarity - has been demonstrated to reduce sexual health risks among heterosexual youth, yet this rela...

Gender has been recognized as a significant influence on sexual health behaviors. Labor migration presents an important context of vulnerability for sexual health. To understand how the context of migration affects risk-related practices, both cultural and social aspects of gender need to be explored. In the quantitative part of a mixed-methods stu...

HIV/AIDs risk among migrant workers is often examined through individual determinants with limited consideration of social context. We used data from systematic ethnographic observations, structured interviews (n = 50), and life history interviews (n = 10) to examine the relationship between loneliness and HIV/AIDS risk for recently arrived (within...

Neste artigo discutimos a visão da Igreja Católica sobre sexualidade na interface com a epidemia do HIV/AIDS. Nossa reflexão está embasada em pesquisa etnográfica que envolveu dois meses de observação participante do cotidiano de católicos de um bairro popular da Região Metropolitana do Recife, além de contar com entrevistas a onze dos leigos engaj...

As the AIDS epidemic continues to disproportionately affect the Latino and African American communities in the United States, little is still known about bisexual behavior and sexual risk of Latino and African American men. This article explores the construct of familism (i.e., the cultural value that weighs on the interdependence among nuclear and...

We explored how young men's perceptions of and participation in hip hop culture--urban social and artistic expressions, such as clothing style, breakdancing, graffiti, and rap music--and how contextual factors of the hip hop scene may be associated with their condom use, condom-use self-efficacy, and sense of community. We conducted a cross-section...

Infusion of bone marrow stem or progenitor cells may provide powerful therapies for injured tissues such as the lung and heart. We examined the potential of bone marrow-derived (BMD) progenitor cells to contribute to repair and remodeling of lung and heart in a rat monocrotaline (MCT) model of pulmonary hypertension. Bone marrow from green fluoresc...

Migration to the United States is one of the major risk factors for contracting HIV and other STIs for temporary Mexican migrant men. In the times of globalized economies and continuous migration the relationship between the migration experience and sexual risk as become an imperative area of examination to understand the transformation of sexual r...

Hip-Hop culture is a key social medium through which many young men and women from communities of colour in the USA construct their gender. In this study, we focused on the Hip-Hop club scene in New York City with the intention of unpacking narratives of gender dynamics from the perspective of young men and women, and how these relate to their sexu...

We sought to determine whether there were differences in sexual risk among behaviorally and self-identified bisexual men, men who reported having sex with both men and women without reporting a bisexual identity and men who self-identified as bisexual but reported only recent homosexual behavior over the past 6 months. secondary data analysis, we c...

This paper describes how the landscape of a public place in a New York City park embodies larger external structures within which sexual subjects actively organize local sexual culture. Controlling the configuration and utilization of such space is a technique of power used by the state apparatus. Based upon ethnographic fieldwork, we describe how...

The Brazilian National AIDS Program is widely recognized as the leading example of an integrated HIV/AIDS prevention, care, and treatment program in a developing country. We critically analyze the Brazilian experience, distinguishing those elements that are unique to Brazil from the programmatic and policy decisions that can aid the development of...

Recent studies indicate that bisexually active Latino and African-American men are at significantly higher risk for HIV/AIDS than exclusively homosexually active men and exclusively heterosexually active men. This two-year ethnographic study was conducted to examine the sexual practices and factors that shape the sexual negotiations of a sample of...

The objective of the paper was to describe awareness of HIV medications and HIV viral load, and to assess the impact of HIV medications (including highly active antiretroviral therapy) and notions of viral load on sexual risk practices. This was an exploratory cross-sectional study of a non-random sample of 395 homosexually active Latino men in New...

AIDS in Brazil, as in many parts of the world, has been an epidemic characterized by multiple parallel-localized epidemics. Youth, particularly young men who have sex with men (YMSM), are amongst the most vulnerable populations for HIV infection in Brazil. Furthermore, our research findings from the early 1990s suggested that significantly higher l...

PDGF isoforms are a family of polypeptides that bind to cell surface receptors and induce fibroblast proliferation and chemotaxis. The PDGF-A and -B chain isoforms have been implicated in fibroproliferative lung injury in animal models and in human disease. Two recently recognized PDGF polypeptides, PDGF-C and -D, differ from the PDGF-A and -B isof...

This article tracks the conjunction between the social, cultural, political, and economic changes taking place on a global level and the shift in sexuality research from primarily biomedical and behavioral concerns to those of rights and social justice. Particular attention is paid to how transnational public health and human rights discourses, and...

OBJECTIVES: To test the hypothesis that the type of sexual initiation in terms of behavior involved, contextual factors (e.g. location, relationship, sex of partner) and post episode feelings and attitudes have implications for sexual behavior and sexual risk in later adolescence and young adulthood. DESIGN: Descriptive study. METHODS: Data were co...

Thesis (M.P.H.)--University of Connecticut, 1999. Includes bibliographical references.