**6. Acknowledgements**

Financial support:

The Capacity building in HIV/Syphilis prevalence estimation using non-invasive methods among MSM in Southern and Eastern Europe – SIALON project was funded by the European Commission under the European Commission Public Health Programme 2003- 2008.

The sole responsibility for this article lies with the authors and the European Commission is not responsible for any use that might be made of the information contained therein.

#### The SIALON Network is composed by:

Yuri Amirkhanian (CAIR – Medical College of Wisconsin, USA) Eva Baldassari (Mental Health Department, ULSS20, Verona) Luigi Bertinato (Service for International Social and Health Relations, ULSS20, Veneto Region, Verona) Chrisoula Botsi (HCDCP, Athens) Michele Breveglieri (Regional Centre for Health Promotion, Verona) Enrica Castellani (Regional Centre for Health Promotion, Verona) Paola Coato (Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Integrata Verona, Department of Pathology, Section of Microbiology) Jonathan Elford (City University London) Cinta Folch (CEEISCAT Badalona Barcelona) Roberta Fontana (Microbiology – Verona University Hospital) Mauro Fornasiero (University of Bristol, England, UK) Jean-Pierre Foschia (Regional Centre for Health Promotion, Verona) Martina Furegato (Regional Centre for Health Promotion, Verona) Lorenzo Gios (Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Integrata Verona, Verona) Jaroslav Gyurik (Association of AIDS Help, Bratislava) Victoria Gonzalez (CEEISCAT Hospital Universitari Germans Trias i PUjol, Badalona) Valentina Guarnieri (Microbiology – Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Integrata Verona) Monika Habekova (NRC HIV/AIDS Slovak Univeristy, Bratislava) Alex Horky (Czech Youth Queer Organisation) Jaroslav Jedlicka (NIPH, Prague) Kostantinos Kampourakis (Act-up Hellas, Athens) Igor Krampac (Regional Public Health Institute Maribor, Slovenia) Massimiliano Lanzafame (Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Integrata Verona, Infectious Diseases Unit) Emanuela Lattuada (Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Integrata Verona) Roberta Martini (International Health and Social Affairs, Veneto Region) Massimo Mirandola (Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Integrata Verona, Verona) Zeno Menegazzi (Arcigay Pianeta Urano, Verona) Silvana Menichelli (Regional Centre for Health Promotion, Verona) Gianmichele Moise (STD Centre, Gorizia) Sabrina Montante (Veneto Region) Rafael Muñoz Castro (STOP SIDA, Barcelona) Daniela Negri (Veneto Region) Georgios Nikolopoulos (HCDCP, Athens) Irina Nita (ACCEPT, Bucharest) Paolo Patanè (Arcigay, Italy) Daniela Pitigoi (Matei Bals Institute, Bucharest) Peter Porubsky (Czech Aids Help Society) Ivo Prochazka (Czech Aids Help Society, Prague) Alexandru Rafila (Matei Bals Institute, Bucharest) Dunia Ramarli (Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Integrata Verona, Department of Pathology, Section of Immunology) David Rivett (independent consultant specialising in Health Promotion and Education) Miran Solinc (SKUC Magnus, Ljubljana) Danica Staneková (NRC HIV/AIDS Slovak University, Bratislava) Dzamila Stehlikova (NIPH, Prague) Barbara Suligoi (ISS, Rome) Igor Toskin (Department of Reproductive Health & Research WHO, Geneva) Lev Zohrabyan (Regional Support Team, Europe and Central Asia UNAIDS, Moscow) Elisabetta Tonolli (Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Integrata Verona, Department of Pathology, Section of Microbiology) Ruggero Ughetti (Regional Centre for Health Promotion, Verona) (Hana Zakoucka (NIPH, Prague) Alessandro Zan (Arcigay Veneto) Alin Robert Zoltan (ACCEPT, Bucharest)
