Sex behaviour of MSM & risk of HIV in Andhra Pradesh, India

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a peer-reviewed article in AIDS: April 8, 2005

© 2005 Lippincott & Wilkins, Inc. ISSN:

0269-9370

Author

Dandona, Lalit a; Dandona, Rakhi a; Gutierrez,

Pablo b; Kumar, G Anil a; McPherson, Sam c; Bertozzi,

Stefano M b,d; the ASCI FPP Study Team a,*

Institution: From the (a)Centre for Public Health Research,

Administrative Staff College of India, Hyderabad,

India

(b)Division of Health Economics and Policy, National

Institute of Public Health, Cuernavaca, Mexico

©Research and Evaluation Unit, International

HIV/AIDS Alliance, Brighton, UK

(d)CIDE, Mexico City, Mexico.

(*)See Appendix 1.

Title

Sex behaviour of men who have sex with men and risk of

HIV in Andhra Pradesh, India.[Miscellaneous Article]

Source

AIDS. 19(6):611-619, April 8, 2005.

Abstract

Objective: To obtain information on sex behaviour of a

large sample of men who have sex with men (MSM) in

India that would assist in planning HIV prevention.

Methods: Homosexual/bisexual behaviour of 6661 MSM at

62 urban-rural locations of various sizes in the

Indian state of Andhra Pradesh was assessed through

detailed interview. Multivariate analyses were

performed to understand the associations with

unprotected penetrative sex and barriers to condom use

assessed.

Results: The average number of different male sex

partners in past 4 weeks was six. In last three sex

encounters with men, totalling 19 640, anal sex

occurred in 16 769, at least once by 6121 (91.9%) MSM

of which 3423 [55.9%; 95% confidence interval (CI),

51.7-60.1%] did not use condom at least once. A total

of 2785 (41.8%) were currently married to women and

3354 (50.4%) had had vaginal/anal sex with women in

the past 3 months, of which 2818 (84%; 95% CI,

81.1-86.9%) did not use a condom. Furthermore, 1585

(25.9%; 95% CI, 22.7-29.1%) had anal sex without a

condom with men and also vaginal/anal sex without a

condom with women. This was prevalent across

urban-rural locations and its strongest association

was with currently married MSM (odds ratio 15.1; 95%

CI, 12.5-18.2). The predominant reason for not using a

condom with women was 'do not use with regular

partner' (68.4%).

Conclusion: This high rate of unprotected penetrative

sex by MSM with both men and women suggests that HIV

prevention efforts in India should include a focus on

MSM as well as their wives across many urban-rural

locations and not only in large cities.

© 2005 Lippincott & Wilkins, Inc.

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