Dear Forum members

a peer-reviewed article in AIDS: April 8, 2005
(C) 2005 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Inc. ISSN:
0269-9370

Author
Dandona, Lalit a; Dandona, Rakhi a; Gutierrez, Juan
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
(c)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.

(C) 2005 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Inc.
_______________
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Phi Huynhdo
E-mail: <huynhdophi@...>