The Joint United Nations
Program on HIV/AIDS estimates that between 0.3% and 0.7% of adults aged 15
to 49 years were living with HIV in
Ecuador in 2013. However, very little is known about the HIV prevalence
rate among men who have sex with men (MSM) in that country.
A cross-sectional
survey was conducted to investigate the knowledge, attitudes, and practices
regarding HIV/AIDS as well as to estimate the prevalence of HIV among
MSM in one of the cities with high HIV prevalence
rates in Ecuador. In this study, questionnaires were administered to 307 adult
MSM.
An HIV prevalence
of 10% was observed. Knowledge about HIV was
high; 91% of participants could identify how HIV is
transmitted. Although consistent condom use for anal sex was relatively high
(89%) among participants who reported having pay-for-service clients, only 64%
reported using a condom during oral sex with a client. Participants who had
multiple male sexual partners (i.e., their stable male partners plus other
partner[s]) had 3.7 times higher odds of testing positive for HIV compared
with those who did not. They also had reduced odds of condom use. Participants
who were forced to have anal receptive sex had 3 times higher odds of testing positive
for HIV.
Despite the finding that participants exhibited high
knowledge about HIV/AIDS, a high prevalence rate of HIV was
observed, which warrants targeted behavioral interventions. These data are
consistent with MSM being one of the highest at-risk population groups for HIV in
this region of Ecuador.
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By:
- 1Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, Quito, Ecuador.
- 2University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA Fundación Raíces, Esmeraldas, Ecuador.
- 3University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA.
- 4Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Quito, Ecuador.
- 5Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA.
- 6Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Quito, Ecuador eteran@usfq.edu.ec.
- Am J Mens Health. 2016 May 8. pii: 1557988316646757
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