Being a homosexual to bisexual: Overlapping sexual risks among men who have sex with men as well as women in South Asian countries

Abstract

Background: Heterosexual relations among bisexual MSM engender spectrum of vulnerabilities for MSM as well as their partners. Socio-cultural pressure to marry may drive MSM to have female partners, indicating the potential for bridging HIV transmission. However, these interactions are poorly understood, and measurement of potential risk to MSM and their female partners is inconsistent in most of the South Asian countries, where sex is tabooed, legal system criminalizes homosexuality and is restricted even in programmatic discussions. The study aims to analyze the overlapping male and female partnerships of MSM-SW given the multiplicity of risk for HIV.