Men who have sex with men in southern Vietnam report high levels of substance use and sexual risk behaviours but underutilise HIV testing services: a cross-sectional study: Table 1

Abstract

Due to the scarcity of effective MSM-targeted prevention programmes, it is likely that substance use, risky sexual behaviours and low testing uptake may substantially contribute to the spread of HIV among Vietnamese MSM sampled. Harm reduction programmes targeting MSM, and in particular injecting MSM, should be rolled-out in this province.

Unsafe Sexual Behavior Among Gay/Bisexual Men in the Era of Combination Antiretroviral Therapy (cART)

“…It has been suggested that frequent alcohol and drug use are common in urban gay male culture [59]. Contrary to the several studies that have found alcohol use at least once a week [55] or excess alcohol consumption [54,60] related to unsafe sexual practices in MSM, we found no association in our study. Our results, however, are closer to those of a meta-analysis not specific to MSM that found drinking alcohol was unrelated to condom use [61] and Peruvian study of MSM finding a non-significant association between problem drinking and receptive or insertive anal intercourse in the last 6 months [62].…”

“…Similar to other research [50-55], we observed that risky sexual behavior was highly positively associated with recreational drug use, which may reflect risk taking in general as well as sexual dis-inhibition associated with substance use [56,57]. However, condomless anal intercourse among MSM seems to vary by the type of drug and the frequency of use [58].…”

High hepatitis C virus (HCV) prevalence among men who have sex with men (MSM) in Vietnam and associated risk factors: 2010 Vietnam Integrated Behavioural and Biologic Cross-Sectional Survey

“…This analysis also highlights that the risk of HCV is not limited to these risk factors given that an estimated one out of five HIV-uninfected, non-injection drug users were HCV Ag/Ab+, which may indicate sexual transmission of HCV in Vietnam that may be supported by the findings that a high proportion of enrolled MSM reported recently having sex with a man for money or with a female sex worker, respectively. High rates of previous or current illicit drug use among these MSM are consistent with recent studies among MSM in select locations in Vietnam 14 15…”

“…High rates of behaviours that increase risk for HIV, HCV and HBV infection have been reported among Vietnamese MSM, including injection and non-injection drug use, multiple concurrent partners and unprotected anal intercourse 14 15. To date, no data on the prevalence and profile of HCV or HBV among MSM in Vietnam have been published.…”

Highlights from this issue

“…This month, Down et al report on the HIV testing experience of gay men recently diagnosed with HIV,6 while in a report from Vietnam Pham et al report low levels of HIV testing despite high levels of risk behaviour 7…”