Sexual behaviours and the spread of sexually transmitted infections, including HIV

Background: RTI/STI are major public health concern amongst women especially in SEAR countries . Majority of women think menstrual problem and vaginal discharge as a part of their normal life and thus continue to suffer silently. Hence it is difficult to estimate the burden of RTI from clinic records and therefore data is extracted from ICMR community based study done in rural parts of the country. Multi level cluster sampling techniques was adopted and ever married women aged 15-45 years was taken as sampling unit.
Methods: Information with regards to characteristics of vaginal discharge, education level ,occupation etc was elicited from every sampled women .Also both the diagnosis made by ANM and medical doctor was recorded and compared.
Results : Out of 5567 of the sampled women ,16 per cent of the women were clinically diagnosed of RTIs that too belonging to low risk population and from villages. The results of logistic regression concluded that MTP, use of OC, high risk sexual behavior, and husband infected with urethral discharge may increase the probability of a women for contracting STIs.
Conclusion: The result demonstrating the association should not decrease the acceptance of IUD, OC but should be interpreted carefully.

In many parts of the world, the sexual behaviours of Adolescents and youth are rapidly changing, the opening of border to new influences, migration, and changing traditions. The nature of sexual behaviour of adolescents and youth now places them at a high risk for unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections including HIV. The objective of this paper is to assess knowledge attitude and practices of sexuality among Nepalese adolescents and youths. Data for this analysis will be derived from the Nepal Adolescents and Youth Survey, 2010/11. The data is collected from personal interviews with a nationally representative probabilistic 14753 sample of 10-24 ages’ adolescents and youth. Exploratory data analysis will used to investigate various associations, structures and trends/patterns of the datasets. Series of graphical techniques will be made use of in order to carry such investigations. Model building process will be processed, by considering the complexities in the dataset. Gaussion/non-Gaussian setting will be applied to get best explain of knowledge, attitude and practices of sexuality among Nepalese adolescents and youth. The great value of this paper is application of various statistical models (Gaussian / non-Gaussian) on sexuality. Key words: Adolescents and Youth, Gaussian,

We examined the type of lubricants, and extent of lubricant use among men who have sex with men (MSM) in India using data from two rounds of cross-sectional surveys conducted in 2005-07 (Round 1, R1) and 2009-10 (Round 2, R2) as part of evaluation of a large-scale HIV prevention program in three Indian states. In both rounds, MSM were recruited from cruising sites using time-location cluster sampling. We used binary logistic regression to assess the association between lubricant use and socio-demographic and programmatic indicators. 7,775 HR-MSM were interviewed in both rounds (R1-3,895, R2-3,880). The profile of the respondents was almost similar in both rounds. More than half reported using lubricants in both rounds (R1-54%, R2-64%). Use of water-based lubricants (R1-35%, R2-58%) was higher than oil-based lubricants (R1-45%, R2-41%) in R2 and a high proportion of MSM in both rounds (R1-64%, R2-77%) were exposed to any HIV prevention interventions. Characteristics associated with increased odds for lubricant use were exposure to any HIV prevention interventions (AOR- 3.23, CI: 2.73, 3.82). Similarly, kothi-identified MSM had higher odds for lubricant use in both rounds. The national HIV program needs to promote use of water-based lubricants and distribute free lubricants, which could significantly decrease HIV risk among MSM.

Impact of negotiating-timings on condom use: A comparative analysis between two high prevalence states of India
S. Radhakrishnan , S. Ramachandran
Background:
Targeted Interventions mainly focuses on BCC as there is no cure but sometimes FSWs are not in a position to use condom due to the fear of losing the client.
Methods:
The data collected for the major survey among FSW in Andhra Pradesh (276) and in Karnataka (218) was used for the research purpose. Univariate, Bivariate and Chi-square test are used.
Results:
The situational advantage on timings of condom negotiation puts the clients in predicament situation. More than two third of FSW those who had negotiated condom use ‘just before he was ready to begin the sex’ which reflects their success in convincing the clients. The success of negotiation is also observed at the time the clients have just removed their cloths for sexual act (57 percent).
Conclusion:
Time of negotiation proves that psychologically clients are bound to accept the request from FSW due to the onset of sexual act. Thus the empowerment is also exerted along with the crucial time of onset on sex that leads to achieve the good cause. Therefore, the situational benefit can be adopted so as to protect self and this can be translated into the strategic steps accordingly.

The aim of this study is to understand HIV related risk behaviour and prevalence of HIV/AIDS among IDUs in the districts Manipur, Nagaland and Maharashtra of India between two rounds. The data from IBBA round 1(2005-2007) and round 2 (2009-2010) has been used. A significant decline in the age at initiation of drugs among IDUs and proportion of needle sharing is found in all the districts except Wokha in Nagaland in the round 2. The proportion of paid sex and condom use has increased among the IDUs in round 2. Mobility is important predictor to explain the STI symptoms and HIV sero-positivity driving towards risky sexual behaviour. The prevalence of STI and HIV is much higher in multiple sexual partners as injecting drug users .Those who have condom use in the last sexual act are less likely to have any STIs and HIV in the past one year in Manipur.

Using propensity score matching methodology, this paper examine the impact of community group membership on experience of physical violence, any positive sexual transmitted infections, and HIV tested and collected result among female sex workers (FSWs) in India. A cross sectional survey was administered in 2009-2010 and covered 7,806 FSWs through probability sampling. About 38 percent of FSWs reported being member of community group and majority of FSWs were aged above 24 years, currently married, street based FSWs by typology, had experience of physical violence, had HIV test done and collected result. The average effect of treatment (being a member of community group) on treated (experience of physical violence and consistent condom use with regular partner) was 21% and 10%, respectively. The average effect of membership was marginally high among those who tested for HIV and collected results. On sexually transmitted infections, average impact was 5% higher compared to those who did not have any STIs. These finding suggest that community group membership are an effective intervention strategy to reduce risk of STIs and HIV among the FSWs.

This paper examines the relationship of social networking, knowledge of HIV, and sexual risk behaviors of male migrant workers in Rajshahi City, Bangladesh. Data for this study came from a random sample of 200 male migrant workers residing in Rajshahi City of Bangladesh. Both bivariate and multivariate analyses were performed for this study. The findings of this study confirmed that migrant populations are more likely to engage in sexual relationship that may result in increased risk of HIV infections. The predicted variables, educational status, watched adult movie or pornographic materials, smoking habit and taking illegal drugs have shown the significant effects on the likelihood of engaging in risky sexual behavior. While having knowledge that HIV/AIDS causes death does significantly reduce the likelihood of engaging in risky sexual behavior it does not completely mediate the effects of viewing pornographic material, smoking, consuming illegal drugs and being illiterate.

With the increasing pervasiveness of social media, the Internet has become an important venue for dating and sex. Not only does it introduce a unique array of opportunities and risks for men who have sex with men (MSM), it presents a valuable means through which to study sexual behavior. In this study, we collected data on what men report in their online profiles on two dating/hookup websites to explore possible geographical differences in social and cultural norms surrounding sex and HIV (N=5,588). Across the fifteen selected cities, significant differences emerged in reported HIV serostatus and stated preference for safer sex (condom use). These patterns suggest important contextual and demographic variations and point to a need for targeted, population-specific interventions. With a better understanding of the local factors driving risky sexual behavior, health communication messages and tailored online interventions could be developed to address the needs and concerns of specific groups.

Research on HIV among men who have sex with men has focused on individual behavioral and biomedical factors driving transmission risks, but these cannot be fully understood without also understanding the social context within which sexual minorities live. Using data from 703 gay and bisexual men in Atlanta, this study explores the factors associated with homosexual identity formation and disclosure (“outness”) and examines how these constructs are associated with sexual risk taking. In multivariable regression models, sexual identity and outness were associated with age, race, education, employment, and experience of discrimination. Independent of these factors, having a more established and open homosexual identity was associated with lower sexual risk behaviors. These results highlight the need to address discriminatory policies and values in society and call for programs to provide support and promote healthy identity development among vulnerable groups.

Link between migration, lower SES, and limited power, which are major determinants of sexual violence, elevated risk for HIV transmission, may be greater among migrant women. Further, the nexus between alcohol consumption and its effect on poor sexual decision making, unsafe sex, multiple partners, and increased sexual experimentation, has been extensively established through empirical study relying on self-report survey data. However, research on factors associated with married women’s ability to manage sexual relations with spouse and data on sexual violence within marriage remains limited. This paper analyzes factors affecting married female migrant’s ability to influence their sexual experience within marriage, specifically sexual communication with spouse. It also examines the extent to which alcohol consumption by husband leads to sexual violence and affects their sexual health. The paper is based on quantitative data collected from 513 female migrants and few in-depth interviews conducted in eight densely populated slums of Mumbai, India.