Male sex work and HIV risk among young heroin users in Hanoi, Vietnam
Michael C. Clatts A D , Le M. Giang B , Lloyd A. Goldsamt C and Huso Yi CA Center for Research on Global Health and Youth at Risk, School of Public Health, University of Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico.
B Center for Research and Training on HIV/AIDS, Hanoi Medical University, Hanoi, Vietnam.
C National Development and Research Institutes, Inc., New York, NY, USA.
D Corresponding author. Email: Clatts@ndri.org
Sexual Health 4(4) 261-267 https://doi.org/10.1071/SH07018
Submitted: 27 March 2007 Accepted: 6 October 2007 Published: 23 November 2007
Abstract
The present study describes complex drug and sexual risk in a group of male sex workers (n = 79) who were recruited in the context of a larger study of young heroin users in Hanoi, Vietnam (n = 1270). Male sex workers were significantly more likely than male non-sex workers to be migrants (P < 0.001) and to have unstable housing (P < 0.001), to have lifetime exposure to marijuana (P < 0.001), 3,4 methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, ecstasy) (P < 0.01), amphetamines (P < 0.05), cocaine (P < 0.01) and morphine (P < 0.001). Male sex workers are more likely to currently use MDMA (P < 0.05), amphetamines (P < 0.001), morphine (P < 0.05) and to ‘smoke’ as their most frequent mode of heroin administration (P < 0.01). Male sex workers are more likely to have both male and female concurrent sex partners (P < 0.001), to have a history of sexual victimisation (P < 0.001), to have had more than three different sex partners in the past 30 days (P < 0.001), and to have had partners who injected drugs before sex (P < 0.001) or who used drugs during sex (P < 0.01). In their last sexual encounter with a client partner, approximately one-third (31.1%) reported having had receptive anal sex. In nearly three-quarters of these exchanges (71.4%), no condom was used. Similarly, in their last sexual encounter with a client partner, 42.2% reported having had insertive anal sex and in nearly half (47.4%) of these encounters no condom was used. Consistent with recent data from elsewhere in the region, there is an urgent need for additional research on male sex work in South-east Asia in order to properly situate behavioural interventions for male sex workers in this region.
Additional keywords: drug abuse, epidemiological bridging patterns, high risk youth, masculinities, migration, sexual risk, sexually transmissible infections.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the many young men and women who participated in the study. Research described in this paper was supported by Grant Number DA016188 from the USA National Institute on Drug Abuse and Grant Number 325 (03–050) from the World AIDS Foundation. Survey data were collected by staff from the Department of Epidemiology at Hanoi Medical University and from the Center for Community Health Research and Development. Dr Nguyen Tran Hien, MD, PhD, provided valuable advice in planning and implementation of the study.
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