Journal of AIDS & Clinical Research

Sexual Practices And Perceived Susceptibility To HIV Infection Among Men Who Have Sex With Men In Dar Es Salaam, Mainland Tanzania

Abstract

Elia J. Mmbaga, Mbulla J. Dodo, Germana H. Leyna, Kare Moen and Melkizedeck T. Leshabari

This paper is the first in mainland Tanzania to report on sexual practices and HIV perceived risk of Men who have Sex with Men (MSM). A total of 150 MSM with a mean age of 21.3 were recruited using a respondent-driven sampling. Their median age at first anal sex was 12.2 and their median number of lifetime sexual partners was 35. The majority (94.0%) of the respondents reported more than two sex partners in the three months preceding the survey, and 32.0% reported involvement in heterosexual relationships. Two-thirds of the participants had low HIV perceived risk, which was associated with involvement in heterosexual relationships (AOR, 3.6, 95% CI: 1.015.0), lower condom use (AOR, 0.3, 95% CI: 0.2-0.7), alcohol consumption (AOR, 6.0, 95% CI: 2.3-16.9) and lower likelihood of ever having been tested for HIV (AOR, 0.3, 95% CI: 0.1-0.9). Focuses in HIV prevention have excluded MSM and our results indicate the need to consider this group in HIV programming in Tanzania.