Marseille 2007
| Abstract #391 - Understanding global changes in behavior: four rounds of behavioral surveillance in a population of men who have sex with men in Fortaleza, Brazil 1995-2005 | ||||
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Session: 37.4: Navigating risk and safety (Parallel) on Tuesday @ 14.00-16.00 in Auditorium/Overflow Chaired by Susan M. Kiene, Danuta Kasprzyk Authors: Presenting Author: Prof Carl Kendall - Tulane University, United States |
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| Additional Authors: Dr Ligia Kerr, | ||||
| Aim: The global HIV/AIDS research community has been conducting behavioral surveillance of risk behaviors for more than 15 years. Changes in sampling and survey methodology and debates about trends in specific locations and their cause have made international comparisons difficult. This paper uses four rounds of data collected between 1995 and 2005 in Fortaleza, and compares it to data collected in San Francisco at the same time. | ||||
| Method / Issue: Data were collected in Fortaleza among men who report sex with other men aged 14-65 years in 1995 (n=400), 1998 (n=200), 2002 (n=401), and 2005 (n=206). The outcome variable chosen was a dichotomous measure of sexual behavior: no intercourse or only protected anal/vaginal intercourse in the past six months (low-risk) versus at least one unprotected anal/vaginal intercourse in the past six months (high-risk). Additional variables included condom use in the last act of intercourse. Respondents were also asked about their age, marital status, educational achievements, occupation, religion, living arrangements, and income and to describe their sexual identity and current relationship(s). Data are matched to annual surveillance surveys in San Francisco on variables of interest including sociodemographic characteristics of participants. | ||||
| Results / Comments: In Fortaleza,in the promary variable of high risk sex, percentages were: 49.9%(1995), 32.6%(1998), 54.2%(2002), and 31.4%(2205)(2 for trends p< 0.001). Adjusted for absolute value, the curve is closely congruent with the results for San Francisco. Examination of sociodemographic variables, such as partners in union, show similarities as well. | ||||
| Discussion: The congruence of these findings appear to be repeated across other sites as well, such as Australia, and in recent years, China (data will be presented). They argue for a globalized perspective on sex, sexuality and sexual identity that anthropologists, such as Richard Parker, have been demonstrating in their research for years. The implications for prevention are important: this is not a nation-by-nation issue, or a developing country issue. Effective prevention involves the active participation of communities of interest across the global landscape. These communities of interest have developed in response to global forces and opportunities, and effective prevention needs to understand these processes. As has been pointed out for ARVs, there is an obvious and unavoidable connection between practices in developed and developing countries. | ||||
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