Some sobering research coming out of Uganda directly links experiences of homophobia with the spread of HIV.

According to AIDSmap, a recent study drew from 303 men living in Kampala, Uganda, who had had anal sex with a man in the previous three months. Some interesting statistics from the study include:

The vast majority (78%) had had sex with a woman at some time; 29% had fathered children; and 16% were currently living with a female partner.

There was often a mismatch between the sexual orientation terms that men most identified with and their reported attraction to men and women:

• Whereas 56% identified with ‘gay’ or ‘homosexual’, 70% said they were attracted mostly or only to men.
• 37% identified as ‘bisexual’, but 12% were attracted to both men and women.
• 7% identified as ‘straight’ or ‘heterosexual’, while 19% were attracted mostly or only to women.

Commercial or transactional sex was common: 42% had ever sold sex to a man, and 25% to a woman.

But most worryingly,

The researchers wished to identify the demographic or behavioural characteristics that were most strongly associated with HIV infection. In multivariate analysis, factors such as condom use or numbers of partners were not significantly associated with having HIV. In fact, only two factors were: age and homophobic abuse.

Men aged 25 or over were four times more likely to have HIV (odds ratio 4.3, 95% confidence interval 1.5 to 12.8). Amongst men over 25, HIV prevalence was 22.4%.

Men who had ever experienced violence or abuse because of their sexuality were five times more likely to have HIV (odds ratio 4.8, 95% confidence interval 1.8 to 13.1). Of the whole sample, 37% had been physically abused at some point, 37% had been blackmailed and 26% had been forced to have sex.

It seems from this study that one of the most valuable things one could do to stop the spread of HIV among men who have sex with men is to fight homophobia and intolerance. Promoting human rights means preventing HIV.

This entry was posted on August 3rd, 2010 at 10:43 am by Amanda Atwood and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.