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Author Notes:

CB is the Principal Investigator of this study. CB, PS, THH, MCT, ALW, MRD, ACH, TC, AV, PS, SHHM, RV, and SDB collaborated in the design and oversight of the overall study. TC, AV, SHHM led trainings study team members and oversee data collection. BWW and CD conducted analyses and wrote the initial drafts of this manuscript. All authors reviewed the manuscript, and all take responsibility for its integrity as well as the accuracy of the analysis.

This study is a collaborative effort between Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, U.S. CDC Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention (DHAP), the Thailand Ministry of Public Health, Mahidol University, APCOM, and the community-based organizations RSAT and SWING. This work would not have been possible without the hard work and contributions of the COPE Study Team. We also thank Gilead Sciences for their generous donation of the study drug, Truvada®.

Research reported in this publication is supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) under Award Number R01AI118505 (PI: Beyrer) and direct funding support from CDC/DHAP. This research has been facilitated by the infrastructure and resources provided by the Johns Hopkins University Center for AIDS Research, an NIH funded program (P30AI094189), which is supported by the following NIH Co-Funding and Participating Institutes and Centers: NIAID, NCI, NICHD, NHLBI, NIDA, NIMH, NIA, FIC, NIGMS, NIDDK, and OAR.

The study drug, Truvada®, was donated to the project by Gilead Sciences. Gilead Sciences were provided the opportunity to provide comments on the manuscript but had no role in the interpretation of study results. Andrea Wirtz and Chris Beyrer also received separate research funding support from Gilead Sciences and ViiV Healthcare. All other authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Subject:

Keywords:

  • Science & Technology
  • Life Sciences & Biomedicine
  • Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
  • Public health
  • Global Health
  • Epidemiology
  • HIV
  • Prevention
  • Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis
  • MSM
  • Transgender persons
  • Sex work
  • Thailand
  • BRIEF SCREEN
  • RISK
  • BANGKOK
  • COHORT

Transactional sex, HIV and health among young cisgender men and transgender women who have sex with men in Thailand

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Journal Title:

ANNALS OF EPIDEMIOLOGY

Volume:

Volume 72

Publisher:

, Pages 1-8

Type of Work:

Article | Post-print: After Peer Review

Abstract:

PURPOSE: To examine how recent sex work is identified and the HIV risk factors and service needs among Thai cisgender men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender women (TGW) who exchange sex. METHODS: MSM and TGW in Bangkok and Pattaya who exchanged sex in the last year (n = 890) were recruited through social media, outreach, and word-of-mouth. Recent sex exchange was based on the primary question, "In the last 30 days, have you sold or traded sex"; secondary questions (regarding income source and client encounters) were also investigated. RESULTS: Overall, 436 (48%) participants engaged in sex work in the last 30 days; among those, 270 (62%) reported exchanging sex by the primary question, and 160 (37%) based on secondary questions only. Recent sex exchange was associated with gonorrhea, syphilis, discussing PrEP with others, and using condoms, alcohol, methamphetamine, amyl nitrate, and Viagra. Exchanging sex based on secondary questions only was associated with being in a relationship, social media recruitment, less recent anal intercourse, and not discussing PrEP. CONCLUSIONS: Thai MSM and TGW who exchange sex need regular access to HIV/STI prevention, testing, and treatment services, and multiple approaches to assessing sex work will help identify and serve this diverse and dynamic population.

Copyright information:

This is an Open Access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
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