BackgroundMen who have sex with men (MSM) are a marginalized population at high risk for HIV infection. Promoting consistent condom use (CCU) during anal sex is a key risk reduction strategy for HIV prevention among MSM. To inform effective HIV prevention interventions, we examined the factors associated with CCU among MSM with their regular, paying, and casual partners, as well as with all three types of partners combined.MethodsData for this analysis were from a large-scale bio-behavioural survey conducted during 2009–2010 in Tamil Nadu, India. MSM aged 18 years or older were recruited for the survey using time-location cluster sampling at cruising sites in four districts of Tamil Nadu. Binary logistic regression analyses were conducted to assess the association of CCU with selected socio-demographic characteristics and other contextual factors.ResultsAmong 1618 MSM interviewed, CCU during anal sex with regular, paying, and a casual male partner was 45.3%, 50.8% and 57.9%, respectively. CCU with all three types of partners combined was 52.6%. Characteristics associated with increased odds for CCU with MSM having all three types of partners combined were frequent receptive anal sex acts with regular partners (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 2.17, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.01-4.65), fewer number of casual partners (AOR 3.41, 95% CI 1.50-7.73) and membership in a community-based organization (CBO) for MSM (AOR 3.54, 95% CI 1.62-7.74). CCU with regular partners was associated with membership in a CBO (AOR 1.96, 95% CI 1.23-3.11), whereas CCU with paying, and casual male partners was associated with perceived higher risk of acquiring HIV (AOR 1.92, 95% CI 1.22-3.01) and exposure to any HIV prevention intervention (AOR 3.62, 95% CI 1.31-10.0), respectively. Being aged 26 years or older, being in debt, and alcohol use were factors associated with inconsistent condom use across partner types.ConclusionHIV interventions among MSM need to promote CCU with all types (regular, paying, and causal) of male partners, and need to reach MSM across all age groups. In addition to enhancing interventions that focus on individual level risk reduction, it is important to undertake structural interventions that promote social acceptance of same-sex sexuality and address contextual barriers to condom use such as alcohol use.

BackgroundCounseling/advice is one of the key interventions to promote family planning (FP) in developing countries, including India. It helps to improve the quality of care and reduce maternal deaths. This paper investigates the continuity of maternal health (MH) service utilization from antenatal care to post-natal care and the impact this service utilization has on contraceptive use and on meeting the demand for family planning among currently married women in rural Uttar Pradesh, India.Methods and FindingsThe study assesses the impact of FP advice on unmet need and contraceptive use by adopting the propensity score matching method. It uses data from the District Level Household Survey (DLHS) (2007–08) that covered 76,147 currently married women (CMW) in the age group 15–44 years in Uttar Pradesh. Results show that the utilization of MH services [Antenatal care (ANC), institutional delivery, Postnatal care (PNC)] and FP advice during ANC and PNC has led to increase in current use of contraception by 3.7% (p<.01), 7.3% (p<.01) and 6.8% (p<.01), respectively. However, a greater utilization of these services has not translated into a reduction of unmet need for contraception at a similar manner.ConclusionMH service utilization including FP advice is more effective in increasing current use of spacing methods as compared to limiting methods. Findings support the need for “effective FP advice” interventions to reduce unintended births and unmet need. However, women from Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe communities are less likely to receive MH services. Thus, efforts are required to ensure that currently married women across socio-economic backgrounds have equal opportunity to receive MH services and information on contraceptive use to meet the demand for family planning methods.

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Aim: This study aimed to assess anxiety and depression among health sciences students at home quarantine during the COVID-19 pandemic in selected provinces of Nepal.Methods: A web-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 409 health science students enrolled at graduate and post-graduate levels in selected universities and their affiliated colleges. Students from selected colleges were asked to fill out a survey, that was made available through email and social media outlets such as Facebook and Viber. The data were downloaded in Excel and imported to SPSS version 16 for analysis.Results : The prevalence of anxiety and depression was 15.7 and 10.7%, respectively. The study showed significant associations between (i) place of province and anxiety; (ii) sleep per day and depression; (iii) hours spent on the internet per day for education and depression; (iv) postponement of final exams and depression. There were no significant associations with the socio-demographic variables.Conclusion: Anxiety and depression in health science students showed correlation with the province, internet use for education, and postponement of exams. These correlations could be common among students in other fields as well. A large-scale study covering a wider geographical area and various fields of education is necessary to further evaluate the impact of COVID-19 on (health sciences) students. The integration of mental health programs both as an intervention and a curriculum level among students is critical to ensure the health of the students.

This paper examines the association between alcohol use and HIV-related sexual risk behaviors among men who have sex with men (MSM). A cross-sectional bio-behavioral survey was conducted among 3,880 MSM, recruited using time-location cluster sampling from cruising sites in three Indian states. Nearly three-fifths of the participants reported alcohol use. Among frequent users (40 % of the sample), defined as those who consumed alcohol daily or at least once a week, 66 % were aged 25 years and above, 53 % self-identified as kothi (feminine/receptive), and 63 % consistently used condoms with male paying partners. Multivariate logistic regression demonstrated that frequent users were more likely to be aged 25 years and above, less likely to self-identify as kothi, and less likely to consistently use condoms with male paying (AOR = 0.7; 95 % CI 0.5–0.9) and male regular (AOR = 0.7; 95 % CI 0.6–0.9) partners. HIV prevention interventions for MSM need to provide tailored information on alcohol use-related sexual risk, especially for MSM in sex work and MSM with male regular partners.