Sexual and geographic organisation of men who have sex with men in a large East African city: opportunities for outreach

Abstract

ObjectivesTo describe geographical and dispersion patterns of men who have sex with men (MSM)-related venues in a large East African city and their associations with times, participants and venue type.MethodsMapping of MSM sites in Dar es Salaam was carried out by community research workers who catalogued, observed and reported data on venue sites, formality, times of operation, type of participant, police or vigilante activity, length of operation and the degree to which it is known both in and outside the MSM and gay communities.ResultsThere is a large and widely disseminated MSM/gay satellite cultures of at least 98 sites, which has some formal sites, but is largely informal and operates within mixed entertainment environments and at particular times (including some weekend-only locales) across the city. There is a mix of places for sexual contact, largely social venues and sex on location sites. Cruising appears to be limited to open spaces and parks, with no vehicular component and almost no internet component. They are widely disseminated across all suburbs and there is no central location for MSM activities. MSM sex workers (SWs) operate at a third of these sites.ConclusionsThere is a large number of ‘local’ MSM contact, social and sex sites and any work with MSM will have to include these less-formal and less-known sites. The widely disseminated nature of the MSM sites, however, also suggests that sexual networks may not be closely linked between sites. The climate of stigma, abuse and potential violence appear to be limiting the development of more formal sites. This pattern is probably typical of other large urban areas in East Africa and perhaps across sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).

Depression and HIV risk among men who have sex with men in Tanzania

“…Two hundred MSM and 100 MSM were recruited from DES and Tanga, respectively. Before recruitment we mapped several MSM sites in each city including hotels, parks, clubs and bars (Ross, Nyoni, Bowen, Williams, & Kashiha, 2012 ). Starting with initial “seeds” of five people in each city, the respondent driven sampling (RDS) method was used to recruit subjects into the study (Heckathorn, 1997 , 2002 ).…”

Sexual Motivation, Sexual Transactions and Sexual Risk Behaviors in Men who have Sex with Men in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

“…RDS is a research method that involves snowball sampling where a researcher uses some starting individuals to refer those they know and in turn these individuals refer those they know throughout a network. (27-29) Since MSM in Tanzania are a closed and hidden population (21), RDS is an appropriate recruitment strategy. We identified five seeds of diverse ages and from different areas of the city for better representativeness, to recruit the first wave of participants.…”

“…Second, the extremely negative climate towards homosexual behavior in SSA has restricted investigation of MSM behaviors and other risk factors. (21) Given this stigmatizing climate, the development of formal MSM venues were limited; and consequently, a large number of less-known local MSM contact, social, and sex sites spread across areas, ranged across venue types, and may be very time-specific. MSM were not included in surveillance systems of most African countries.…”

Health care in a homophobic climate: the SPEND model for providing sexual health services to men who have sex with men where their health and human rights are compromised

“…We have surveyed gay and MSM-related sites in Dar es Salaam ( 21 ) and noted 98 sites, evenly distributed throughout the metropolitan area with no geographic focus. If typical for larger SSA cities, as we believe it is, our mapping indicates gay-associated sites are widely distributed throughout the metropolitan areas and probably serve local populations.…”