The Where and How for Reaching Transgender Women and Men Who Have Sex with Men with HIV Prevention Services in Guatemala

Abstract

This study aims to describe the transgender women and men who have sex with men (MSM) missed through venue-based sampling and illustrate how data on venues can be used to prioritize service delivery. Respondent-driven sampling (RDS) and time-location sampling (TLS) were used concurrently in 2010 for behavioral surveillance among MSM and transgender women in Guatemala City. RDS recruits who did not frequent venues (n = 106) were compared to TLS recruits (n = 609). TLS participants recruited at different types of venues were compared. RDS recruits who did not frequent venues were less educated, less likely to identify as gay, more likely to have concurrent partners and female sexual partners. Participants recruited at NGOs, saunas, hotels, streets and parks had more partners, were more likely to receive money for sex or have concurrent partners. Prevention programs for MSM and transgender women should characterize social venues and people that frequent them and improve service coverage through venues and social networks.

Contextualizing condoms: a cross-sectional study mapping intersections of locations of sexual contact, partner type, and substance use as contexts for sexual risk behavior among MSM in Peru

“…While this finding may in part be explained by MSM inviting casual partners with whom they are more acquainted into their homes, it also highlights the danger of the perceived safety of repeat casual partners. In addition to further highlighting the potential risk of infectious disease transmission in environments perceived as “safe,” this finding also provides a more detailed understanding of the role of the site of sexual contact than previous studies of CAI and place in Latin America, which limited their analyses to commercial and/or public sex venues [12, 40]. Successful combination HIV and STI prevention interventions therefore cannot focus only on traditionally high-risk sex venues like saunas and public spaces, but must also offer MSM strategies to understand risks associated with established partners and to increase condom use in their own homes.…”

Optimizing HIV prevention and care for transgender adults

“…The majority of epidemiologic analyses of transgender populations have been based on convenience samples of individuals recruited from community, clinic, or commercial sex venues [11] . Although these studies provide important information on local population characteristics and identify specific areas for intervention, they may not accurately represent the epidemiologic characteristics of the larger transgender population.…”

Developing and testing community-based tuberculosis (TB) screening intervention to increase TB referral, case detection and knowledge among sexual minority people in urban Bangladesh: a mixed-method study protocol

“…29 Rather, the Center for Disease Control recounted an experience where they attempted to recruit transgender women through exploring their residences, social networks and other social spheres as well as common social spheres. 30 Transgender women in Bangladesh, indicated that they felt more comfortable visiting a community-based healthcare facility, particularly if they did not disclose their sexual orientation and if the facilities were catered to sexual minority populations. 17 …”

“…5 An estimated 1.2 million (range, 1.1-1.3 million) deaths due to TB disease occurs across the globe in 2018, in addition to 251 000 (range, 223 000-281 000) TB deaths happened among PLHIV. 5 This is because PLHIV are 29 (26)(27)(28)(29)(30)(31) times more vulnerable to TB than HIV negative individual. 6 In this context, TB is considered as the leading preventable cause of death especially among PLHIV.…”

“…29 Rather, the Center for Disease Control recounted an experience where they attempted to recruit transgender women through exploring their residences, social networks and other social spheres as well as common social spheres. 30 Transgender women in Bangladesh, indicated that they felt more comfortable visiting a community-based healthcare facility, particularly if they did not disclose their sexual orientation and if the facilities were catered to sexual minority populations. 17 icddr,b is currently performing verbal TB screening ('It is a standardised verbal questionnaire for investigating presumptive TB cases on the presence of the following symptoms and signs: cough for more than 2 weeks, haemoptysis, chest pain, breathlessness, evening rise of temperature/night sweating, anorexia, and weight loss/ weakness') for sexual minority people through drop-in centre (DIC)-based TB screening approach.…”