Men at risk; a qualitative study on HIV risk, gender identity and violence among men who have sex with men who report high risk behavior in Kampala, Uganda.

In Uganda, men who have sex with men (MSM) are at high risk for HIV. Between May 2008 and February 2009 in Kampala, Uganda, we used respondent driven sampling (RDS) to recruit 295 MSM≥18 years who reported having had sex with another man in the preceding three months. The parent study conducted HIV and STI testing and collected demographic and HIV-related behavioral data through audio computer-assisted self-administered interviews. We conducted a nested qualitative sub-study with 16 men purposively sampled from among the survey participants based on responses to behavioral variables indicating higher risk for HIV infection. Sub-study participants were interviewed face-to-face. Domains of inquiry included sexual orientation, gender identity, condom use, stigma, discrimination, violence and health seeking behavior. Emergent themes included a description of sexual orientation/gender identity categories. All groups of men described conflicting feelings related to their sexual orientation and contextual issues that do not accept same-sex identities or behaviors and non-normative gender presentation. The emerging domains for facilitating condom use included: lack of trust in partner and fear of HIV infection. We discuss themes in the context of social and policy issues surrounding homosexuality and HIV prevention in Uganda that directly affect men's lives, risk and health-promoting behaviors.

'Pregnancy comes accidentally--like it did with me': reproductive decisions among women on ART and their partners in rural Uganda.

BACKGROUND: As highly active antiretroviral therapy (ART) restores health, fertility and sexual activity among HIV-infected adults, understanding how ART influences reproductive desires and decisions could inform interventions to reduce sexual and vertical HIV transmission risk. METHODS: We performed a qualitative sub-study among a Ugandan cohort of 1,000 adults on ART with four purposively selected categories of participants: pregnant, not pregnant, delivered, and aborted. In-depth interviews examined relationships between HIV, ART and pregnancy, desire for children, perceived risks and benefits of pregnancy, decision-making regarding reproduction and family planning (FP) among 29 women and 16 male partners. Analysis focused on dominant explanations for emerging themes across and within participant groups. RESULTS: Among those who had conceived, most couples stated that their pregnancy was unintentional, and often occurred because they believed that they were infertile due to HIV. Perceived reasons for women not getting pregnant included: ill health (included HIV infection and ART), having enough children, financial constraints, fear of mother-to-child HIV transmission or transmission to partner, death of a child, and health education. Most women reported FP experiences with condoms and hormonal injections only. Men had limited FP information apart from condoms. CONCLUSIONS: Counselling at ART initiation may not be sufficient to enable women who do not desire children to adopt relevant family planning practices. On-going reproductive health education and FP services, with emphasis on the restoration of fertility after ART initiation, should be integrated into ART programs for men and women.

Partners at risk: motivations, strategies, and challenges to HIV transmission risk reduction among HIV-infected men and women in Uganda.

Prevention with positives (PWP) is a fundamental component of HIV prevention in industrialized countries. Despite the estimated 22.4 million HIV-infected adults in Africa (UNAIDS, 2006), culturally appropriate PWP guidelines have not been developed for this region. In order to inform these guidelines, we conducted 37 interviews (17 women, 20 men, no couples) from October 2003 to May 2004 with purposefully selected HIV-infected individuals in care in Uganda. Participants reported increased condom use and reduced intercourse frequency and numbers of partners after testing HIV-positive. Motivations for behavior change included concerns for personal health and the health of others, and decreased libido. Gender-power inequities (sometimes manifesting in forced sex), pain experienced by women while using condoms, decreased pleasure for men while using condoms, lack of social support, and desire for children appear to have resulted in increased risk for uninfected partners. Interventions addressing domestic violence, partner negotiation, use of lubricants and alternative sexual activities could increase condom use and/or decrease sexual activity and/or numbers of partners, thereby reducing HIV transmission risk.

The virus stops with me: HIV-infected Ugandans' motivations in preventing HIV transmission.

Few Positive Prevention interventions have been implemented in Africa; however, greater attention is now being paid to interventions that include messages of personal responsibility or altruism that may motivate HIV-infected individuals towards HIV prevention behaviors in Africa. We conducted 47 in-depth interviews in 2004 with HIV-infected men and women purposefully sampled to represent a range of sexual activities among clients of an AIDS support organization in Uganda. Qualitative interviews were selected from a cross-sectional survey of 1092 HIV-infected men and women. Clients were interviewed about their concerns around sexual HIV transmission, feelings of responsibility and reasons for these feelings, as well as about the challenges and consequences of actions to prevent HIV transmission. The reasons they provided for their sense of prevention responsibility revolved around ethical and practical themes. Responsibility toward sexual partners was linked to the belief that conscious transmission of HIV equals murder, would cause physical and emotional harm, and would leave children orphaned. The primary reason specific to preventing HIV transmission to unborn children was the perception that they are 'innocent'. Most participants felt that HIV-infected individuals held a greater responsibility for preventing HIV transmission than did HIV-uninfected individuals. Respondents reported that their sense of responsibility lead them to reduce HIV transmission risk, encourage partner testing, disclose HIV test results, and assume an HIV/AIDS educator role. Challenges to HIV preventive behavior and altruistic intentions included: sexual desire; inconsistent condom use, especially in long term relationships; myths around condom use; fear of disclosure; gender-power dynamics; and social and financial pressure. Our finding that altruism played an important role in motivating preventive behaviors among HIV-infected persons in Uganda supports the inclusion of altruistic prevention and counseling messages within Positive Prevention interventions.

Processes and outcomes of HIV serostatus disclosure to sexual partners among people living with HIV in Uganda.

Disclosure of HIV serostatus to sexual partners supports risk reduction and facilitates access to prevention and care services for people living with HIV/AIDS. To assess health and social predictors of disclosure as well as to explore and describe the process, experiences and outcomes related to disclosure of HIV-infected men and women in Eastern Uganda, we conducted a study among HIV-infected men and women who were clients of The AIDS Support Organization (TASO) in Jinja, Uganda. We enrolled TASO clients in a cross-sectional study on transmission risk behavior. Demographic and behavioral data and CD4 cell count measurements were collected. Among 1,092 participants, 42% were currently sexually active and 69% had disclosed their HIV serostatus to their most recent sexual partner. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that disclosure of HIV-status was associated with being married, having attended TASO for more than 2 years, increased condom use, and knowledge of partner's serostatus. From these clients, 45 men and women were purposefully selected and interviewed in-depth on disclosure issues. Positive outcomes included risk reduction behavior, partner testing, increased care-seeking behavior, anxiety relief, increased sexual communication, and motivation to plan for the future.

Desire for children and pregnancy risk behavior among HIV-infected men and women in Uganda.

To identify ways to improve prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV, we conducted a cross-sectional study of 1,092 HIV-infected men and women attending an AIDS support organization in Jinja, Uganda, between October 2003 and June 2004. Pregnancy risk behavior was defined as having sex without contraceptive or condom. Overall, 42% of participants were sexually active, 33% practiced pregnancy risk behavior, and 18% desired more children. Men were almost four times to want more children than the women (27% vs. 7%). Among those practicing pregnancy risk behavior, 73% did not want more children and were at high risk for unwanted pregnancies. Although 81% knew that mother-to-child transmission of HIV could be prevented, only 22% believed that an HIV-infected woman who received PMTCT therapy could still deliver an HIV-infected child. Lack of MTCT information, having attended the program for