Why are gay people high risk for hiv

HIV rates in gay men are higher than in all other groups. Learn about the biological, sexual, social, and psychological causes of this disparity. Learn why gay men, bisexual men, and other men who have sex with men are more likely than average to contract HIV. Find strategies for reducing the risk. At a glance Gay, bisexual, and other men who reported male-to-male sexual contact are disproportionately affected by HIV.

Social and structural issues—such as HIV stigma, homophobia, discrimination, poverty, and limited access to high-quality health care—influence health outcomes and continue to drive inequities. The LGBTQ+ community remains at heightened risk of contracting HIV because of this discrimination. Gay men are 28 times more likely to contract HIV than heterosexual men and transgender women are 14 times more likely to contract HIV than other adult women.

However, some sexually active gay and bisexual men who have multiple sex partners or casual sex with people whose status is unknown may benefit from why are gay people high risk for hiv tested more often (for example, every 3 to 6 months). Gay and bisexual men who are HIV negative but at risk of getting HIV should consider pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). This vulnerability is driven by stigma and discrimination.

An additional 16 studies were retrieved from the most recent full report from EuroHIV [ 5 ]. Washington D. Now, a quarter of a century later, 40 million people are infected with human immunodeficiency virus HIVthe organism that causes AIDS. Abstractors why are gay people high risk for hiv not blinded to the purpose of the study. Social isolation and stigma Around one in four participants felt disconnected from the general heterosexual community and kept social interactions as limited as possible.

The study also shows that Indian gay and bisexual men continue to experience stigma and discrimination in healthcare settings and the wider community. Publication bias tends to affect the results of meta-analyses, both in the realms of clinical and public health research, and could be partly responsible for the magnitude of associations seen in this study [ 35 ].

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. In countries with very low prevalence in general populations, HIV transmission among MSM may be isolated and propagated within this group in a dislinked fashion.

AIDS acquired immunodeficiency syndrome first emerged in the early s among gay men living in New York and California. Such an approach is important in assessing the validity of the assumptions made for statistical calculations in meta-analyses [ 38 ]. Caceres et al. ORs for HIV infection in MSM are elevated across prevalence levels by country and decrease as general population prevalence increases, but remain 9-fold higher in medium—high prevalence settings.

The stratification of the pooled OR estimate revealed some general differences in risk status between MSM globally. Significant attention was given to avoiding including the prevalence of HIV among MSM among the same population published in two different reports. Am J Epidemiol — When the pooled OR was stratified by prevalence levels of countries, very low-prevalence countries had the highest OR of why are gay people high risk for hiv in MSM compared with the general population: in very low-prevalence countries the OR was They remain invisible because they fear discrimination, stigmatization being considered socially unacceptableor arrest—sex between men is illegal in 85 countries.

Healthcare access More than half of participants said they did not get satisfactory healthcare, they experienced delays in getting health services or they could not afford healthcare.

Why Is the Risk of Contracting HIV Higher in Gay Men?

A synthesis of available data. All the databases were included to ensure sensitivity, though ultimately there was no study included in the final analysis found in other databases that was not also found on PubMed. Share this page. In many other countries, MSM are much less visible. The researchers also did several subgroup analyses where they asked whether factors such as injection drug use another risk factor for HIV transmissionper capita income, geographical region, or the HIV prevalence in the general population were associated with differential risk increase in odds of HIV infection compared to the general population.

National Gay Men's HIV/AIDS Awareness Day - AIDSVu

This may be because, according to a reportBlack and Hispanic gay and bisexual men are less likely to take preventive medication. The stigma attached to HIV may also prevent people aware of their HIV-positive status from accessing and maintaining treatment to suppress their viral load and help stop the spread. Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

People at higher risk of HIV may benefit from more frequent testing, such as every 3 to 6 months. Download: PPT.