[Behavioral features of men who have sex with men]

This behavioral surveillance survey in Sichuan province was aimed to gain an insight into the behavioral features related to HIV prevalence among men who have sex with men (MSM).

The pilot survey was initiated in the year from September to December, 2003. Two cities, Chengdu and Nanchong, were selected as the surveillance sites. All behavioral data were collected by a special questionnaire. Convenience sampling and snowball sampling techniques were applied to recruit participants in 5 types of places where MSM appeared more often.

Most of the participants sexed only with male partners, and the most common ways of intercourse for MSM were anal sex, mouth sex and masturbation. The cases of multiple sex partners existed generally in MSM. The median partner numbers for anal sex and mouth sex were 4.4 and 4.2 respectively. There were 491 MSM (84.7%) who had sexed with male partners 6 months before, in which 68.6% of them sexed with non-commercial regular male partners, 66.2% with non-commercial non-regular male partners, and 20.4% with commercial male partners. Condom use with different male partners varied significantly. The proportions of consistent condom use with non-commercial regular, non-commercial non-regular, and commercial male partners were 15.8%, 16.3% and 32.3% respectively. 1.9% of participants reported they had had the experience of injecting drug and 18.3% of participants reported they had been tested for HIV antibody 12 months before.

High risk behaviors such as multiple sex partners, unprotected anal sex, commercial sex, and injecting drug use among the MSM population in the two cities were unveiled broadly.