SOCIO-ECONOMIC FEATURES OF SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED INFECTIONS AMONG MSM IN GEORGIA

The aim of our study was to investigate correlation between socio-Economic conditions and prevalence of Sexually Transmitted Infections among gay individuals (men who have sex with men, MSM) in Georgia. The study was conducted in 5 main cities in different regions of Georgia (Tbilisi, Batumi, Kutaisi, Zugdidi, and Telavi). During 2015-2019, social workers, LGBT community and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), conducted screening of MSM for STI, which was achieved by disseminating required information through electronic and print media, resulting in maximum involvement of MSM in screening programs for STI disseminating. A specially designed questionnaire/survey has been used to investigate the correlations between the following parameters, such as: age, educational attainment (non-completed secondary, secondary, non-completed High School, completed High School), economic income (extremely low, low, middle, high), awareness of STI (yes/no), sources of information (healthcare worker, internet/media, sex partner, social workers and/or NGOs (supporters of LGBT community, others), residence type (urban/rural); frequency of safe sex (using condoms for the last 6 months), number of sexual partners (>3) and etc., among the persons involved in the study. The following prevalence rates of STIs among the MSM population in Georgia during 2015-2019 were defined: for syphilis it appeared to be approximately 25.76%; for gonorrhea - 18.63%, and for chlamydia - 21.98%, respectively. The results of current study indicated that low-income levels and educational attainment are the key socioeconomic risk factors leading to high rates of STI prevalence among MSM. On the contrary, STI rates were inversely correlated with the level of education of the studied population. The odds ratio (OR) for syphilis between with the low and high incomes groups was 1.18 (p=0.023); for gonorrhea, the OR between the above stated groups s was 1.32 (p=0.001); for chlamydia OR was not significant - 0.89 (p=0.118). OR for syphilis between informed and uninformed about STI groups was 1.92 (p<0.001); the OR between the same groups was 2.24 (p<0.001), and in the case of chlamydia - 1.59 (p<0.001). Analysis of information obtained MSM from the selected sources over years showed that the contribution of the social and electronic media was decreased (50.5% to 38.1%, p<0.001) as well as the contribution of the social workers and/or non-governmental (LGBT community supporters) organizations (24,2% to 15.5%, p<0.001); that was mainly due to the acquisition of qualified information from medical workers (from 12.0% to 25.0%, p<0.001) and the high level of reliability of sexual partnership (from 13.2% to 21.1%, p<0.001). The OR for syphilis cases between the Rural/Urban groups was OR=1.60 (p=0.002); for gonorrhea, the OR between the same groups was 1.74 (p<0.001); and for chlamydiosis, the OR was 1.80 (p<0.001). Low-income levels and educational attainment are considered as main socio-economic risk-factors for high STI prevalence observed among the MSM. Healthcare workers and sexual partners are viewed as the main and reliable sources of sexual health information in MSM group. Although the obtained findings need further investigation and confirmation, preliminary results show that screening and prevention programs together with extensive dissemination of sexual health information may decrease prevalence of STI among MSM. And all are of great importance.