Seroadaptive behaviours have not been shown to be effective in decreasing HIV transmission. But the fact that Yangon men who have sex with men engage in them means they are at least aware of HIV risk. It would be interesting to know whether similar responses take place in Bangkok, Jakarta, or Manila.

Jamie

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AIDS Behav. 2015 Oct 7. [Epub ahead of print]
Seroadaptive Behaviors of Men Who Have Sex with Men in Myanmar.
Aung T1, Thein ST1, McFarland W2,3.

Abstract

Serosorting (i.e., choosing partners of the same HIV serostatus to reduce the risk of transmission with unprotected sex) and other forms of seroadaptation (i.e., engaging in diverse behaviors according to a hierarchy of risk by type of sex and partner serostatus) are phenomena widely described for men who have sex with men (MSM) in the developed world. We assessed seroadaptive behaviors among MSM surveyed in Yangon, Myanmar in 2013-2014. Among HIV-negative MSM, 43.1 % engaged in some form seroadaptation including serosorting (21.8 %), using condoms with potentially serodiscordant anal sex (19.3 %), and seropositioning (1.7 %). Among HIV-positive MSM, 3.5 % engaged in serosorting, 36.0 % in using condoms with potentially serodiscordant anal sex, 7.0 % in seropositioning, and 46.5 % in any form of seroadaptation. For HIV-negative and HIV-positive MSM, seroadaptation was more common than consistent condom use (38.0 and 26.7 %, respectively). MSM in Myanmar are engaging in seroadaptive behaviors in magnitude and ways similar to MSM in industrialized countries.

Asia; HIV; Men who have sex with men; Myanmar; Serosorting

See link: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26446976?dopt=Abstract