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HIV-related Sexual Risk Taking Among HIV-negative Men Who Have Sex with Men in Zagreb, Croatia

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Abstract

Croatia has a low-level HIV epidemic and, as in a number of other Central and Southeastern European countries, sex between men accounts for most HIV infections. This study examines sexual behavior and the correlates of condom use in a snowball sample of 342 HIV non-infected men who have sex with men (MSM) in Zagreb. The median age of participants in the sample was 27 years. The majority of participants (81%) reported using condom at last anal sex with casual partner and 56% claimed to have used condoms consistently at anal sex with casual partners in the last 12 months. HIV risk self-assessment and number of sexual partners were significantly correlated with condom use at last anal sex with casual partner. Self-assessed HIV-risk and heterosexual activity were found associated with consistent condom use at anal sex with casual partners. To sustain a low-level HIV epidemic, targeted intervention among young MSM is needed in Croatia.

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Acknowledgments

The study was supported by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria national Grant No.: HRV-202-G01-H-00. The authors would like to thank the Center for Sexual and Gender Minorities’ Rights Iskorak, HIV counselors working for the Croatian Association for HIV (HUHIV), laboratory personnel from the AIDS Referral Center at the University Hospital for Infectious Diseases, Zagreb, Branko Kolarić, and Lisa G. Johnston.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, Ivana Lucica 3, Zagreb, 10000, Croatia

    Aleksandar Štulhofer & Valerio Baćak

  2. ‘‘Andrija Štampar” School of Public Health, Medical School, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia

    Ivana Božičević

  3. University Hospital for Infectious Diseases “Dr. Fran Mihaljević’’, Zagreb, Croatia

    Josip Begovac

Authors
  1. Aleksandar Štulhofer
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  2. Valerio Baćak
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  3. Ivana Božičević
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  4. Josip Begovac
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Correspondence to Aleksandar Štulhofer.

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Štulhofer, A., Baćak, V., Božičević, I. et al. HIV-related Sexual Risk Taking Among HIV-negative Men Who Have Sex with Men in Zagreb, Croatia. AIDS Behav 12, 505–512 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-007-9327-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-007-9327-3

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