Pattern of Sexual Practices Amongst Men Who Have Sex with Men and Awareness About HIV/AIDS in Meerut

Background: Men who have Sex with Men (MSM) are a vulnerable population and need special attention in the fight against the global pandemic of HIV/AIDS. The term MSM was created in the 1990s by epidemiologists in order to study the spread of disease among men who have sex with men, regardless of identity. Proper IEC to promote condom use and promotion of safe sexual practice among MSM is the need of the hour. Material and Method: A descriptive, cross sectional study was conducted among 200 MSM of Meerut. The study period was four months from July 2012 to October 2012. They were interviewed using a pre-designed semi structured questionnaire , the different variables under study included sociodemographic characteristics like age, literacy status, occupation, marital status, social class and different aspects of knowledge regarding HIV/AIDS . All the clients were interviewed after taking oral consent and on the basis of anonymity. The data was analysed by proportion and percentage.

Results: In the study, most MSM were being in the age group 15 to 30 years. The literacy status was varied with 121 ( 60.5%) being illiterate while 37(18.5.%) were educated up to higher secondary and above. 132 (66.00%) MSM were married, and belonged to various occupations. majority 50 (25%) of clients were students. Most of respondents were from lower class 108 (54.00%) and middle class 67 (33.5%). Majority i.e. 125 (62.5%) of the MSM were feminized males and practicing receptive anal sex. Panthis 20 (10.00%) who considered themselves real males and practiced insertive anal sex and Eunuche 55 (27.5%) who traditionally called Hizras. The most common sexual act was anal sex .The use of condom was very poor with only 20 (10.00%). The use of lubricants was also very poor with only 05 (02.5.%). 70 (35.00%) MSM had many venereal diseases. The knowledge of MSM about the unnatural sexual offences was in only 15 (7.5%). Few MSM knew that unnatural sexual offences is a crime under section 377 IPC

Conclusion: MSM includes self-identified gay men, primarily among the urban, English speaking elite and middle classes. Males are often easier to access for sex and than female sex workers .It was quiet distressing to find that 25% of these MSM were students-who were young people who had a productive life and career to fulfill. Getting exposed to HIV/AIDS thus meant a great loss of the most productive population of the country. Many of these men were married and served as the bridge population in the transmission of different sexually transmitted diseases including the HIV epidemic. We conclude, that time has come to address the needs of this highly vulnerable group. Proper IEC to promote condom use and promotion of safe sexual practice among MSM is the need of the hour.