Author(s)

Hermione Dahlia Mossoro-Kpinde¹, Balekouzou Augustin², Paola Julienne Demba³, Henri Saint Calvaire Diemer⁴

¹Direction de la Médecine du Travail, Ministère du Travail de l’Emploi de la Protection Sociale et de la Formation Professionnelle, Ban-gui, République Centrafricaine.
²Comité National de Lutte contre le Sida, Bangui, République Centrafricaine.
³Faculté des Sciences de la Santé, Université de Bangui, Bangui, République Centrafricaine.
⁴Département de Santé Publique, Faculté des Sciences de la Santé, Université de Bangui, Bangui, République Centrafricaine.

Objectives: Sex work is not well documented among African men. The aim of this study was to describe the epidemiological profile of men who have sex with men (MSM) and eventually to determine the proportion of sex workers (SW) among them, as well as the proportion of MSM who have been victims of gender-based violence (GBV). Material and Methods: A cross-sectional study coordinated by the Direction de la Médecine du Travail was carried out at the headquarters of the association ALTERNATIVES in Bangui Bangui from July 1 to October 31, 2021. Consenting MSM present during the study period were systematically included. Sociodemographic variables, those relating to the future vision of the activity and to GBV were collected and analyzed using Epi-Info version 7 software. Results: Forty MSM with an average age of 23 years and mainly secondary education (75.0%) were included. The vast majority of MSM were unemployed (85.0%). 45.0% had been victims of GBV and wanted to stop working as an MSM (47.5%), and almost 2/3 (65.0%) would accept another income-generating activity in exchange for the MSM. Violence was sexual (32.5%), economic (22.5%), physical (20.0%), verbal (12.5%) and psychological (12.5%). Conclusion: The MSM were mainly young, poorly educated, unemployed, and almost half were victims of GBV. The desire to change MSM activity to another income-generating activity alongside that of MSM shows that many of them are SW, workers in the informal sector. This must be taken into account in prevention activities, even if the data needs to be confirmed on a much larger sample.

Men Who Have Sex with Men, Sex Workers, Gender-Based Violence, Informal Sector, Central Africa

Mossoro-Kpinde, H. , Augustin, B. , Demba, P. and Diemer, H. (2024) Epidemiological Profile of Men Who Have Sex with Men: First Data about Male Sex Workers in Central African Republic (CAR). Advances in Sexual Medicine, 14, 1-11. doi: 10.4236/asm.2024.141001.