Sexual practices of people living with HIV/AIDS attending school of tropical medicine, Kolkata

• Main Authors: Pranita Taraphdar, Aparajita Dasgupta, Bibhuti Saha
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications 2012-01-01
• Series: Indian Journal of Public Health
• Subjects: Condom use; People living with HIV/AIDS; sexual practices
• Online Access: http://www.ijph.in/article.asp?issn=0019-557X;year=2012;volume=56;issue=3;spage=231;epage=234;aulast=Taraphdar

A hospital-based, cross-sectional, observational study of People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHAs) attending the School of Tropical Medicine (STM), Kolkata was carried out for a period of 6 months from May 2006 to October 2006, to assess the sexual practices of PLWHAs. Past sexual practice of PLWHAs revealed that 93.4% males were polygamous, compared to 16.4% females. Of them, 45.7% males and 92.8% females reported sex with a nonregular sex partner (NRSP) in 1 year. Consistent condom use was low in both sexes. Current sexual practice showed that more than four-fifth (87.9%) of the new patients and two-thirds (68.9%) of the indoor patients were currently sexually active in 1 month recall period (P=3.79, Z=0.0000). However, consistent condom use was found only in 35.5% indoor patients and 15.5% of new patients and the difference was statistically significant.