Metrics details. Men who have sex with men MSM and transgender women in Sub-Saharan Africa are subjected to high levels of sexual behavior-related stigma, which may affect mental health and sexual risk behaviors.
MSM and transgender women who are open about, or have disclosed their sexual behaviors appear to be most affected by stigma. Characterizing the mechanism of action of stigma in potentiating HIV-risks among these key populations is important to support the development of interventions. In this study, a total of individuals were recruited across Eswatini Swaziland through chain-referral-sampling from October β December , including cisgender MSM and transgender women.
Participants were surveyed about demographics, stigma, outness of same-sex practices to family members and healthcare workers, and mental and sexual health. Sexual behavior stigma at a community level is associated with individual-level risk behaviors among MSM and transgender women, and these associations vary by level of outness about sexual practices.
Achieving sufficient coverage of evidence-based stigma interventions may be key to realizing the potential impact of HIV prevention and treatment interventions for MSM and transgender women in Eswatini.
Peer Review reports. Encouragingly, in Eswatini and other countries with a generalized HIV epidemic, there has been a decrease in HIV incidence in recent years due to a coordinated response and increase in HIV prevention program coverage including antiretroviral therapy and prevention of mother-to-child transmission [ 2 , 3 ].
