RISK FACTORS FOR SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASE AND HIV/AIDS TOWARDS MALES SEX MALES IN GORONTALO CITY

Abstract

Sexually transmitted diseases (henceforth called STD) are infections that are passed through sexual contact, i.e., vaginal, anal, and oral intercourse. The purpose of this research is to analyze contributing factors of the transmission of HIV/AIDS in the behavior of males sex males.

This observational analytic research employed the cross-sectional study approach. It involved 148 males who have sex with males; 30 of them were selected as the sample. The data were analyzed by using Kolmogorov Smirnov and Fisher Exact method.

A number of studies focusing on males who have sex with males in areas with a low number of HIV case, i.e., in Gorontalo, are limited; most research examines the risk of STD or HIV/AIDS in a prostitution case. The result shows that maintaining reproductive organs by males sex males does not significantly influence the risk of being infected with STD and HIV/AIDS (P=0.586). This is different from the variable of sexual behavior and understanding of the risk of the transmission of the disease. Such factors significantly contribute to the risk of STD with the p-value p=0.005 and P=0.007 respectively.