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Alcohol and Sexual Risk Behaviors Among Male Central Asian Labor Migrants and Non-migrants in Kazakhstan: Implications for HIV Prevention

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Abstract

This paper examines the association between alcohol consumption and sexual risk behaviors (unprotected sex, multiple sex partners, sex under influence of drugs or alcohol and commercial sex) in a sample of Central Asian migrant and non-migrant laborers in the largest marketplace in Kazakhstan. We used data from The Silk Road Health Project, conducted from 2010 to 2013 with 1342 male migrant and non-migrant market workers. Participants were selected through respondent driven sampling at the Baraholka Market in Almaty, Kazakhstan. We used regression analyses adjusting for potential confounders to examine the relationship between alcohol consumption and sexual risk behavior. We found that hazardous drinking was associated with an increase in the odds of sex under the influence of drugs (aOR = 6.09, 95% CI 3.48, 10.65; p < .001) and purchasing commercial sex (aOR = 2.02, 95% CI 1.02, 4.02; p < .05). We identified potential targets for HIV interventions to reduce sexual risk behaviors among this key population.

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Funding

The study was funded by a grant from NIMH to Dr. El-Bassel. R01 NMH082684. Phillip L. Marotta received support from the National Institute on Drug Abuse Grant #: 1T32DA037801-01 PI: N. El-Bassel.

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  1. School of Social Work, Columbia University, 1255 Amsterdam Avenue, Room 814, New York, USA

    Nabila El-Bassel & Phillip L. Marotta

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  1. Nabila El-Bassel
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Correspondence to Nabila El-Bassel.

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Research involved human participants and all procedures were approved by Columbia University Institutional Review Board.

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Informed consent was obtained from all participants prior to participation in the study.

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El-Bassel, N., Marotta, P.L. Alcohol and Sexual Risk Behaviors Among Male Central Asian Labor Migrants and Non-migrants in Kazakhstan: Implications for HIV Prevention. AIDS Behav 21 (Suppl 2), 183–192 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-017-1918-z

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