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Networking Activities and Perceptions of HIV Risk Among Male Migrant Market Vendors in China

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An Erratum to this article was published on 13 February 2014

Abstract

HIV research among internal migrants in China has not fully explored the contexts and perceptions of “risk”. In 2011, urban markets in Liuzhou, China were mapped, and sixty male vendors, age 22–56, were selected for in-depth interviews on migration, social and family life, and perceptions and practices of sexual risk behavior. Participants were evenly divided among higher income shop and small stall vendors. All men were sexually active. Only the shop vendors reported non-marital sexual partners, including concurrent partners (n = 15), commercial partners (n = 10), and other sexual relationships (n = 11). Shop vendors engaged in networking activities that facilitated commercial and non-commercial high-risk sex. Perceptions of HIV risk from commercial sex led some men to doubt the protective ability of condoms and rely on local (unproven) self-protection techniques. Networking activities played a role in high-risk sex and shaping migrants’ risk perceptions and health practices. The networks created through these processes could also be used to facilitate health promotion activities.

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Acknowledgments

This research was awarded by “Partnership for Social Science Research on HIV/AIDS in China”, which was funded by NIH Grant #R24 HD056670, and supported by the UNC Center for AIDS research (NIH Grant # P30 AI50410). Kathryn E. Muessig is supported by an NIH institutional training grant (5T32AI007001-35). The authors wish to thank Gail Henderson, Suzanne Maman, Suiming Pan, Yingying Huang, Malena Rousseau, and two anonymous reviewers for their assistance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Social Work, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, China

    Wenqing Wang

  2. School of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 130 Mason Farm Road, Bioinformatics Building, CB#7030, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA

    Kathryn E. Muessig

  3. Liuzhou Center for Disease Prevention and Control, Liuzhou, China

    Mingqiang Li & Yingxia Zhang

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  1. Wenqing Wang
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Correspondence to Kathryn E. Muessig.

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Wang, W., Muessig, K.E., Li, M. et al. Networking Activities and Perceptions of HIV Risk Among Male Migrant Market Vendors in China. AIDS Behav 18 (Suppl 2), 142–151 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-013-0473-5

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