Men Having Sex With Men

This group accounted for 70-80% of all AIDS cases in North America, Western Europe and Australia in the 1980s. Before 1995, MSMs comprised a half of all HIV-infected people in Russia. The size of this population group has been a subject to many debates. Mass media often account MSMs for 7-10% of the male population. According to some estimates, their number in Russia is between 2% and 5%, or between 1,350,000 and 3,400,000 men. The FRMC AIDS experts usually operate with estimated 2.7 mln men (4% of male population).

A few studies of HIV prevalence in this group have been made so far in Russia. From 1987 through 2002, HIV were detected in 837 MSMs. Low levels of HIV prevalence have been registered each year in this group. According to official record for 2002, 0.4% of the tested MSMs is HIV-positive. This allows to estimate the number of HIV-infected MSMs can be, at least, at 10,800. Since researchers’ access to the group remains difficult, a non-representative part of it can be tested. 

Widespread bisexuality among MSMs is a specific feature of Russia. According to some data, between 72% and 78% of MSMs in Russia have regular sex contacts with the women to whom they are legally married. HIV may spread in such a way into the heterosexual part of the population, although opportunities of disease prevention in this group are known well enough.