/ 22 January 2004

Honesty or optimism?

Estimated worldwide HIV infections: 55 668 899 at 12:35pm on Thursday January 22 2004.

The second most common strategy (after condoms) used by HIV-negative gay men in the United Kingdom to avoid HIV-infection appears to be to trust that prospective partners who are HIV-positive will invariably disclose their status — and then reward their honesty by refusing to have sex with them.

This is one of the less encouraging findings of the 2002 Gay Men’s Sex Survey Out and About, compiled from questionnaires and online survey responses from 16 871 gay men in the UK during 2002, processed during 2003, and published in December.

Of the participants whose most recent HIV-test was negative, two-thirds (65,3%) said they would expect an HIV-positive man to disclose his status before having sex. Even more men who had never tested for HIV had the same expectation (77%). In contrast only just over a third of HIV-positive men expected that a partner would disclose their HIV status.

Source: Aidsmap