Heterosexual Transmission of HIV in China: A Systematic Review of Behavioral Studies in the Past Two Decades

The investigators' objective was to address the role of heterosexual transmission of HIV in China, with the goal of exploring the prevalence of unsafe sex and the likelihood of HIV spreading heterosexually beyond core populations.

Through a review of behavioral studies, the researchers found that drug users were more likely to be involved in higher-risk sexual behaviors than those who do not use drugs. Most female drug users (52-98 percent) reported having engaged in commercial sex. Most female sex workers (FSWs) and individuals with STDs had concurrent sex partners, the authors found, and many continued having unprotected sex after noticing STD symptoms in themselves or their sexual partners. From 5-26 percent of rural-to-urban migrants had multiple sex partners, and 10 percent of males patronized FSWs during migration.

"Factors such as high rates of FSW patronage, low rates of condom use during commercial sex, having sex with both commercial and noncommercial sexual partners, and high rates of STD infection may promote a heterosexual epidemic in China," the authors concluded.

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