Sex tourist risk behaviour--an on-site survey among Swedish men buying sex in Thailand.
BACKGROUND
Thailand is not only a popular destination for Swedish tourists, it is also the foreign country where the largest numbers of Swedish males contract HIV. This study investigated sexual risk-behaviour of Swedish men who have sex with commercial sex workers (CSW) in Thailand.


METHOD
Eligible men were approached on location in red-light districts of Pattaya and Bangkok with a self-administered multiple-choice questionnaire in December 2010. The data collected was analysed using SPSS version 18 generating cross-tabs, independent sample t-test, univariate and multivariate logistic regression.


RESULTS
In total, 158 questionnaires were included in the analyses. The results indicated that 63% of the study sample had lifetime experience of sexual intercourse with CSWs, while 48% of the respondents indicated that they were likely to pay for sex during their present trip. 71% of the lifetime sex-buyers reported consistent use of condoms in the past. Out of the men that were planning to have sex with a CSW in the near future, 80% reported that they would use condoms consistently. While most of these men always use, and plan on always using a condom when having sex with a CSW, some do so inconsistently or not at all. The study found that those reporting inconsistent condom use when engaging in sexual intercourse with Thai CSWs assessed the risk of becoming infected with HIV to be significantly lower than those who used condoms consistently (p < 0.005).


CONCLUSIONS
Inconsistent condom use by Swedish male tourists to Thailand when having sex with CSWs puts them at risk of contracting HIV and other STIs, and seems to be associated with a lower assessment of the risk of becoming infected with HIV.
['Manieri|Marco|M|', 'Svensson|Hampus|H|', 'Stafström|Martin|M|']
D000328:Adult D017280:Condoms D015658:HIV Infections D006801:Humans D008297:Male D008875:Middle Aged D018570:Risk Assessment D012309:Risk-Taking D060386:Sex Workers D012725:Sexual Behavior D012749:Sexually Transmitted Diseases D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires D013548:Sweden D013785:Thailand D014195:Travel
men Thailand HIV sexual risk-behaviour Commercial sex worker condom use STI Sweden prostitution travel