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Partnership preferences, economic drivers, and health consequences of Gambian men’s interactions with foreign tourists: A mixed methods study

The Gambia has a thriving tourist industry, but in recent decades has developed a reputation as a destination for older, female tourists to seek sexual relationships with young Gambian men. During partnerships or in return for sex, Gambian men may receive financial support or in some cases the oppor...

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Autores principales: Quaife, Matthew, Diallo, Mareme, Jaye, Assan, Martinez-Alvarez, Melisa
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10021562/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36962966
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0001115
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author Quaife, Matthew
Diallo, Mareme
Jaye, Assan
Martinez-Alvarez, Melisa
author_facet Quaife, Matthew
Diallo, Mareme
Jaye, Assan
Martinez-Alvarez, Melisa
author_sort Quaife, Matthew
collection PubMed
description The Gambia has a thriving tourist industry, but in recent decades has developed a reputation as a destination for older, female tourists to seek sexual relationships with young Gambian men. During partnerships or in return for sex, Gambian men may receive financial support or in some cases the opportunity to travel to Europe with a partner. There has been little previous research among these men on sexual risk behaviours, physical and mental health, and health service utilisation. This study describes the economic drivers and health implications of interactions between Gambian men and foreign tourists near tourist resorts in The Gambia. We conducted simultaneous mixed method data collection among Gambian men who regularly interact with tourists: a cross-sectional quantitative survey and discrete choice experiment (DCE) with 242 respondents, three focus group discussions, and 17 in-depth interviews. The survey asked questions on demographic characteristics, sexual history and health-seeking, the DCE elicited trade-offs between partnership characteristics, and qualitative data explored individual and group experiences in depth. We found that sexual activity between Gambian men and tourists was prevalent with 50% of the sample reporting ever having sex with a tourist. Condom use at last sex was significantly higher with tourist (63%) than with Gambian partners (40%, p<0.01). Condom use, money, and opportunity to travel to Europe were most important to respondents in the DCE. Qualitative data validated and explained quantitative findings, notably pressures to engage in unprotected sex and potential travel to Europe. Although men’s physical health needs were broadly met, mental health, substance use and sexual health needs were not. Young men working on the beaches of The Gambia face substantial health risks, including from STIs and mental health issues. The health system needs to understand barriers to existing health services, and how they can meet the needs of these vulnerable men.
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spelling pubmed-100215622023-03-17 Partnership preferences, economic drivers, and health consequences of Gambian men’s interactions with foreign tourists: A mixed methods study Quaife, Matthew Diallo, Mareme Jaye, Assan Martinez-Alvarez, Melisa PLOS Glob Public Health Research Article The Gambia has a thriving tourist industry, but in recent decades has developed a reputation as a destination for older, female tourists to seek sexual relationships with young Gambian men. During partnerships or in return for sex, Gambian men may receive financial support or in some cases the opportunity to travel to Europe with a partner. There has been little previous research among these men on sexual risk behaviours, physical and mental health, and health service utilisation. This study describes the economic drivers and health implications of interactions between Gambian men and foreign tourists near tourist resorts in The Gambia. We conducted simultaneous mixed method data collection among Gambian men who regularly interact with tourists: a cross-sectional quantitative survey and discrete choice experiment (DCE) with 242 respondents, three focus group discussions, and 17 in-depth interviews. The survey asked questions on demographic characteristics, sexual history and health-seeking, the DCE elicited trade-offs between partnership characteristics, and qualitative data explored individual and group experiences in depth. We found that sexual activity between Gambian men and tourists was prevalent with 50% of the sample reporting ever having sex with a tourist. Condom use at last sex was significantly higher with tourist (63%) than with Gambian partners (40%, p<0.01). Condom use, money, and opportunity to travel to Europe were most important to respondents in the DCE. Qualitative data validated and explained quantitative findings, notably pressures to engage in unprotected sex and potential travel to Europe. Although men’s physical health needs were broadly met, mental health, substance use and sexual health needs were not. Young men working on the beaches of The Gambia face substantial health risks, including from STIs and mental health issues. The health system needs to understand barriers to existing health services, and how they can meet the needs of these vulnerable men. Public Library of Science 2023-02-28 /pmc/articles/PMC10021562/ /pubmed/36962966 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0001115 Text en © 2023 Quaife et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Quaife, Matthew
Diallo, Mareme
Jaye, Assan
Martinez-Alvarez, Melisa
Partnership preferences, economic drivers, and health consequences of Gambian men’s interactions with foreign tourists: A mixed methods study
title Partnership preferences, economic drivers, and health consequences of Gambian men’s interactions with foreign tourists: A mixed methods study
title_full Partnership preferences, economic drivers, and health consequences of Gambian men’s interactions with foreign tourists: A mixed methods study
title_fullStr Partnership preferences, economic drivers, and health consequences of Gambian men’s interactions with foreign tourists: A mixed methods study
title_full_unstemmed Partnership preferences, economic drivers, and health consequences of Gambian men’s interactions with foreign tourists: A mixed methods study
title_short Partnership preferences, economic drivers, and health consequences of Gambian men’s interactions with foreign tourists: A mixed methods study
title_sort partnership preferences, economic drivers, and health consequences of gambian men’s interactions with foreign tourists: a mixed methods study
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10021562/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36962966
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0001115
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