Despite increasing awareness of the role men who have sex with men (MSM) can play in the dynamics of HIV transmission in Africa, research on MSM in Kenya has been limited. In response to this gap, researchers from the Institute of African Studies at the University of Nairobi and the Horizons and FRONTIERS programs of the Population Council undertook a study of MSM in Nairobi. The overall goals of the study were to understand the extent to which MSM are at risk of HIV and other STIs, identify the factors associated with risk behaviors, and identify MSM sexual health needs in order to develop appropriate interventions. The ease with which this study recruited 500 men through snowball sampling suggests that the population of Kenyan MSM living in Nairobi is larger than is commonly believed. This situation, combined with the existence of risk behaviors, such as unprotected sex, among the study sample may have implications for the development of localized STI and HIV epidemics. The report recommends urgently needed interventions targeted to this population
