HIV Prevalence and Factors Related to HIV Infection Among Transgender Women in Vietnam: A Respondent Driven Sampling Approach.

Transgender women are at higher risk of HIV infection, however, there is a lack of information about HIV infection and related factors among transgender women in Vietnam. From February 2018 to June 2018, 456 transgender women were recruited in the study using Respondent-Driven Sampling technique. Participants completed the computer-based questionnaire and were tested for HIV serostatus. Multivariable logistic regression was used to identify factors related to HIV infection. The prevalence of HIV infection was 77 (16.5%), of which 19 (24.7%) were not aware of their HIV-positive status prior to the study. Factors associated with HIV infection included popper use (aOR 2.01, p = 0.044) and having regular male partner(s) (aOR 0.42, p = 0.006). More efforts are needed to reduce the high prevalence of HIV infection, such as expanding the reach of HIV screening and prevention programs to the transgender women population, particularly for substance users.