SynthesisGlobal public health
Towards 'reflexive epidemiology': Conflation of cisgender male and transgender women sex workers and implications for global understandings of HIV prevalence.
Synthesis in Global public health. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
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Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- HIV prevalence in transgender women and cisgender men who have sex with men in sub-Saharan Africa.AIDS (London, England) · 2026Pooled it
- Associations between sex work laws and sex workers' health: A systematic review and meta-analysis of quantitative and qualitative studies.PLoS medicine · 2018Pooled it
- Developing Guidelines for Conducting Stigma Research With Transgender and Nonbinary Individuals: Protocol for Creation of a Trauma-Informed Approach to Research.JMIR research protocols · 2025Article
- Sexual and gender minority health in the Middle East and North Africa Region: A scoping review.International journal of nursing studies advances · 2022Article
- Prevalence and correlates of substance use and associations with HIV-related outcomes among trans women in the San Francisco Bay Area.BMC infectious diseases · 2022Article
- Ethical HIV research with transgender and non-binary communities in the United States.Journal of the International AIDS Society · 2022Review
- Associations of gender identity with sexual behaviours, social stigma and sexually transmitted infections among adults who have sex with men in Abuja and Lagos, Nigeria.Journal of the International AIDS Society · 2022Article
- A qualitative study of how stigma influences HIV services for transgender men and women in Nigeria.Journal of the International AIDS Society · 2022Article
- Factors associated with testing for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections in men who have sex with men and transgender women in Bangkok, Thailand.AIDS research and therapy · 2022Article
- A focused multi-state model to estimate the pediatric and adolescent HIV epidemic in Thailand, 2005-2025.PloS one · 2022Article
- Global scoping review of HIV prevention research with transgender people: Transcending from trans-subsumed to trans-centred research.Journal of the International AIDS Society · 2021Article
- Inclusion as illusion: erasing transgender women in research with MSM.Journal of the International AIDS Society · 2021Article
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- Categorical dilemmas: challenges for HIV prevention among men who have sex with men and transgender women in Vietnam.Culture, health & sexuality · 2020Article
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- Article
- Sexual behavior stigma and depression among transgender women and cisgender men who have sex with men in Côte d'Ivoire.Annals of epidemiology · 2019Article
- Optimizing HIV prevention and care for transgender adults.AIDS (London, England) · 2019Review
- Sensitive Health Topics With Underserved Patient Populations: Methodological Considerations for Online Focus Group Discussions.Qualitative health research · 2018Article
- Exploring the Mother-Adolescent Relationship as a Promotive Resource for Sexual and Gender Minority Youth.The Journal of social issues · 2017Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
The HIV epidemic has had a widespread impact on global scientific and cultural discourses related to gender, sexuality, and identity. 'Male sex workers' have been identified as a 'key population' in the global HIV epidemic; however, there are methodological and conceptual challenges for defining inclusion and exclusion of transgender women within this group. To assess these potential implications, this study employs self-critique and reflection to grapple with the empiric and conceptual implications of shifting understandings of sexuality and gender within the externally re-created etic category of 'MSM' and 'transgender women' in epidemiologic HIV research. We conducted a sensitivity analysis of our previously published meta-analysis which aimed to identify the scope of peer-reviewed articles assessing HIV prevalence among male sex workers globally between 2004 and 2013. The inclusion of four studies previously excluded due to non-differentiation of cisgender male from transgender women participants (studies from Spain, Thailand, India, and Brazil: 421 total participants) increased the overall estimate of global HIV prevalence among 'men' who engage in sex work from 10.5% (95% CI 9.4-11.5%) to 10.8% (95% CI 9.8-11.8%). The combination of social science critique with empiric epidemiologic analysis represents a first step in defining and operationalising 'reflexive epidemiology'. Grounded in the context of sex work and HIV prevention, this paper highlights the multiplicity of genders and sexualities across a range of social and cultural settings, limitations of existing categories (i.e. 'MSM', 'transgender'), and their global implications for epidemiologic estimates of HIV prevalence.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.