THE RIO-DE-JANEIRO HIV VACCINE SITE .1. RECRUITMENT STRATEGIES AND SOCIODEMOGRAPHIC DATA OF A HIV-NEGATIVE HOMOSEXUAL AND BISEXUAL MALE COHORT IN RIO-DE-JANEIRO, BRAZIL

The initial effort of the Brazilian Ministry of Health to be an active partner in the world effort in the preparation of future accurate hum an immune deficiency virus (HIV) efficacy trials was the establishment of a multi-centered cohort of homosexual and bisexual men. An open co hort was established td determine the HIV incidence and the socio-beha vioral aspects involved in Rio de Janeiro. A total of 318 potential pa rticipants, originated from multiple sources (health units, public inf ormation, snowball recruitment), were screened and recruitment became effective through the direct involvement of target communities (with t he support of Non Governmental Organizations) and the population. Amon g this group, seropositivity for sexually transmitted diseases was hig h with 23, 32 and 46% for HN, syphilis and hepatitis B, respectively. The socio-demographic data from the first 200 participants of this HIV negative cohort suggests that the cohort volunteers are an appropriat e sample of the general male population of the State of Rio de Janeiro .