Sexual Behaviour of Maasai Domestic Security Guards in Nairobi, Kenya

Today young Maasai men in Kenya earn a living as security guards, drivers, traders or entertainers in high HIV-prevalence urban centres and coastal areas. A number of young Maasai men migrate to urban areas to seek unskilled jobs as domestic security guards. Migration has been identified as an independent individual risk factor for the acquisition of HIV in a wide range of settings. Some of the men return home and continue with customs such as marrying several wives and engaging in sex with wives and girlfriends, which may put the community at a higher risk of contracting or transmitting STIs and HIV than in the past, if the men are contracting these infections in the cities. This is a report of a study that looked at the relationship between the sexual practices of Maasai domestic security men and their knowledge and beliefs of sexual risk taking.