“Manejar la Situacion”: Partner Notification, Partner Management, and Conceptual Frameworks for HIV/STI Control Among MSM in Peru

Previous analyses of partner notification (PN) have addressed individual, interpersonal, social, and structural issues influencing PN outcomes but have paid less attention to the conceptual framework of PN itself. We conducted 18 individual interviews and 8 group discussions, in a two-stage qualitative research process, to explore the meanings and contexts of PN for sexually transmitted infections (STI) among men who have sex with men (MSM) and men who have sex with men and women (MSMW) in Lima, Peru. Participants described PN as the open disclosure of private, potentially stigmatizing information that could strengthen or disrupt a partnership, structured by the tension between concealment and revelation. In addition to informing partners of an STI diagnosis, the act of PN was believed to reveal other potentially stigmatizing information related to sexual identity and practices such as homosexuality, promiscuity, and HIV co-infection. In this context, the potential development of visible, biological STI symptoms represented a risk for disruption of the boundary between secrecy and disclosure that could result in involuntary disclosure of STI status. To address the conflict between concealment and disclosure, participants cited efforts to “manejar la situacion” (manage the situation) by controlling the biological risks of STI exposure without openly disclosing STI status. We use this concept of “managing the situation” as a practical and theoretical framework for comprehensive Partner Management for HIV/STI control systems among MSM in Latin America.