Ethical considerations
The study protocol was approved by the national ethics committees of Burkina Faso (N°2015-3-037), Côte d’Ivoire (N°021/MSLS/CNER-dkn), Mali (N°2015/32/CE/FMPOS), and Togo (N°008/2016/MSPSCAB/SG/DPML/CBRS), and the institutional ethics committee of the French Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (08/07/2015). All participants provided written informed consent.
Consent for publication
Not applicable.
Competing interests
The authors declare that they have no competing interests
Acknowledgements
We thank all the participants involved in this study.We also thank Jude Sweeney (Milan, Italy) for the English revision and editing of the manuscript.
Funding
This study was supported by the ANRS (France Recherche Nord & Sud Sida-hiv Hépatites; ANRS 12324) and Expertise France (Initiative 5%). TTE Dah is the recipient of a doctoral fellowship from ANRS (12324-B99).
Availability of data and materials
Due to French law there are restrictions on publicly sharing the data of this study. French law requires that everyone who wishes to access cohort data or clinical study data on humans must make a request to the French Data Protection Authority (Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertés - CNIL), by filling in a form which can be provided by Christian Laurent at the IRD ([email protected]). For further information, please see: https://www.cnil.fr/.
Authors’ contributions
TTED coordinated the study in Burkina Faso, analysed the data, and wrote the first draft of the manuscript. IY contributed to data collection and analysis. LST contributed to data analysis. AC, MJBK, MKA, KM, IT, MM, and FD contributed to data collection. PP and DRC contributed to study implementation. EM coordinated the study in Togo. CA coordinated the study in Côte d’Ivoire. BDK coordinated the study in Mali and was the co-principal investigator of the study. BS coordinated the social science component. CL was the co-principal investigator of the study, and supervised the analysis and interpretation of the data and the writing of the manuscript. All authors reviewed the manuscript
CohMSM Study Group
Christian Laurent, Issifou Yaya, Sayouba Ouedraogo, Bruno Granouillac, Laetitia Serrano, Martine Peeters, Clotilde Couderc (IRD, INSERM, Univ Montpellier, TransVIHMI, Montpellier, France); Bruno Spire, Luis Sagaon-Teyssier, Marion Mora, Gwenaëlle Maradan, Michel Bourrelly, Pierre-Julien Coulaud, Cyril Berenger (INSERM, IRD, Univ Aix-Marseille, SESSTIM, Marseille, France); Daniela Rojas Castro, Adeline Bernier, Paméla Palvadeau (Coalition Internationale Sida, Pantin, France); Bintou Dembélé Keita, Fodié Diallo, Alou Coulibaly, Kader Maïga, Drissa Camara, Mahamadou Diarra, Aly Ouologuem, Abdoul Aziz Keita, Oumar Cissé, Fodé Traoré, Bréhima Abdrahamane Ouary, Ibrahima Kanta (ARCAD-SIDA, Bamako, Mali); Camille Anoma, Malan Jean-Baptiste Kouame, Rachelle Kotchi, Niamkey Thomas Aka, Kpassou Julien Lokrou, Noufo Hamed Coulibaly, Jean Armel Ekessi Koffi, Frédéric Dibi N’guessan, Stéphane-Alain Babo Yoro, Adama Cissé (Espace Confiance, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire); Ter Tiero Elias Dah, Issa Traoré, Camille Rajaonarivelo, Juste Rodrigue Touré, Joseph Ouedraogo, Christian Coulibaly, Mamadou Ouedraogo, Elisabeth Thio, Ousseni Ilboudo, Abdoulazziz Traoré, Honoré Comsiambo (Association African Solidarité, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso); Ephrem Mensah, Richard Mawuényégan Kouamivi Agboyibor, Anani Attisso, Anouwarsadat Kokouba, Aléda Mawuli Badjassim, Kouakou Kokouvi Selom Agbomadji, Messan Attiogbe, Kossi Jeff Yaka, Agbégnigan Lorette Ekon, Julien Bimba (Espoir Vie Togo, Lomé, Togo); Claver Anoumou Yaotsè Dagnra (BIOLIM, Univ Lomé, Lomé, Togo).