Uncontrolled program evaluations have reported promising approaches to bar-based structural interventions with gay men and female sex workers. Few interventions have sought to alter the structural and physical environments of drinking places for HIV prevention. gay bars, but these effects have not generalized to gay bars elsewhere or to other populations. Specifically, venue-based social influence models have reduced community-level risk in U.S. Interventions designed to reduce HIV risk by altering the social interactions within drinking environments have demonstrated mixed results. This paper reviews HIV prevention interventions conducted in bars, taverns, and informal drinking venues. People meet new sex partners at bars and other places where alcohol is served, and drinking venues facilitate STI transmission through sexual relationships within closely knit sexual networks. Alcohol use is associated with risks for sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV/AIDS.
