BMC Public Health 2008, 8:180 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/8/180 As usual in Switzerland, notifying partners is primarily seen as the responsibility of the newly diagnosed HIV/STI positive patient. However, partner notification is recom- mended to positive men during counselling and they are offered psychological support with this step. In this study, we report first experiences with the new clinic and describe the clinic's performance and the char- acteristics of the population that utilized it. We provide details and outcomes of the services that were provided as well as clients' self-reported sexual behaviour, previous risk behaviour and rationales for seeking testing. Methods The clinic started its activities in June 2006. Individuals that presented for counselling, testing or treatment were asked to complete a survey at their first visit. The survey was administered prior to the consultation while waiting to be called in. Clients were asked to complete the anony- mous survey as a basis for their consultation and provided informed consent. Counsellors used survey responses as a starting point for discussing the client's situation and needs, but the written survey sheet used for data analysis was completely anonymous. Re-attending clients with repeat visits within the same episode, e.g., due to treat- ment, were identified using a code number and com- pleted the survey only once at their initial visit. Re- attending clients with different episodes during the obser- vation period – if any – could not be identified but were treated as individual cases in case they completed the sur- vey more than once. Ethical approval was not necessary for this study. The questionnaire instrument includes questions regarding personal data, reasons for presenting, sexual behaviour, and risk situations. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the main characteristics of the sam- ple and to examine associations between selected varia- bles. Comparisons were made using chi-square tests. A p- value of less than 0.05 was considered significant. All analyses were performed using STATA 10 software [25]. Results Overall performance During the evaluation period in the first 6 months of Checkpoint Zurich (12.6.2006–31.12.2006), the outpa- tient clinic was open for a total of 228 hours. In this period, 632 consultations took place and 247 patients were seen at least once by the physician. Counselling without testing was offered in 369 consultations. The vast majority of clients dropped in for a test, check or counsel- ling and only very few consultations were fixed in advance. In the evaluation period, 241 HIV rapid tests and 165 HIV regular tests were performed. All positive rapid tests were confirmed with a regular p24AG/Ab test and a Western Blot. 14 HIV test were confirmed positive (3.4% of all tests). No false positive rapid test occurred. 184 tests for syphilis were performed with 7 positive results (3.8%) that were referred to treatment. 41 patients obtained ther- apy for Gonorrhoea or Chlamydia after being tested posi- tive (234 tests, 18% positive). Patients with Gonorrhoea or Chlamydia showed different sites of positive testing. Urethral swabs were more often performed than rectal or pharyngeal ones. Alternatively to urethral swabs, Chlamy- dia and Gonorrhoea were also tested by urinary PCR. 36 Hepatitis vaccinations and 14 post-exposure prophylaxes (PEP) against HIV were provided. Survey results During the evaluation period, 402 men completed the entry survey (64% of all consultations). The main reasons for non-response were lack of proficiency in the German language, repeated visits within the same episode, and, to a lesser extent, response refusal. The mean age of respond- ers was 33 years (range 16–72 years). Nearly a quarter of men (22%) were of other than Swiss nationality. Their average length of stay in Switzerland was 15 years. Table 1 reports details of patients' characteristics. The majority of men had a history of one or more past HIV tests and reported a negative HIV serostatus as the last test result. Among those that had been tested for HIV previously, the last test was performed on average 3.3 years ago. The majority of men also reported prior tests for STI. The mean number of past tests for STI was 2.6. Among those that reported a history of STI (n = 115), urethral gonor- rhoea (47%), condyloma (24%), Chlamydia infection (21%) and syphilis (16%) were most commonly speci- fied. Subjects also reported their sexual behaviours (table 2). The majority of respondents had 4 and more partners during the last 12 months, engaged in either receptive, insertive or both forms of anal intercourse. Nearly half of the sample reported having unprotected anal intercourse at least infrequently. Having unprotected anal intercourse "always" or "frequently" was reported by 65 clients with respect to steady partners (16%), casual partners (5%) and unknown partners (3%). When asked for the frequency of sexual activity, 3% reported to have daily sexual contacts, several contacts per week (28%), one contact per week (25%) and 35% reported less than weekly sexual activity with a partner. When asked for satisfaction with their sexual life, men scored on average 6.8 points measured on a 10-point Lik- ert-scale with 1 indicating "not all satisfied" and 10 indi- cating "very satisfied". Many men reported to meet new partners for sexual contacts on the Internet (39%); 154 met new partners at a bar or club (38%); 89 through friends (22.1%); 85 in foreign countries or during travel (21%); 84 in a sauna (21%); 51 at sexclubs (13%); 31 at porn cinemas, parks or public toilets (8%); and 4% met new partners in various other locations. More than half of the responders used drugs or alcohol to get to know other Page 3 of 9 (page number not for citation purposes)