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| We use dynamical systems techniques to study the effect bisexual males have on the spread of HIV to the heterosexual female population, within a system consisting of sexually active homosexual and bisexual males, both self-identified and non-identified, in addition to heterosexual females and males. We present an alternative method to describing the reproductive number and endemic equilibria by deconstructing the larger system of five populations into smaller subsystems and capturing the interactions between the smaller systems as external forces using an approximate model. Our approach is to study decoupled systems of the sexually active populations and determine the influence of other populations on the basic reproductive number and endemic equilibria of these subpopulations. We utilize a sliding scale to manipulate the percentage of bisexuals who are self-identified and non-identified. This tool, with added emphasis on prevention and control, allows us to measure the impact the non-identifying bisexual male population has on the spread of the disease to heterosexual females. We present analytics and numerics along with a statistical study on the effect of the parameters. |
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