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Title Mobility and HIV in Tanzanian couples: both mobile persons and their partners show increased risk
Full text http://hdl.handle.net/1765/10692
Date 2006
Author(s) Kishamawe, C.; Zaba, B.; Vlas, S.J. de; Vissers, D.C.J.; Urassa, M.; Isingo, R.; Mwaluko, G.; Voeten, H.A.C.M.; Borsboom, G.J.J.M.; Habbema, J.D.F.
Abstract Objective: To investigate how mobility is related to sexual risk behavior and HIV infection, with special reference to partners staying behind in mobile couples. Methods: HIV status, sexual behavior and demographic data of 2800 couples were collected in a longitudinal study in Kisesa, rural Tanzania. People were considered short-term mobile if they had slept outside the household at least once the night before one of the five demographic interviews, and long-term mobile if they were living elsewhere at least once at the time of a demographic round. Results: Overall, while long-term mobile men did not report more risk behavior than resident men, short-term mobile men reported significantly more often two or more sex partners in the last year (47.8% vs 40.0%, p=0.006). In contrast, long-term mobile women reported more often multiple sex partners than resident women (6.8% vs 2.4%, p=0.001), and also had a higher HIV prevalence (7.7% vs 2.7%, p=0.02). In couples, men and women who were resident and had a long-term mobile partner both reported more sexual risk behavior and also showed higher HIV prevalence than people with resident/short-term mobile partners. Remarkably, risk behavior of men increased more when their wives moved than when they were mobile themselves. Conclusions: More sexual risk behavior and an increased risk of HIV infection was not only seen in mobile persons, but also in partners staying behind. Interventions aiming at reducing risk behavior due to mobility should therefore include partners staying behind.
Subject(s) mobility; sexual behavior; HIV; couples; Tanzania
Language en
Publisher Lippincott Williams & Wilkins (Wolters Kluwer Health)
Type of publication Article
Identifier AIDS 2006, 20:601-608; 0269-9370
Repository Rotterdam - Erasmus University
Added to C-A: 2010-02-23;09:00:53