HIV Prevalence Correlates with High-Risk Sexual Behavior in Ethiopia's Regions

HIV prevalence varies between 0.9 and 6.5% in Ethiopia’s eleven regions. Little has been published examining the reasons for this variation.

We evaluated the relationship between HIV prevalence by region and a range of risk factors in the 2005 and 2011 Ethiopian Demographic Health Surveys. Pearson’s correlation was used to assess the relationship between HIV prevalence and each variable.

There was a strong association between HIV prevalence and three markers of sexual risk: mean lifetime number of partners (men: r = 0.87; P < 0.001; women: r = 0.60; P = 0.05); reporting sex with a non-married, non-cohabiting partner (men: r = 0.92; P < 0.001, women r = 0.93; P < 0.001); and premarital sex. Condom usage and HIV testing were positively associated with HIV prevalence, while the prevalence of circumcision, polygamy, age at sexual debut and male migration were not associated with HIV prevalence.

Variation in sexual behavior may contribute to the large variations in HIV prevalence by region in Ethiopia. Population-level interventions to reduce risky sexual behavior in high HIV incidence regions should be considered.

Below:  15–49 year old HIV prevalence (%) by region as determined by Ethiopian Demographic Health Surveys 2005 and 2011

Below:  Histograms of the reported number of lifetime sexual partners by region in men aged 15–59 years (EDHS 2011)

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By:

Chris R. Kenyon, Achilleas Tsoumanis

HIV/STI Unit, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium

Chris R. Kenyon

Department of Medicine, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa

Ilan Steven Schwartz

Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Health Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada

Ilan Steven Schwartz

Department of Epidemiology and Social Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Antwerp, Belgium

  

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