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Sexual Behavior and Risk Practices of HIV Positive and HIV Negative Rwandan Women

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Abstract

It is not well understood how infection with HIV and prior experience of sexual violence affects sexual behavior in African women. We describe factors influencing current sexual practices of Rwandan women living with or without HIV/AIDS. By design, 75 % of participants were HIV positive and ~50 % reported having experienced genocidal rape. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression models were fit to describe demographic and clinical characteristics that influenced sexual behavior in the previous 6 months, condom use, history of transactional sex, and prior infection with a non-HIV sexually transmitted disease. Respondents’ age, where they lived, whether or not they lived with a husband or partner, experience of sexual trauma, CD4 count, CES-D and PTSD scores were strongly associated with risky sexual behavior and infection with non-HIV STI. HIV positive women with a history of sexual violence in the contexts of war and conflict may be susceptible to some high-risk sexual behaviors.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases through funding for the Central Africa International Epidemiologic Databases to Evaluate AIDS (IeDEA) (5UO1AI096299-04) and through supplements to the Bronx/Manhattan Women’s Interagency HIV Study (WIHS) (UO1-AI-35004). This work was also supported in part by the AIDS International Training and Research Program (Fogarty International Center, NIH D43-TW001403).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Public Health Sciences, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Mazer 515, 1300 Morris Park Avenue, Bronx, NY, 10461, USA

    Adebola A. Adedimeji

  2. Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, 10461, USA

    Adebola A. Adedimeji & Kathryn Anastos

  3. Department of Statistics & Biostatistics and Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Aging Research, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, 08901, USA

    Donald R. Hoover

  4. New York Medical College, Valhalla, NY, 10595, USA

    Qiuhu Shi

  5. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, 10461, USA

    Tracy Gard

  6. Regional Alliance for Sustainable Development, Avenue 3 KG Kamatamu Village, Kacyiru House #1, P.O Box 1544, Kigali, Rwanda

    Eugene Mutimura & Jean d’Amour Sinayobye

  7. Department of Medicine, Stroger (Cook County) Hospital and Rush University, Chicago, IL, 60612, USA

    Mardge H. Cohen

  8. Montefiore Medical Centre, Bronx, NY, 10467, USA

    Tracy Gard & Kathryn Anastos

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  1. Adebola A. Adedimeji
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  2. Donald R. Hoover
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  3. Qiuhu Shi
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Correspondence to Adebola A. Adedimeji.

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Adedimeji, A.A., Hoover, D.R., Shi, Q. et al. Sexual Behavior and Risk Practices of HIV Positive and HIV Negative Rwandan Women. AIDS Behav 19, 1366–1378 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-014-0964-z

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