[afro-nets] Young Brides in Africa Face Greater HIV Risk

[Dr Rana Jawad Asghar <jawad@alumni.washington.edu>]

Young Brides in Africa Face Greater HIV Risk than Single Women
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http://www.unwire.org/UNWire/20040301/449_13561.asp

Monday, March 1, 2004

Teenage brides in some parts of Africa are contracting HIV at a
faster rate than sexually active single girls in the same lo-
cales, according to studies presented Saturday by UNICEF and
other U.N. agencies at an international AIDS conference in At-
lanta.

The studies, the first of their kind, compare the health of mar-
ried and single young women in Kisumu, Kenya, and Ndola, Zambia.
Officials said that young brides in those towns have apparently
contracted HIV from their husbands, who are typically much older
and who acquired the virus before marriage. In contrast, single
young women were found to have boyfriends closer to their age,
who had lower HIV rates than the married men.

Part of the fault lies, officials said, in not having HIV-
prevention programs geared to married people.

"We have known for a long time that marriage in and of itself is
not protective for women who have partners who have been or con-
tinue to be at risk," said Dr. Catherine Hankins, chief scien-
tific adviser to the Joint U.N. Program on HIV/AIDS. "The strik-
ing finding here is that among 15- to 19-year-old girls who are
sexually active in these two settings, the fact of being married
carries significantly higher risk - in part because of the in-
creased age differential between spouses and in part because
condom use in marriage has not been promoted" (Lawrence Altman,
New York Times, Feb. 29).