Barcelona 2013
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| Abstract #451 - E-Posters English | ||||
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Session: 50.52: E-Posters English (Poster) on Sunday in Chaired by Authors: Presenting Author: Dr. Chisina Kapungu - University of Illinois at Chicago, United States |
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| Additional Authors: Dr. Jordi Casabona, Sra Cristina Sanclemente, Dra. Anna Esteve, Dra. Victoria Gonzalez, Grupo HIVITS TS, | ||||
| Aim: Multiple concurrent partnerships (MCP), or partnerships that overlap in time, have been identified as a potentially powerful driver of HIV transmission. The objective of this study was to investigate the factors associated with engagement in multiple concurrent partnerships and understand perceptions of HIV risk among men and women in Zimbabwe. | ||||
| Method / Issue: Four focus groups (N=40) were conducted with a sample of married men (ages 35-49 years) and single women in Harare, Zimbabwe. Participants were asked to define and describe different types of sexual relationships and discuss how people become involved in these relationships. The group discussions were tape recorded and transcribed. | ||||
| Results / Comments: Participants reported a range of multiple concurrent partnerships from casual to transactional to long-term relationships. Casual relationships are short term with sexual gratification. Transactional relationships include relations with commercial sex workers or older male partners commonly known as sugar daddies. Long-term relationships include wives, girlfriends, small houses or pain killers. The small house relationship is whereby a married man has a secret sexual relationship with a girlfriend that acts like a second wife. Painkillers refer to married women who have boyfriends that they financially support. Men reported that reasons for multiple concurrent partnerships include sexual dissatisfaction, peer pressure, marital stress, tradition of polygamy and social norms that encourage male promiscuity. Women indicated that sexual gratification, money and companionship were factors associated with engagement in multiple concurrent partnerships . Women also stated that they engaged in multiple concurrent partnerships because men were in multiple concurrent partnerships. Participants indicated that a man is a hunter by nature and thus it is inevitable that he may have more than one relationship. Participants stated that most women want to have a lifestyle which few men can support therefore women are willing to share men who can financially support them. Respondents reported that men with partners working outside the country were presented with more opportunities to form long-term relationships such as small houses. Women initiated and encouraged the use of condoms, but participants stated that the man determined consistent use of condoms. Men and women reported that condom use was dependent on the type of relationship but regardless of type of relationship condom use became inconsistent over time. | ||||
| Discussion: Multiple concurrent partnerships became pervasive and even somewhat accepted during and after the Zimbabwe economic crisis of 2006-2008. Massive unemployment, cross-border trading, and a mass exodus of skilled men and women seeking employment in other countries reshaped sexual relationships. Qualitative data indicates that the behavioral determinants of multiple concurrent partnerships include social pressures and norms, material benefits, marital stress, sexual dissatisfaction and sexual gratification. Intervention programs need to address the social, economic and cultural drivers of multiple concurrent partnerships to be effective, including transactional and intergenerational sex. Increasing knowledge and risk perception should be a key outcome of prevention programs targeting concurrent sexual partnerships. Qualitative research is needed to determine strategies to integrate safer sex practices and biomedical interventions such as pre-exposure prophylaxis within the context of these relationships. | ||||
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