How HIV prevalence, number of sexual partners and marital status are related in rural Uganda

Ivan Kasamba, Medical Research Council Programme on AIDS
Samuel Biraro, Medical Research Council, Uganda

Introduction: Marriage is not well defined in rural Uganda, with high rates of separation and widowhood. Methods: We took three rounds from annual surveys of a rural population based cohort, defining 5 year age groups by sex. We describe the marital status of the population and compare HIV cases and reported number of sexual partners by marital status and age. Results: The proportion widowed or separated was similar across rounds. Widowhood increased with age for females. There were an increasing number of HIV cases found among the mono or polygamous married participants across rounds. Participants reported to be monogamously married reported 2 or more number of sexual partners compared to other marital status. Discussion: There seems to be a strong relationship between HIV prevalence, sexual partners and marital status. Mis-classification of marital status occurred in early rounds. This masked the association between HIV and marriage.