Published by the government of Zimbabwe
6 October 2007
Harare — The emergence and acceptance of concurrent relationships among Zimbabweans is putting many at risk of HIV infection, according to the Zimbabwe Demographic Health Survey.
The ZDHS survey was conducted between 2005 and last year and results were released last month.
Speaking at a workshop on reporting population and development issues, an official from the United Nations Population Fund, Mrs Caroline Nyamayemombe, said the trend in concurrent relationships in Zimbabwe whereby a person can have many sexual partners was worrying as many people in such relationships believed that they were at low risk of HIV infection.
"Many men are no longer going to commercial sex workers for casual sex. Those who do, however, use condoms regularly. What is worrying is the emergence and acceptance of concurrent relationships whereby a person can have three or more sexual partners, which is seen as more acceptable or decent compared to paying a commercial sex worker for sex. "This is popularly known as the 'small house' phenomenon. At the beginning of such relationships condom use is high but as time goes on people tend to lower their guard and stop using them. When one of the people involved in such relationships contracts HIV, everybody in that group is most likely to contract the pandemic," she said.
Mrs Nyamayemombe said UNFPA was studying this trend to determine what could be driving this type of behaviour. She said according to the ZDHS, about 13 percent of men and one percent of women surveyed admitted to having concurrent relationships. She also said there was a low risk perception of HIV infection among sexually active people. "Despite high knowledge of HIV and Aids issues some people believe that they cannot contract HIV and hence adopt behaviour that can put them at risk of infection," she said.
Mrs Nyamayemombe said married women continued to be at high risk of HIV infection as it was difficult for some of them to negotiate for safer sex even if they are aware that their husbands have been unfaithful. "Many married women do not know how they can introduce condoms into their marriages to protect themselves from infection. Some of them however have negative attitudes towards condoms, particularly the female condom yet the benefits of using them far outweigh its disadvantages.
"The female condom is also presently the only method that empowers women to protect themselves against HIV infection," she said.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2007 The Herald. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
