Male condom use, multiple sexual partners and HIV: a prospective case-control study in Kinshasa (DRC)

Abstract

In the Democratic Republic of Congo no previous studies have assessed the factors associated with different patterns of condom use and with multiple sexual partners and the association between condom use simultaneously taking into account multiple sexual partnerships, and HIV infection. We carried out a prospective case-control study. From December 2010 until June 2012, 1,630 participants aged 15-49 getting HIV Voluntary Counseling and Testing in a hospital in Kinshasa were selected. Cases were new HIV diagnosis and controls were HIVnegative participants detected along the study period. We recruited 274 cases and 1,340 controls that were interviewed about HIV-related knowledge, attitudes and behaviours.Among cases there was a high prevalence of multiple lifetime and concurrent sexual partnerships (89.8% and 20.4%, respectively) and most cases never used condoms with only 1.5% using them consistently. Condom use and multiple partnerships were associated with male, single and high-educated participants. An association was found between multiple lifetime partners and `any condom use´ (OR=2.99; 95%CI: 2.14-4.19) but not with consistent use. Both having two or more multiple concurrent sexual partners or not using condoms were variables similarly and highly associated to HIV risk. The association found between having two or more concurrent sexual partners and HIV was slightly higher (OR=3.58, 95%CI:2.31-5-56) than the association found between never condom use and HIV (OR=3.38, 95%CI:1.15-9.93). We found a high prevalence of multiple lifetime sexual partners and an extremely high prevalence of inconsistent condom use, both strongly associated with HIV seropositivity.Local programs would benefit from comprehensive interventions targeting all behavioural and sociocultural determinants.

Forced sexual intercourse and its association with HIV status among people attending HIV Voluntary Counseling and Testing in a healthcare center in Kinshasa (DRC)

“…As previously described [30], we carried out a case-control study with a prospective recruitment of incident cases in which we analyzed data about knowledge, attitudes and behaviors related to HIV infection.…”

Individual and community-level factors associated with lifetime number of sexual partners among women aged 15–49 in Eswatini

“…It has long been documented that behavioral patterns in sexual relationships play a significant role in the transmission of HIV/ AIDS and STIs [13,[16][17][18]. Some public health experts believe that multiple concurrent partnerships and high partner acquisition are the main drivers of the persistent and high incidence of HIV in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) [19,20]. Evidence suggests that multiple sexual partners during acute HIV infection are a driving force in heterosexually transmitted HIV epidemics in SSA, including Eswatini [6,[21][22][23].…”

HIV Infection of Male in Pekanbaru in 2018

“…This is relevant to the research about Male condom use, multiple sexual partners and HIV: a prospective case-control study in Kinshasa. The result shows a relation between having two or more sexual partners simultaneously with HIV infection with OR value of (OR = 3.58, 95% CI: 2.31-5.56), this value was higher than the relation which is found between never use condoms with HIV (OR = 3.38, 95% CI: 1.15-9.93) [9]. Having more than two sexual partners at a time is identified as a possible support of the HIV infection.…”