Sexual risk behavior of married men and women in Bangladesh associated with husbands' work migration and living apart

Abstract

Objectives: This study aimed to ascertain the prevalence of sexual risk behavior among married men and women who had, or had not, lived apart from their spouse as a result of the husbands' work migration.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among a random sample of 1,175 married women and 703 married men in 2 rural areas of Bangladesh.

Results: Extramarital sex was reported by 64.2% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 58.7-69.7) of 296 men and 8.6% (95% CI = 7.6-9.6) of 779 women who had lived apart from their spouse, 2 to 3 times higher than the proportions among those who had not lived apart (P <0.05). The proportions of men who reported sex with a female sex worker (50.7%; 95% CI = 45.0-56.4) or with another male (5.4%; 95% CI = 2.8-8.0), while living away, were double the proportions reporting they had done so before living away or among men who had not lived away (P <0.05). Only 2 men had ever used had a condom during sex with another male, and less than one third of men had used a condom during sex with a sex worker or during marital sex.

Conclusions: The sexual risk behavior of married men living away from home may put themselves and their wives at risk for HIV infection and other sexually transmitted diseases.