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. 2008 Dec;37(6):1266-73.
doi: 10.1093/ije/dyn131. Epub 2008 Jul 9.

Keep them in school: the importance of education as a protective factor against HIV infection among young South African women

Audrey E Pettifor  1 , Brooke A Levandowski, Catherine MacPhail, Nancy S Padian, Myron S Cohen, Helen V Rees
Affiliations

Keep them in school: the importance of education as a protective factor against HIV infection among young South African women

Audrey E Pettifor et al. Int J Epidemiol. 2008 Dec.

Abstract

Objective: To identify risk factors for HIV infection among young women aged 15-24 years reporting one lifetime partner in South Africa. Design In 2003, we conducted a nationally representative household survey of sexual behaviour and HIV testing among 11 904 young people aged 15-24 years in South Africa. This analysis focuses on the subset of sexually experienced young women with only one reported lifetime sex partner (n = 1708).

Methods: Using the proximate determinants framework and the published literature we identified factors associated with HIV in young women. The associations between these factors and HIV infection were explored in multivariable logistic regression models.

Results: Of the young women, 15% reporting one lifetime partner were HIV positive. In multivariable analyses, young women who had not completed high school were more likely to be infected with HIV compared with those that had completed high school (AOR 3.75; 95% CI 1.34-10.46).

Conclusions: Young South African women in this population were at high risk of HIV infection despite reporting only having one lifetime partner. Few individual level factors were associated with HIV infection, emphasizing the importance of developing HIV prevention interventions that address structural and partner level risk factors.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Determining risk factors for HIV acquisition among South African young women, using the proximate-determinants framework. Biological determinants are indicated in bold type within the proximate determinate boxes. Risk factors in bold italics are significant predictors in the logistic regression models. The greyed boxes indicate concepts not included in the analysis presented
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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