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. 2019 Jun;23(6):1508-1517.
doi: 10.1007/s10461-019-02403-0.

Coital Frequency and Male Concurrent Partnerships During Pregnancy and Postpartum in Agbogbloshie, Ghana

Susan Cassels  1 , Samuel M Jenness  2 , Adriana A E Biney  3
Affiliations

Coital Frequency and Male Concurrent Partnerships During Pregnancy and Postpartum in Agbogbloshie, Ghana

Susan Cassels et al. AIDS Behav. 2019 Jun.

Abstract

During pregnancy and postpartum, women in high HIV prevalence regions continue to be at high risk for acquiring HIV, due to both behavioral and biological mechanisms, despite declines in coital frequency as a pregnancy advances. We estimated differences in rates of partnership concurrency for men with and without pregnant or postpartum sexual partners. We used monthly retrospective panel data from Ghana from three perspectives: couple-level data, female reports of pregnancy and male partner concurrency, and male reports of concurrent partnerships and female partner pregnancy. Coital frequency increased during the first trimester and then declined with advancing pregnancy. However, in all three analyses, there was no compelling evidence that men with pregnant or postpartum partners had additional concurrent partnerships. Our findings suggest that even though women's sexual activity likely declines during pregnancy and postpartum, they may not be at increased risk of HIV/STI due to their partners seeking additional partnerships.

Keywords: Agbogbloshie; HIV/STI; Multiple concurrent partnerships; Postpartum; Pregnant.

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Conflict of interest statement

Drs. Cassels, Jenness, and Biney declare that we have no conflict of interest. The Institutional Review Boards of the University of Washington and the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, University of Ghana, approved the study protocols. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Figures

Figure 1:
Figure 1:
Coital frequency by pregnancy and post-partum status, reported by men, women, and men and women in cohabiting or married partnerships.
Figures 2a & 2b:
Figures 2a & 2b:
Proportion of person-months in which the male partner has concurrent partnerships, by female-partner pregnancy (yes/no, Figure 2a) and by female trimester and post-partum status (Figure 2b) using couple-data, female-, and male-reports.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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