title: Prevalence and risk factors of STDs in rural Haiti: implications for policy and programming in resource-poor settings.
abstract: The goals of the current study are to: (1) estimate the prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) among women accessing services at a women's health clinic in rural Haiti; and (2) identify risk factors for STDs in this setting. The design is a case control study, comparing risk factors for women who demonstrated positive laboratory results for chlamydia and/or gonorrhoea to women who tested negative for both of these pathogens. The strongest risk factors for chlamydia and/or gonorrhoea were largely economic variables, with work as a domestic servant increasing the risk by four-fold. Working as a market vendor reduced a woman's risk of having an STD by approximately 45%. Given that economic factors are strongly associated with STD risk in this context, one potential mechanism for reducing the risk of STDs, including HIV, would involve increasing economic opportunities for women in rural Haiti.
authors.affiliation: Program in Infectious Disease and Social Change, Department of Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School, 641 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA. mksfawzi@1msn.com
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Smith Fawzi
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Lambert
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Singler
authors.forename: S P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Koenig
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Léandre
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Nevil
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bertrand
authors.forename: M S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Claude
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bertrand
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Salazar
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Louissaint
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Joanis
authors.forename: P E
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Farmer
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000554:Ambulatory Care Facilities; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006205:Haiti / Q000453:epidemiology; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009790:Occupations; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D012424:Rural Population; D012747:Sexual Partners; D012749:Sexually Transmitted Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors