Individual and Population Level Impact of Key HIV Risk Factors on HIV Incidence Rates in Durban, South Africa.
We aimed to estimate the individual and joint impact of age, marital status and diagnosis with sexually transmitted infections (STIs) on HIV acquisition among young women at a population level in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. A total of 3,978 HIV seronegative women were recruited for four biomedical intervention trials from 2002-2009. Point and interval estimates of partial population attributable risk (PAR) were used to quantify the proportion of HIV seroconversions which can be prevented if a combination of risk factors is eliminated from a target population. More than 70% of the observed HIV acquisitions were collectively attributed to the three risk factors: younger age (<25 years old), unmarried and not cohabiting with a stable/regular partner and diagnosis with STIs. Addressing these risks requires targeted structural, behavioural, biomedical and cultural interventions in order to impact on unacceptably high HIV incidence rates among young women and the population as a whole.
HIV Prevention Research Unit, Medical Research Council, Durban, South Africa.|Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom.|Department of Global Health, School of Medicine, University of Washington, Washington DC, United States of America.
Gita
G
Ramjee
HIV Prevention Research Unit, Medical Research Council, Durban, South Africa.
Suri
S
Moonsamy
HIV Prevention Research Unit, Medical Research Council, Durban, South Africa.
Nathlee Samantha
NS
Abbai
National Center for HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research, Sydney, Australia.
Handan
H
Wand
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D012307:Risk Factors; D013019:South Africa / Q000453:epidemiology