ORCID iD
Edward Frongillo: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8265-9815
Document Type
Article
Subject Area(s)
Adult; Condoms (economics, statistics & numerical data); Endemic Diseases; Female; Food Supply; HIV Infections (drug therapy, epidemiology, prevention & control); Humans; Hunger; Interviews as Topic; Male; Middle Aged; Risk Factors; Risk-Taking; Sex Work; Sexual Behavior (psychology); Socioeconomic Factors; Uganda (epidemiology); Violence; Young Adult
Abstract
Food insecurity has been linked to high-risk sexual behavior in sub-Saharan Africa, but there are limited data on these links among people living with HIV/AIDS, and on the mechanisms for how food insecurity predisposes individuals to risky sexual practices. We undertook a series of in-depth open-ended interviews with 41 individuals living with HIV/AIDS to understand the impact of food insecurity on sexual-risk behaviors. Participants were recruited from the Immune Suppression Clinic at the Mbarara University of Science and Technology in Mbarara, Uganda. Interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim, translated, and coded following the strategy of grounded theory. Four major themes emerged from the interview data: the relationship between food insecurity and transactional sex for women; the impact of a husband's death from HIV on worsening food insecurity among women and children; the impact of food insecurity on control over condom use, and the relationship between food insecurity and staying in violent/abusive relationships. Food insecurity led to increased sexual vulnerability among women. Women were often compelled to engage in transactional sex or remain in violent or abusive relationships due to their reliance on men in their communities to provide food for themselves and their children. There is an urgent need to prioritize food security programs for women living with HIV/AIDS and address broader gender-based inequities that are propelling women to engage in risky sexual behaviors based on hunger. Such interventions will play an important role in improving the health and well-being of people living with HIV/AIDS, and preventing HIV transmission.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
Publication Info
Published in AIDS and Behavior, Volume 15, Issue 7, 2011, pages 1512-1519.
© The Author(s) 2010. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0), which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.
APA Citation
Miller, C., Bangsberg, D., Tuller, D., Senkungu, J., Kawuma, A., Frongillo, E., & Weiser, S. (2010). Food Insecurity and Sexual Risk in an HIV Endemic Community in Uganda. AIDS And Behavior, 15(7), 1512-1519. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-010-9693-0
Rights
© The Author(s) 2010. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0), which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.