HIV and AIDS
Complex Role for Marriage in HIV Risk, Studies Find
If present patterns
continue, in the next decade more than 100 million girls will be child
brides, that is, married before the age of 18, according to Council research.
“In some cultures, girls are married off at very young ages due to poverty,
custom, and in some cases the idea that it provides protection from HIV and
other threats. But our research clearly shows that marriage per se, and
child marriage especially, cannot be assumed to be a sexual safety zone,”
explains Council researcher Judith Bruce. “Girls married at a young age are
actually at a higher risk than unmarried girls for HIV infection in some
settings.” Delaying marriage, however, does not improve safety. “Delaying
marriage until the mid- to late-twenties often results in a period of
high-risk sex involving multiple or serial partners,” says Council
demographer John Bongaarts.
Reproductive Health
Partner-Delivered Therapy Viable in Resource-Poor
Areas
In South Africa and Brazil, the Population Council has
recently studied alternative methods of notifying partners of women with
sexually transmitted infections (STIs) that they need treatment. These
studies have verified that offering women with STIs the option of
bringing medicines to their partners, rather than requiring partners to
come to the clinic, results in high treatment rates.
Gender and Health
Bias Against Women in South Asia Shortens Lifespan
All things being
equal, women have an advantage over men in healthy life expectancy. For
both biological and environmental reasons, in industrialized countries
healthy life expectancy for women is about two years longer than for men.
Not only are women genetically hardier, they also take fewer risks in
general than men do. Population Council program associate Fariyal F.
Fikree wondered whether this female advantage existed in settings with
significant discrimination against women. To answer this question Fikree
and Omrana Pasha of Emory University’s Women and Children’s Center
examined health statistics in seven South Asian countries. They found that
in all but one of those countries women’s healthy life expectancy is equal
to or shorter than men’s
and that gender discrimination was a contributing factor to this
phenomenon.
Gender Issues
Gender Roles Sharply Differentiated Among Egyptian Youth
Researchers know little about
the acquisition of gender roles among adolescents, despite a growing
acknowledgment of the crucial part the adolescent years play in shaping
adult lives. To address this knowledge gap, Population Council researchers
and their colleagues examined data from a nationally representative sample
of Egyptian adolescents. The investigators assessed the differences in
socialization between boys and girls, looked for signs of departure from
expected gender role patterns, and clarified the significance of education
in influencing the socialization of Egyptian young people.
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