Suchergebnisse

In the Democratic Republic of Congo no previous studies have assessed the factors associated with different patterns of condom use and with multiple sexual partners and the association between condom use simultaneously taking into account multiple sexual partnerships, and HIV infection. We carried out a prospective case-control study. From December 2010 until June 2012, 1,630 participants aged 15-49 getting HIV Voluntary Counseling and Testing in a hospital in Kinshasa were selected. Cases were new HIV diagnosis and controls were HIV-negative participants detected along the study period. We recruited 274 cases and 1,340 controls that were interviewed about HIV-related knowledge, attitudes and behaviours. Among cases there was a high prevalence of multiple lifetime and concurrent sexual partnerships (89.8% and 20.4%, respectively) and most cases never used condoms with only 1.5% using them consistently. Condom use and multiple partnerships were associated with male, single and high-educated participants. An association was found between multiple lifetime partners and `any condom use´ (OR=2.99; 95%CI: 2.14-4.19) but not with consistent use. Both having two or more multiple concurrent sexual partners or not using condoms were variables similarly and highly associated to HIV risk. The association found between having two or more concurrent sexual partners and HIV was slightly higher (OR=3.58, 95%CI:2.31-5-56) than the association found between never condom use and HIV (OR=3.38, 95%CI:1.15-9.93). We found a high prevalence of multiple lifetime sexual partners and an extremely high prevalence of inconsistent condom use, both strongly associated with HIV seropositivity. Local programs would benefit from comprehensive interventions targeting all behavioural and sociocultural determinants.

Objectives: To evaluate the prevalence of HIV-related misconceptions in an Outpatient Centre of Kinshasa (D.R.Congo) and analyze the association between these beliefs and HIV infection. Methods: A case-control study was carried out from December 2010 until June 2012. We assessed 1,630 participants aged 15-49 attending a primary outpatient centre in Kinshasa: 762 HIV Voluntary Counseling and Testing attendees and 868 blood donors. A 59-item questionnaire about knowledge, attitudes and practice was administered during a face-to-face interview, followed by an HIV test. Cases and controls were respondents with a newly diagnosed HIV positive or negative test, respectively. Unconditional logistic regression was used to analyse the association between misconceptions and HIV seropositivity. Results:Two hundred and seventy four cases and 1,340 controls were recruited. Cases were more likely than controls to have a low socioeconomic status, no education, to be divorced/separated or widowed. An association was found between the following variables and HIV-seropositivity: having a poor HIV knowledge (adjusted OR=2.79; 95%CI:1.43-5.45), not knowing a virus is the cause of AIDS (adjusted OR=2.03; 95%CI:1.38-2.98) and reporting more than three HIV-transmission-related misconceptions (adjusted OR=3.30; 95%CI:1.64-6.64), such as thinking an HIV+ person cannot look healthy and that HIV is transmitted by sorcery, God´s punishment, a kiss on the mouth, mosquitoes, coughs/sneezes or undercooked food. Conclusion:Despite having access to health care services, there are still many people in Kinshasa that have HIV-related misconceptions which increase their HIV risk. Our findings underscore the need for a culturally-adapted and gender-orientated basic HIV information into Congolese HIV prevention programs.