risk factors impacting on the spread of hiv among pregnant women ...

RISK FACTORS IMPACTING ON THE SPREAD OF HIV AMONG PREGNANT WOMEN IN THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
99.3% had had regular sexual partners. 38.1% before diagnosis had had one regular sexual partner;
50.3% had had 2–4 partners; 9.6% with more than 5. Condom use during sex with regular partners
in the Irkutsk sub-sample before HIV diagnosis was largely consistent with the data for the general
sample: 45.9% used condoms occasionally; 40.4% never used condoms with regular partners.
25.2% had had non-regular sexual partners, which is 2.5 times less than in the general sample. About
6.1% of them had only one non-regular sexual partner; 7.5% had 5–9 partners, 11.6% had 2–4
partners. 24.3% always used condoms during sex with non-regular partners; 35.1% occasionally.
Only 2% of women reported having had commercial sexual partners before diagnosis (four times less
than in the general sample), 33.3% of them always used condoms during sex with these partners.
Before being diagnosed with HIV, interviewees had had sexual contact with members of <strong>risk</strong> groups;
however, their proportion is lower than in the general sample.
13.6% had had prisoners as sexual partners. 4.8% had had contact with partners habitually buying
commercial sexual services. 24.5% had had sex with persons known to have had experience
of injecting drugs. 10.9% had had sex with partners known to be HIV-positive.
Known and suspected members of high-<strong>risk</strong> groups among sexual partners
of women before HIV diagnosis, Irkutsk, %.
30,0
25,0
20,0
15,0
10,0
5,0
0,0
13,6
4,1 4,8 2,7
24,5
Prisoners SWs’ clients IDU MSM HIV+
Known Suspected
Fig. 12
Before HIV diagnosis, 7.5% of women had experienced sexual violence, i.e. had been compelled
to have sex by force or under threat of force (half the level in the general sample).
On the whole, compared with the general sample, women in the Irkutsk sub-sample perceived their
sexual behaviour before HIV diagnosis as more safe. 25.9% considered their sexual behaviour as
absolutely safe, 41.5% as safe rather than unsafe; only 10.9% as fairly unsafe and 4.8% as very unsafe.
The data on STI prevalence before HIV diagnosis confirms that relatively safer sexual behaviour was
practised by women in the Irkutsk sub-sample. .The most frequent STI was candidiasis (12.2%):
15,6
0,0 0,0
10,9
13,6
41