HIV and syphilis prevalence and associated risk factors among fishing communities of Lake Victoria, Uganda
By Gershim Asiki, Juliet Mpendo, Andrew Abaasa, Collins Agaba, Annet Nanvubya, Leslie Nielsen, Janet Seeley, Pontiano Kaleebu, Heiner Grosskurth, Anatoli Kamali
Link (access required for full paper) http://sti.bmj.com/content/early/2011/08/10/sti.2010.046805.abstract
Correspondence to Dr Gershim Asiki, Medical Research Council Research Unit on AIDS, Uganda Virus Research Institute, PO Box 49 Entebbe, Uganda; gershim.asiki@mrcuganda.org
This large study is one of the first to study HIV/AIDS, syphilis prevalence and risk factors in women as well as men in fishing communities, many previous studies having only focused on fishermen. An extract from the abstract follows:
Objectives Recent publications suggest that fishing populations may be highly affected by the HIV epidemic. However, accurate data are scarce. The authors determined HIV and syphilis prevalence and associated risk factors in a fishing population of Lake Victoria in Uganda.
Conclusion This fishing population characterised by a very high HIV prevalence, high syphilis prevalence and frequently reported sexual risk behaviours, urgently needs improved STI services and targeted behavioural interventions.
For one of the first papers to highlight the high rates of HIV/AIDS in some fishing communities, see Mary Huang’s paper in the proceedings of the AFS 1st Global Symposium on Gender and Fisheries (p 49-53 in [Link]) and Williams (2008) (http://www.palgrave-journals.com/development/journal/v51/n2/pdf/dev20082a.pdf – access required: author contact MerylJWilliams@gmail.com)This entry was posted in: Men, Women