Learning that circumcision is protective against HIV: risk compensation among men and women in Cape Town, South Africa

We examined whether knowledge of the HIV-protective benefits of male circumcision (MC) led to risk compensating behavior in a traditionally circumcising population in South Africa. We extend the current literature by examining risk compensation among women, which has hitherto been unexplored. We use...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2012-07, Vol.7 (7), p.e40753-e40753
Main Authors: Maughan-Brown, Brendan, Venkataramani, Atheendar S
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome
Adult
AIDS
Bivariate analysis
Circumcision
Circumcision, Male
Clinical trials
Compensation
Condoms
Correlation analysis
Demographics
Disease transmission
Female
Gender
Health risks
HIV
HIV infections
HIV Infections - prevention & control
Human immunodeficiency virus
Humans
Male
Medicine
Men
Perception
Risk factors
Risk perception
Risk taking
Sex
Sexual behavior
Sexually transmitted diseases
Social and Behavioral Sciences
South Africa
STD
Studies
Young Adult
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Summary:We examined whether knowledge of the HIV-protective benefits of male circumcision (MC) led to risk compensating behavior in a traditionally circumcising population in South Africa. We extend the current literature by examining risk compensation among women, which has hitherto been unexplored. We used data on Xhosa men and women from the 2009 Cape Area Panel Study. Respondents were asked if they had heard that MC reduces a man's risk of contracting HIV, about their perceived risk of contracting HIV, and condom use. For each gender group we assessed whether risk perception and condom use differed by knowledge of the protective benefits of MC using bivariate and then multivariate models controlling for demographic characteristics, HIV knowledge/beliefs, and previous sexual behaviors. In a further check for confounding, we used data from the 2005 wave to assess whether individuals who would eventually become informed about the protective benefits of circumcision were already different in terms of HIV risk perception and condom use. 34% of men (n=453) and 27% of women (n=690) had heard that circumcision reduces a man's risk of HIV infection. Informed men perceived slightly higher risk of contracting HIV and were more likely to use condoms at last sex (p
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0040753