Does Violence Aggravate the Risk of HIV?

Mandar K. Mainkar, International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS)
Ravi K. Verma, Population Council

This paper examines the factors that are associated with the violence faced within marriage and its association with the reporting of STI infections. The results indicate that particular group of women are at elevated risk of receiving physically abuse from their husbands. The women who have faced physical violence from husbands are more likely to report STI like symptoms and perceive the risk of HIV. The strongest predictor is the experience of physical abuse in past six months for the perception of risk and to be at risk of HIV. The data from a slum community of Mumbai, India suggests that even in those cases in which women may perceive themselves to be at some risk of infections, they frequently have no power to negotiate condom use with their husbands. This data shows that there is a clear need to understand the link between the sexual behaviour and wife beating.