Barriers to achieving the first 90%: gender norms and HIV testing among men in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

ABSTRACT

Gender inequality and gender norms are key social drivers of the HIV epidemic through their influences on sexual relationships, behavior, and risk taking. However, few empirical studies have measured the influence of gender norms on HIV sexual-risk behaviors and HIV testing among men in sub-Saharan Africa. We analyzed cross-sectional, survey data from 399 sexually active men (ages 18–39) in Democratic Republic of the Congo to examine the relationship between the men's support for inequitable gender norms and their HIV-risk behaviors. Logistic regression analyses revealed that moderate and strong levels of support for inequitable gender norms were significantly associated with never having been tested for HIV (AOR = 2.92, p < .05 and AOR = 3.41, p < .01, for moderate and strong support, respectively). Our findings indicate that changing the prevailing gender norms should be prioritized in HIV-prevention efforts that aim to increase counseling and testing for men.

KEYWORDS:

• Gender norms
• HIV
• testing
• men
• Democratic Republic of the Congo

Acknowledgement

This study was made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under the terms of Agreement No. AID-660-LA-12-00001. The contents are the responsibility of authors, and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, or the United States Government. We would like to sincerely thank the research team who collected this data. We would also like to thank Donna McCarraher and Mario Chen for their reviews of this manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This study was made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under the terms of Agreement No. AID-660-LA-12-00001.