The role of relationship types on condom use among urban men with concurrent partners in Ghana and Tanzania

Abstract

Multiple concurrent partnerships are hypothesized to be important drivers of HIV transmission. Despite the demonstrated importance of relationship type (i.e., wife, girlfriend, casual partner, sex worker) on condom use, research on concurrency has not examined how different combinations of relationship types might affect condom use. We address this gap, using survey data from a sample of men from Ghana (GH: n = 807) and Tanzania (TZ: n = 800) who have at least three sexual partners in the past three months. We found that approximately two-thirds of men's reported relationships were classified as a girlfriend. Men were more likely to use a condom with a girlfriend if their other partner was a wife compared to if their other partner was a sex worker (GH: OR 3.10, 95% CI, 1.40, 6.86; TZ: OR 2.34, 95% CI 1.35, 4.06). These findings underscore the importance of considering relationship type when designing HIV prevention strategies in these settings.

Keywords:

• Ghana
• Tanzania
• HIV
• concurrency
• condom use
• men

Acknowledgment

We are grateful to the Carolina Population Center for training support (T32 HD007168) and for general support (R24 HD050924).

Additional information

Funding

This research was made possible by Grant [grant number R01HD052429] from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). Fleming was supported by FHI 360 as part of the FHI 360-University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill Public Health Fellowship.