Behavioural Surveillance Surveys - The Wisdom of Whores

Adult Indicator 10
Unprotected sex with
A higher-risk partner
Definition
Numerator :
Number of male/female
respondents who reported not
always using a condom with
every non-regular partner and
every commercial partner
Denominator : Total number of male/female
respondents.
Measurement tools
Adult questionnaire
Q707
Strengths and limitations
This provides a useful, single summary
indicator of sexual risk in a sub-population
of interest. Like all summary or composite
indicators, it records trends over time that may
be slightly difficult to interpret. This is because
“improvements” (such as lower proportions of
people having commercial sex) in one part of
the indicator may mask “deterioration” (such as
a shift to more non-commercial partners with
whom condom use is lower) in another aspect
of the indicator. Nonetheless, real drops
in overall levels of sexual risk behavior in
a population will almost certainly be reflected
in a downward trend in this indicator.
What it measures
This gives an overall summary level of
sexual behavior that carries an elevated risk
of HIV. It provides a sort of summary of
prevention failure. Only respondents who
have abstained, been entirely faithful to their
spouse or live-in partner, or have use a condom
in every act of non-spousal sex will escape
the numerator in this measure.
How to measure it
This indicator uses a combination of
information on sex and consistent condom use
with different partner types. The denominator
is the entire sample of respondents, including
those who have never had sex, or had no
partners in the past year.
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