Tanzania HIV/AIDS and Malaria Indicator Survey ... - Measure DHS

Figure 7.1 Recent Sexual Intercourse by Marital Status868078605140282013170100 Percent Women MenNever married Married or living together Divorced/separatedwidowedMarital statusTHMIS 2007-087.4 MULTIPLE SEXUAL PARTNERS AND HIGHER-RISK SEXInformation on sexual behaviour is important in designing and monitoring interventionprogrammes to control the spread of HIV. The 2007-08 THMIS included questions about respondents’sexual partners over the 12 months preceding the survey as well as the number of lifetimepartners. These questions allow for estimating the extent of higher-risk sexual activity. In the contextof this survey, higher-risk sex is defined as sex with a nonmarital, noncohabiting partner in the 12months preceding the survey. For male respondents, an additional question was asked on whether theypaid for sex during the 12 months preceding the survey. Information on the use of condoms at the lastsexual intercourse with each type of partner was collected for both women and men. These questionsare sensitive, and it is recognized that some respondents may have been reluctant to provideinformation on recent sexual behaviour. Tables 7.3.1 and 7.3.2 show the percentage of women andmen, respectively, age 15-49 years who had more than one sexual partner and the percentage whoengaged in higher-risk sexual intercourse in the past 12 months among all respondents and amongthose who had sex in the previous 12 months.Specifically, the data show that women are far less likely than men to report having had twoor more sexual partners in the past 12 months. Only 3 percent of women reported having had sex withmore than one partner in the 12 months preceding the survey, compared with 18 percent of men. Asimilar differential exists for higher-risk sex. Sixteen percent of all women and 29 percent of menreported having sex in the 12 months before the survey with someone who was not a husband/wife orcohabiting partner.When the results are confined to only those who had sex in the 12 months before the survey,the proportions who had multiple partners and higher-risk sex are higher than among all women andmen, particularly for men. Among men who had sex in the 12 months before the survey, one-quartersaid they had more than one partner in that time period and 41 percent reported having had sex with anonmarital, noncohabiting partner.HIV/AIDS-Related Behaviour | 77