A Closer Examination of the HIV/Fertility Linkage ... - Measure DHS

Figure 5: Trends in sexual activity among urban versus rural women, Zimbabwe 1988-2006Urban1988/1989811994801999782005/200673Rural1988/1989761994711999702005/2006650 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90Percent Having Sex in the Past 4 WeeksFigures 6 and 7 show trends in contraceptive use. Modern contraception constitutes themajority of use, and trends in its use are increasing over time for most surveyed groups. Theonly declining use of modern methods occurs in 2005/2006 for sexually active 15-to-19-yearolds (Figure 6) and sexually active urban women (Figure 7). A mechanism that can contributeboth to lower fertility levels and reduced HIV prevalence is correct and consistent condom use.Figure 7 shows the percentage of sexually active women in urban versus rural locations whoreport current condom use. Noticeably, these numbers are very low; the highest is 3.1% forurban women in 1999. In the time period that the HIV epidemic has leveled off, condom usedeclines to even lower levels. This suggests that changes in condom use are not playing aparticularly strong role in trends related to HIV and fertility over the survey period.19