Ethnic differences in alcohol and drug use and related sexual risks for HIV among vulnerable women in Cape Town, South Africa: Implications for interventions
Background: Alcohol and other drug (AOD) use among poor Black African and Coloured women in South Africa compounds their sexual risk for HIV. Given South Africa's history of ethnic disparities, ethnic differences in sex risk profiles may exist that should be taken into account when planning HIV...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
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BMC
2013
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/85719 |
| _version_ | 1848764766584045568 |
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| author | Myers-Franchi, Bronwyn Kline, T.L. Browne, F.A. Carney, T. Parry, C. Johnson, K. Wechsberg, W.M. |
| author_facet | Myers-Franchi, Bronwyn Kline, T.L. Browne, F.A. Carney, T. Parry, C. Johnson, K. Wechsberg, W.M. |
| author_sort | Myers-Franchi, Bronwyn |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Background: Alcohol and other drug (AOD) use among poor Black African and Coloured women in South Africa compounds their sexual risk for HIV. Given South Africa's history of ethnic disparities, ethnic differences in sex risk profiles may exist that should be taken into account when planning HIV risk reduction interventions. This paper aims to describe ethnic differences in AOD use and AOD-related sexual risks for HIV among vulnerable women from Cape Town, South Africa.
Method. Cross-sectional data on 720 AOD-using women (324 Black African; 396 Coloured) recruited from poor communities in Cape Town were examined for ethnic differences in AOD use and AOD-related sexual risk behavior.
Results: Ethnic differences in patterns of AOD use were found; with self-reported drug problems, heavy episodic drinking and methamphetamine use being most prevalent among Coloured women and cannabis use being most likely among Black African women. However, more than half of Black African women reported drug-related problems and more than a third tested positive for recent methamphetamine use. More than a third of women reported being AOD-impaired and having unprotected sex during their last sexual encounter. Coloured women had four-fold greater odds of reporting that their last sexual episode was AOD-impaired and unprotected than Black African women. In addition, close to one in two women reported that their sexual partner was AOD-impaired at last sex, with Coloured women having three-fold greater odds of reporting that their partner was AOD-impaired at last sex than Black African women.
Conclusions: Findings support the need to develop and test AOD risk reduction interventions for women from both ethnic groups. In addition, findings point to the need for tailored interventions that target the distinct profiles of AOD use and AOD-related sex risks for HIV among Black African and Coloured women. © 2013 Myers et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:24:34Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-85719 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:24:34Z |
| publishDate | 2013 |
| publisher | BMC |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-857192021-10-07T04:02:59Z Ethnic differences in alcohol and drug use and related sexual risks for HIV among vulnerable women in Cape Town, South Africa: Implications for interventions Myers-Franchi, Bronwyn Kline, T.L. Browne, F.A. Carney, T. Parry, C. Johnson, K. Wechsberg, W.M. Science & Technology Life Sciences & Biomedicine Public, Environmental & Occupational Health Ethnic differences Alcohol and other drugs Sexual risks Women South Africa METHAMPHETAMINE USE SUBSTANCE USE ASSOCIATION PREVALENCE PREVENTION BEHAVIORS CANNABIS ACCESS HEALTH CARE Background: Alcohol and other drug (AOD) use among poor Black African and Coloured women in South Africa compounds their sexual risk for HIV. Given South Africa's history of ethnic disparities, ethnic differences in sex risk profiles may exist that should be taken into account when planning HIV risk reduction interventions. This paper aims to describe ethnic differences in AOD use and AOD-related sexual risks for HIV among vulnerable women from Cape Town, South Africa. Method. Cross-sectional data on 720 AOD-using women (324 Black African; 396 Coloured) recruited from poor communities in Cape Town were examined for ethnic differences in AOD use and AOD-related sexual risk behavior. Results: Ethnic differences in patterns of AOD use were found; with self-reported drug problems, heavy episodic drinking and methamphetamine use being most prevalent among Coloured women and cannabis use being most likely among Black African women. However, more than half of Black African women reported drug-related problems and more than a third tested positive for recent methamphetamine use. More than a third of women reported being AOD-impaired and having unprotected sex during their last sexual encounter. Coloured women had four-fold greater odds of reporting that their last sexual episode was AOD-impaired and unprotected than Black African women. In addition, close to one in two women reported that their sexual partner was AOD-impaired at last sex, with Coloured women having three-fold greater odds of reporting that their partner was AOD-impaired at last sex than Black African women. Conclusions: Findings support the need to develop and test AOD risk reduction interventions for women from both ethnic groups. In addition, findings point to the need for tailored interventions that target the distinct profiles of AOD use and AOD-related sex risks for HIV among Black African and Coloured women. © 2013 Myers et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2013 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/85719 10.1186/1471-2458-13-174 English http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ BMC fulltext |
| spellingShingle | Science & Technology Life Sciences & Biomedicine Public, Environmental & Occupational Health Ethnic differences Alcohol and other drugs Sexual risks Women South Africa METHAMPHETAMINE USE SUBSTANCE USE ASSOCIATION PREVALENCE PREVENTION BEHAVIORS CANNABIS ACCESS HEALTH CARE Myers-Franchi, Bronwyn Kline, T.L. Browne, F.A. Carney, T. Parry, C. Johnson, K. Wechsberg, W.M. Ethnic differences in alcohol and drug use and related sexual risks for HIV among vulnerable women in Cape Town, South Africa: Implications for interventions |
| title | Ethnic differences in alcohol and drug use and related sexual risks for HIV among vulnerable women in Cape Town, South Africa: Implications for interventions |
| title_full | Ethnic differences in alcohol and drug use and related sexual risks for HIV among vulnerable women in Cape Town, South Africa: Implications for interventions |
| title_fullStr | Ethnic differences in alcohol and drug use and related sexual risks for HIV among vulnerable women in Cape Town, South Africa: Implications for interventions |
| title_full_unstemmed | Ethnic differences in alcohol and drug use and related sexual risks for HIV among vulnerable women in Cape Town, South Africa: Implications for interventions |
| title_short | Ethnic differences in alcohol and drug use and related sexual risks for HIV among vulnerable women in Cape Town, South Africa: Implications for interventions |
| title_sort | ethnic differences in alcohol and drug use and related sexual risks for hiv among vulnerable women in cape town, south africa: implications for interventions |
| topic | Science & Technology Life Sciences & Biomedicine Public, Environmental & Occupational Health Ethnic differences Alcohol and other drugs Sexual risks Women South Africa METHAMPHETAMINE USE SUBSTANCE USE ASSOCIATION PREVALENCE PREVENTION BEHAVIORS CANNABIS ACCESS HEALTH CARE |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/85719 |