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Transition to Parenthood and HIV Infection in Rural Zimbabwe

BACKGROUND: The relationship between the risk of acquiring human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and people’s choices about life course events describing the transition to parenthood–sexual debut, union (in the form of marriage, cohabitation, or long-term relationship), and parenthood–is stil...

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Autores principales: Del Fava, Emanuele, Piccarreta, Raffaella, Gregson, Simon, Melegaro, Alessia
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5042509/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27684998
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0163730
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author Del Fava, Emanuele
Piccarreta, Raffaella
Gregson, Simon
Melegaro, Alessia
author_facet Del Fava, Emanuele
Piccarreta, Raffaella
Gregson, Simon
Melegaro, Alessia
author_sort Del Fava, Emanuele
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: The relationship between the risk of acquiring human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and people’s choices about life course events describing the transition to parenthood–sexual debut, union (in the form of marriage, cohabitation, or long-term relationship), and parenthood–is still unclear. A crucial role in shaping this relationship may be played by the sequence of these events and by their timing. This suggests the opportunity to focus on the life courses in their entirety rather than on the specific events, thus adopting a holistic approach that regards each individual’s life course trajectory as a whole. METHODS: We summarise the individual life courses describing the transition to parenthood using ordered sequences of the three considered events. We aim to (i) investigate the association between the sequences and HIV infection, and (ii) understand how these sequences interact with known mechanisms for HIV transmission, such as the length of sexual exposure and the experience of non-regular sexual partnerships. For this purpose, we use data from a general population cohort study run in Manicaland (Zimbabwe), a Sub-Saharan African area characterised by high HIV prevalence. RESULTS: For both genders, individuals who experienced either premarital or delayed childbearing have higher HIV risk compared to individuals following more standard transitions. This can be explained by the interplay of the sequences with known HIV proximate determinants, e.g., a longer exposure to sexual activity and higher rates of premarital sex. Moreover, we found that people in the younger birth cohorts experience more normative and safer sequences. CONCLUSIONS: The shift of younger generations towards more normative transitions to parenthood is a sign of behaviour change that might have contributed to the observed reduction in HIV prevalence in the area. On the other hand, for people with less normative transitions, targeted strategies are essential for HIV prevention.
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spelling pubmed-50425092016-10-27 Transition to Parenthood and HIV Infection in Rural Zimbabwe Del Fava, Emanuele Piccarreta, Raffaella Gregson, Simon Melegaro, Alessia PLoS One Research Article BACKGROUND: The relationship between the risk of acquiring human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and people’s choices about life course events describing the transition to parenthood–sexual debut, union (in the form of marriage, cohabitation, or long-term relationship), and parenthood–is still unclear. A crucial role in shaping this relationship may be played by the sequence of these events and by their timing. This suggests the opportunity to focus on the life courses in their entirety rather than on the specific events, thus adopting a holistic approach that regards each individual’s life course trajectory as a whole. METHODS: We summarise the individual life courses describing the transition to parenthood using ordered sequences of the three considered events. We aim to (i) investigate the association between the sequences and HIV infection, and (ii) understand how these sequences interact with known mechanisms for HIV transmission, such as the length of sexual exposure and the experience of non-regular sexual partnerships. For this purpose, we use data from a general population cohort study run in Manicaland (Zimbabwe), a Sub-Saharan African area characterised by high HIV prevalence. RESULTS: For both genders, individuals who experienced either premarital or delayed childbearing have higher HIV risk compared to individuals following more standard transitions. This can be explained by the interplay of the sequences with known HIV proximate determinants, e.g., a longer exposure to sexual activity and higher rates of premarital sex. Moreover, we found that people in the younger birth cohorts experience more normative and safer sequences. CONCLUSIONS: The shift of younger generations towards more normative transitions to parenthood is a sign of behaviour change that might have contributed to the observed reduction in HIV prevalence in the area. On the other hand, for people with less normative transitions, targeted strategies are essential for HIV prevention. Public Library of Science 2016-09-29 /pmc/articles/PMC5042509/ /pubmed/27684998 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0163730 Text en © 2016 Del Fava et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Del Fava, Emanuele
Piccarreta, Raffaella
Gregson, Simon
Melegaro, Alessia
Transition to Parenthood and HIV Infection in Rural Zimbabwe
title Transition to Parenthood and HIV Infection in Rural Zimbabwe
title_full Transition to Parenthood and HIV Infection in Rural Zimbabwe
title_fullStr Transition to Parenthood and HIV Infection in Rural Zimbabwe
title_full_unstemmed Transition to Parenthood and HIV Infection in Rural Zimbabwe
title_short Transition to Parenthood and HIV Infection in Rural Zimbabwe
title_sort transition to parenthood and hiv infection in rural zimbabwe
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5042509/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27684998
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0163730
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