Adolescent sexual networking and HIV transmission in rural Uganda.

ABSTRACT

PIP: Interview and HIV serostatus data were obtained for 861 adolescents aged 13-19 years in 1991 living in Rakai district, Uganda. Although 36% reported having been sexually active during the previous 12 months, only 11% of males and 2.4% of females had ever used a condom. 0.8% of males and 9.9% of females were infected with HIV. The proportion of adolescents who are sexually active and the rate of HIV infection both increase with age. The annual incidence of HIV infection was 2.0 per 100 person-years of follow-up among all adolescents, 0.8 in males and 3.0 in females. The annual mortality rate among HIV-negative adolescents was 0.37% compared to 3.92% among the HIV-positive adolescents. Sexual networking data were collected from 389 adolescents aged 15-19 years of whom 55% were sexually active. The median age at first sexual intercourse was 15 years for both boys and girls. The 214 sexually active adolescents reported 339 sexual relationships of which 38.5% were with spouses, 36% with boyfriends or girlfriends, and 21% with friends. 52 concurrent sexual relationships were reported by 35 adolescents, with males reporting higher rates of concurrent sexual relationships than females. Boys' sex partners were mainly younger students and housemaids while the girls' partners were mainly older traders and salaried workers.