Intimate Partner Violence and HIV in Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

We investigate the relationship between intimate partner violence (IPV) and HIV among married women using Demographic and Health Survey data from ten sub-Saharan African countries, and find a strong association. The association is due to higher HIV risk among violent men; neither women’s decreased ability to protect themselves from HIV transmission within marriage, nor their risky sexual behavior, explains the link. Thus, it is not violence per se that drives the spread of HIV, but the fact that violent men are more likely to become HIV positive and then infect their wives. Programs that aim at reducing HIV by eliminating IPV should therefore also focus on men’s risky sexual behavior.