Sociodemographic context of the AIDS epidemic in a rural area in Tanzania with a focus on people

Author(s): Boerma J T, Urassa M, Nnko S, Ng

Year: 2002

Abstract:
This analysis focuses on how sociocultural and economic characteristics of a poor semi-urban and rural population in northwest Tanzania may directly and indircetly affect the epidemiology of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Poverty and sociocultural changes may contribute to the observed high levels of martial instability and high levels of short- and long-term migration in Kisesa, especially among younger adults. Marriage and migration patterns are important underlying factors affecting the spread of HIV. The most cost-effective intervention strategy may be to focus on the trading centre in which mobility is higher, bars were more common, and HIV prevalence and incidence were considerably higher than in nearby rural villages. If resources suffice, additional work can be undertaken in the rural villages, though it is not clear to what extent the rural epidemic would be self-sustaining if the interventions in the trading centre were effective.