Postpartum sexual abstinence in the era of AIDS in Ghana: prospects for change
Awusabo-Asare, K.; Anarfi, J.K.
Health Transition Review the Cultural Social and Behavioural Determinants of Health 7 Suppl: 257-270
1997
ISSN/ISBN: 1036-4005 PMID: 10169649 Document Number: 268466
AIDS has been reported from all parts of Ghana and as of mid-1995, 15,980 people had been officially diagnosed HIV-positive out of an estimated population of 16.5 million. While women are generally expected to abstain from sex for some period following childbirth in the health interest of both the mother and child, men are not expected to abstain. These expectations and corresponding behavior have been used to rationalize polygyny. Difficult socioeconomic conditions, however, make it hard for men to support two or more wives. Some men following the birth of a child will therefore abstain like their wives out of fear of HIV infection, albeit entreating their wives to resume sex early. Other men may enter short- or long-term extramarital relationships. Findings are presented from the Ghana segment of the Social Dimensions of AIDS Infection Survey conducted March-April 1992 which examined the responses of women who reported postpartum sexual abstinence and those of their partners. A nationally representative random sample of 1364 men and 1034 women aged 15 to over 60 years was interviewed; 60% of the men and 56% of the women were married. Both men and women reported abstaining, but some women knew that their partners did not abstain as they did. Some women knew their husbands' sex partners and men typically made the first move to resume sex. Attitudes toward postpartum sexual abstinence must be changed through education in order for any behavioral change to occur.