The Role of Women's Empowerment as a Factor Facilitating Condom Use- Meta-analysis: the Results from African Countries

摘要

The global burden of HIV infection is increasingly shifting to women and children. This trend is a real and serious threat, particularly in Africa, where infected females outnumber infected males, and the fertility rate is very high. Among the foremost reasons cited for the increased vulnerability of women to HIV infection is the higher efficiency of male-to-female HIV transmission than the reverse. In addition to this universal biological reason, the socioeconomic and cultural conditions faced by women, such as poverty, economic dependence, socio-sexual subordination, and power inequity, are also considered to contribute to their increased vulnerability to HIV infection. The education level and economic independence among women have been cited as woman empowering factors facilitating condom use but the data so far was not evidence based or was often inconclusive.