Women’s Risk of HIV From Husbands

Unilateral monogamy is not an effective prevention strategy for HIV infection for women, according to a study of Mexican men.

We might find men’s persistent and widespread participation in extramarital sex to be troubling — but it’s a deeply rooted aspect of social organization, and one that is unlikely to be easily changed, study leader Jennifer S. Hirsch of the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health said in a statement.

Public health programs alone can’t stop extramarital sex, so we need to think about how to reduce the risk. Saying that ‘be faithful’ will protect married women is not true.

The study, published in the American Journal of Public Health, found women are infected by their husbands, the very people with whom they are supposed to be having sex and, according to social conventions of Mexico, the only people with whom they are ever supposed to have sex.

In the Mexican study, as well as a similar study in New Guinea, the researchers say labor migration was a major contributor to infidelity. However, many men did not view sexual fidelity as necessary for achieving a happy marriage; they viewed drinking and looking for women as important for male friendships.