A STUDY OF SEXUAL-BEHAVIOR CHANGE IN RURAL SENEGAL

This study describes recent sociodemographic and behavioral changes in a rural community in Senegal and investigates how these changes may h ave modified the risk of HIV/STD transmission. The authors combine fin dings from two surveys: (a) a marriage survey among all adults of a ru ral community of similar to 7,000 inhabitants; and (b) a sexual practi ces survey conducted among a sample of the same population (165 men an d 165 women) between 1989 and 1994. During the last 30 years-between 1 955-64 and 1985-92-age at first marriage increased in the study area f rom 25 to 32 years for men and from 21 to 24 years for women. At the s ame time, age at first sexual intercourse decreased by similar to 10 y ears on average for men. As expected, this has led to an increase in p remarital sexual activity, and we have documented both an increase in the percentage of individuals declaring sexual relations before marria ge and, for men, an increase in the number of sexual partners before m arriage. Multipartnership is more frequent among men than women (OR = 4.4), among those who had their first intercourse at an early age (OR = 3.3), among rural migrants (OR = 2.7), and among those who had a goo d knowledge of AIDS. These findings show how recent changes in marriag e, sexual behaviors, and seasonal migration have combined to increase the risk of HIV/STD infection within the community. Male rural migrant s and their partners are particularly exposed.