Recent study tells, that the most popular injectable contraception in Southern Africa is leading to twice as many cases of HIV. The research study found that women were " twice " as likely to become infected with HIV while men were twice as likely infected compared to no contraception use at all.
According to the NY Times:
The findings potentially present an alarming quandary for women in Africa. Hundreds of thousands of them suffer injuries, bleeding, infections and even death in childbirth from unintended pregnancies. Finding affordable and convenient contraceptives is a pressing goal for international health authorities.
The study has found that injectable contraceptive drugs have biological properties that make both men and women more susceptible to H.I.V.
Isoble Coleman, Director of Women and Foreign Policy Program at the Council on Foreign Relations said:
“ The best contraception today is injectable hormonal contraception because you don’t need a doctor, it’s long-lasting, it enables women to control timing and spacing of birth without a lot of fuss and travel. If it is now proven that these contraceptions are helping spread the AIDS epidemic, we have a major health crisis on our hands. ”
According to prescription numbers nearly 12 million women in Africa from the age of 15 to 49 use injectable hormone treatments, nearly 6% of all women in the country. In the United States 1.2 million women 3% of the population use the treatments.
University of Washington researcher lead the study and is fully published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases and included 3,800 couples in Botswana, Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.
The study found that women using hormonal contraception became infected at a rate of 6.61/100 person years, compared with 3.78 for those not using that method. Transmission of H.I.V. to men occurred at a rate of 2.61/ 100 person years for women using hormonal contraception compared with 1.51 for those who did not.
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