Title: Experimental research on sexual networking in the Ekiti district of Nigeria.

POPLINE Document Number: 073462

Author(s):

Orubuloye IO
Caldwell JC
Caldwell P

Source citation:

Canberra, Australia, Australian National University, National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, Health Transition Centre, 1990. 19 p. (Health Transition Working Paper No. 3)

Abstract:

Exploring the potential for spread of the AIDS epidemic to Nigeria, this paper considers sexual networking in the Ekiti district, the northernmost part of Ondo state, in which no cases of AIDS have been reported. The district is highly urbanized with towns of 30,000-150,000, and many large villages of 5000 and more inhabitants. A total of 400 persons were interviewed in a large town and a rural village. 100 males aged 17-50 and 100 females aged 15-45 were interviewed in each locale. Extensive premarital and extramarital sexual activity is deeply rooted in traditional culture, and is supported largely by women's long period of postpartum abstinence and the high social value placed on conceiving and bearing children. Traditional society allows young, unmarried men to enjoy premarital sex, just as married men are permitted to have sex with others while their wives abstain after childbirth. Before the availability of commercial sex, these men often had discrete relations with other married women in the community. The degree of networking has increased, with the society enjoying greater sexual freedom and commercial sex. Constraints against free sex do, however, include religion, the fear of venereal disease, and the fear of pregnancy. The fear of AIDS also exists, yet to a lesser extent than these other concerns. As the proportion of polygynous marriages decline and the period of postpartum sexual abstinence shortens, the authors caution to not expect a decline in the degree of sexual networking. 2 possible reasons exist for the comparative dearth of AIDS in western Africa: 1) sexual activity is more diffused within the population, with sexual networking less a factor of relations between many men and few women and 2) the predominance of circumcision among Yoruba and other western African males may also play a role in preventing HIV transmission within the region.

Keywords:

Nigeria
Research Report
Surveys
Premarital Sex Behavior
Extramarital Sex Behavior
AIDS Prevention
HIV Prevention
Sexually Transmitted Disease Prevention
Risk Factors
Multiple Partners
Cultural Background
Postpartum Abstinence
Polygyny
Religion
Pregnancy, Unwanted
Male Circumcision
Sex Workers
Africa, Western
Africa, Sub Saharan
Africa
Developing Countries
Sampling Studies
Studies
Research Methodology
Sex Behavior
Behavior
AIDS
HIV Infections
Viral Diseases
Diseases
Sexually Transmitted Diseases
Reproductive Tract Infections
Infections
Biology
Sexual Partners
Population Characteristics
Demographic Factors
Population
Abstinence
Family Planning, Behavioral Methods
Family Planning
Marriage Patterns
Marriage
Nuptiality
Reproductive Behavior
Fertility
Population Dynamics