Sexual risk behavior of married men and women in Bangladesh associated with husbands' work migration and living apart.

OBJECTIVES

This study aimed to ascertain the prevalence of sexual risk behavior among married men and women who had, or had not, lived apart from their spouse as a result of the husbands' work migration.

METHODS

A cross-sectional survey was conducted among a random sample of 1,175 married women and 703 married men in 2 rural areas of Bangladesh.

RESULTS

Extramarital sex was reported by 64.2% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 58.7-69.7) of 296 men and 8.6% (95% CI = 7.6-9.6) of 779 women who had lived apart from their spouse, 2 to 3 times higher than the proportions among those who had not lived apart (P <0.05). The proportions of men who reported sex with a female sex worker (50.7%; 95% CI = 45.0-56.4) or with another male (5.4%; 95% CI = 2.8-8.0), while living away, were double the proportions reporting they had done so before living away or among men who had not lived away (P <0.05). Only 2 men had ever used had a condom during sex with another male, and less than one third of men had used a condom during sex with a sex worker or during marital sex.

CONCLUSIONS

The sexual risk behavior of married men living away from home may put themselves and their wives at risk for HIV infection and other sexually transmitted diseases.