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Gender equality....education and HIV

  • 03-06-2009 8:07am
    #1
    tallaght01
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,778 ✭✭✭


    I think I'm making my questions tot he medical students too easy!

    I was hoping to spark a debate today, and asked them why, in developing countries, female education is a protective factor in them catching HIV, and why 15 years ago it was an independent risk factor.

    I know the theoretical right answer (as there's no hard and fast evidence that the "right" answer is correct), but they got it within about 3 seconds of me asking.

    So, were they just really brainy? Or can you guys tell me why the change happened?

    It's a very obvious answer when it's pointed out. the only reason i'm posting it is because I only read it two days ago, and was surprised by it.

    But the right answer is really not rocket science at all.

    Clue: The answer is not "They used to catch it from dirty books" :P


Comments

  • #2
    Vorsprung
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,816 ✭✭✭Vorsprung


    Educated females are more likely to use condoms?


  • #3
    Pet
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,579 ✭✭✭Pet


    I've a feeling the answer is going to seem horribly obvious when you eventually tell us, but go on. I'm stumped.


  • #4
    charlieroot
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 196 ✭✭charlieroot


    Something to do with women educating the family as well....


  • #5
    tallaght01
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,778 ✭✭✭tallaght01


    The question is why were educated women at HIGHER risk in the early stages of the epidemic,


  • #6
    bleg
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,848 ✭✭✭bleg


    possibly because of their socio economic group they didn't feel the need to use protection? they could have presumed it was a disease of the poorly educated, lower socio economic groups and therefore didn't take the correct preventative measures...


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  • #7
    Saintly
    Closed Accounts Posts: 200 ✭✭Saintly


    Am guessing it may have something to do with form of contraception used? Educated women may have had greater access to the pill and more sexual freedom. Lack of condom use, particularly when impact of HIV/STIs were poorly misunderstood, may have initially caused a spread of the disease in busy urban universities? If not, hints please.. I am never patient with puzzles!


  • #8
    994
    Closed Accounts Posts: 911 ✭✭✭994


    Education meant going off to the big city and catching diseases?


  • #9
    2Scoops
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,845 ✭✭✭2Scoops


    The education they received 15 years ago wasn't very good?


  • #10
    tallaght01
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,778 ✭✭✭tallaght01


    994 wrote: »
    Education meant going off to the big city and catching diseases?

    This is the "correct answer", more or less.
    2Scoops wrote: »
    The education they received 15 years ago wasn't very good?

    But this is a really interesting point.

    The Lancet did a nice series on the role of different types of factors in the spread of HIV, and their potential for intervention. The paper about structural factors (factors at a societal/infrastructural level) has this to say about it:
    The Lancet wrote:
    Structures affecting risk are not static and may change, both in their form and in their effect as an epidemic evolves. A clear example of this is the effect of education on HIV risk. Studies before 1995 found high rates of HIV infection in educated women, possibly linked to higher socioeconomic status and mobility and having more sexual partners than less educated women. However, as the epidemics developed over time, the relation changed with education becoming more protective


    HIV Prevention 4: Structural approaches to HIV prevention
    Geeta Rao Gupta; Justin O Parkhurst; Jessica A Ogden; Peter Aggleton; Ajay Mahal. The Lancet 2008;372:764-775


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