Hormone injections are a popular form of contraceptive in east and southern Africa because they are cheap and easy to use
NAIROBI (AlertNet) – Injectable contraceptives, widely used in Africa, may double women’s risk of HIV infection, a new study published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal shows.
Hormone injections used every three months, like Depo Provera, are the most popular form of contraceptive in east and southern Africa because they are cheap and easy to use.
Unlike the daily contraceptive pill, it is easier for women to take them without men’s knowledge.
The study also showed that men are twice as likely to become infected if their HIV positive female partners are using injectables rather than no contraception.
“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,” Isobel Coleman, director of the women and foreign policy programme at the Council on Foreign Relations told the New York Times
“If it is now proven that these contraceptions are helping spread the AIDS epidemic, we have a major health crisis on our hands.”
The researchers studied 3,800 couples in Kenya Botswana, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.
The World Health Organization will meet in January to discuss the findings.
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