Epidemiological Study On The Prevalence And Risk Factors Of Hiv Infection In Cross-border Wives In Tengchong County Of Yunnan

Background:Countries and regions surrounding Yunnan Province of China are severely affected by heroin trade and the HIV epidemic. Yunnan shares long stretches of unhindered borders with these neighboring countries, and there's a long history of trade and cultural exchange between the people of Yunnan and these regions, including cross-border marriages. These cross-border marriages are predominantly Burmese women marrying into China, usually without any official marriage registration process. Currently, there is very little knowledge of the HIV infection rate in this population, and research in this area is needed.Objective:To assess basic HIV/AIDS knowledge level and related high-risk behavior of cross-border wives in Yunnan's border region; to get the HIV infection rate in these wives and their Chinese partners, and to explore possible related HIV infection risk-factors in this population.Method:Cross-sectional survey are taken of all cross-border wives residing in Tengchong county using standardized questionnaires; HIV and syphilis testing are done for all the women and their partners.960 women(all of them are Burma) and 741 men are tested.Results:The HIV positive rate is 1.98%for foreign wives in Tengchong, and 1.35%for their partners. Analysis show that risk of HIV infection for women who previously had deceased husbands in Bunna is 27.209(95%CI:4.758-155.590) times that of previously unmarried women; risk of HIV infection for women who came to China less than 1 year ago is 8.597 (95%CI:2.352-31.427) times these who came more than 1 year ago; and risk of HIV infection for women who had causal sexual partner within the last year is 15.968 (95%CI:1.804-141.331) times of that who did not. Thus, previously deceased husband, causal sex partner within 1 year, and moving to China within 1 year are risk factors associated with HIV infection of cross-border wives. Also, average knowledge level of HIV is significantly lower in this population of Burmese wives than that of rural women in Tengchong and in Yunnan.Conclusion:Effective surveillance method should be established, HIV education should also target this group. Voluntary HIV testing should be promoted in this population during marital registration in order to provide necessary interventions to reduce sexual transmission, and control the spread of HIV. Also, percentage and frequency of condom use needs to be increased among cross-border marriage couples. In order to prevent the transmission of HIV, we not only need to raise the HIV knowledge level of these women, but also step up efforts in condom use education and condom distribution, especially for younger women and women with lower level of former education. Not enough attention has been paid to HIV counseling and testing and other preventive interventions among this cross-border marriage population in many areas, and this should be strengthened in the future.