In the first study ever done in Kenya to explain the different HIV infection rates among various ethnic groups, researchers from Belgium, South Africa and the US show the more amorous a community is, the higher the HIV infections.
Published on Friday in the journal Plos One, the data says the Somali, both men and women with an HIV prevalence of about two per cent, are most likely to start sex late, have fewer sex partners in life and are less likely to engage in sex for pay.
The authors say the Luo in Nyanza, on the other hand, with an HIV prevalence of about 22 per cent, are likely to be involved in multiple risky sexual behaviour.
Such behaviour includes sex before marriage, more partners in life and casual sex, partially explaining the high HIV infection rates in this community.
The authors intimate that there are fewer virgin girls or young women among the Luo compared to the Somali or Mijikenda who engage in first sex much later in life. Among the two communities, sex before marriage was found to be much rarer than in most other Kenyan ethnic groups.
Inter marriages
If, for example, the Somali were to export their chastity to the rest of Kenya through inter marriage, it could change the HIV infection trends. Unfortunately, Kenyans are shown to be poor at intermarrying.
Almost 95 per cent of Kenyans, even in cosmopolitan Nairobi, are married or have sex partners from their ethnic communities. Only the Taita from the Coast region are most likely to marry into other ethnic communities.
The study led by Chris Richard Kenyon of Belgium grudgingly says male circumcision may be a significant factor in the high HIV prevalence rates in Nyanza but not the only determining factor.
The Luhya, for example, have a slightly higher circumcision prevalence than the Kalenjin, but a HIV prevalence more than double that of the Kalenjin, according to the authors.
Likewise, the prevalence of HIV is nine times higher among the Luhya than Somalis despite similar circumcision rates.
“Therefore, while circumcision plays a major role, it is likely that other factors contribute to group differences.”
Among the Luhya, the study says, almost two-thirds of women believe it is alright for a man to have extra-marital affairs, something which could aid the spread of HIV.
Worried about wide regional variation in HIV prevalence, the Ministry of Health in a strategic plan has singled out five of the most affected areas for special attention.