Sexual behaviour in a fishing community on Lake Victoria, Uganda

Abstract

This study describes the sexual behaviour of men and women in a fishing village on the shores of Lake Victoria in southwest Uganda. The village is near a well known trading town-truckstop on the main trans-Africa highway with a high recorded prevalence of HIV infection. Data were obtained on the daily travel and sexual activities of 26 women and 54 men with particular attention paid to the rate of partner change and the proportion of sexual contacts with people outside the village. During a total of 587 person-weeks the men made 1086 trips, mostly returning home the same day. They had a total of 1226 sexual contacts, most of which occurred either in their own village (83%) or a neighbouring fishing village (11%); 17 per cent of sexual contacts were with new partners. Fifteen of the women described themselves as married; 42 per cent of their sexual contacts were with casual, paying partners. Of the eleven women who were single, between 80 and 100 per cent of contacts were with paying partners. Most of the women’s partners were resident in the village. These data show a very high rate of sexual mixing within the village but little contact with people from outside. This suggests that all sexually active men and women in the village are at high risk of STDs including HIV. There is currently no formal health care available in the village. Such communities should be targeted in future STD control programs.