Experimental research on sexual networking in some selected areas of Ghana

Abstract

Despite increasing evidence that West Africa is at a critical stage in its experience of the AIDS pandemic, there is a lack of specific information about the sexual behaviour of people in the society. To provide such information, 360 individuals were surveyed. Results indicate that the nature of sexual contacts within Ghanaian society has the potential to promote the spread of STDs and AIDS. Polygyny, central in Ghanaian socio-cultural organization, underlies the male tendency to seek multiple sexual partners. Early widowhood, the general instability of marriage and the high level of remarriage, also suggest that there is a high level of sexual networking within the society. Although Ghanaian society accepts sexual networking, and some people are even casual about the AIDS scare, it appears that people are changing their sexual habits in response to the campaign on AIDS, which seems to have succeeded in instilling fear.