Cash support can help young females avoid sexual contact with older
men, says research from World Bank
Sarah Boseley
Tuesday July 20 2010
The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/20/cash-to-poor-girls-slows-hiv
Giving girls in poor countries regular cash payments can help them
avoid inappropriate sexual relationships with older and wealthier men,
two pieces of research from the World Bank suggest.
Poverty is an underlying factor in the spread of HIV in the developing
world. Girls are the group most at risk of the virus. Some form
relationships with older men ? more likely to be infected with HIV
than boys of their own age ? for financial support. David Wilson, the
director of the bank's global HIV/Aids programme, said financial
incentives may offer a way to help young people help themselves.
"These two studies show the potential for using cash payments to
prevent people, especially women and girls, from engaging in unsafe
sex while also ensuring that they stay in school and get the full
benefits of an education," he said.
The studies presented at the International Aids conference in Vienna
were carried out in Tanzania and Malawi with similar results. In
Malawi, nearly 4,000 girls were offered a regular cash transfer with
the only condition being that they stayed in school.
The girls not only attended school, but after 18 months, the HIV
infection rate in those who were given money was 60% lower than among
the others. They also had a 75% lower rate of sexually transmitted
infections ? a strong indicator that they were in fact having less
sex. Those that did have sex had younger partners.
The Bank says it is likely that the payments led to a drop in
"transactional sex". At the start of the study, a quarter of sexually
active girls said they started relationships because they needed or
wanted money.
The second study, in Tanzania, involved over 2,000 men and women
between 18 and 30. They were given payments every four months for
remaining free of sexually transmitted infections, following
counselling on safe sex and condom use. People who indulge in risky
sexual behaviour are more likely to get STIs and also HIV. Those
involved received up to $60 over 12 months. There was a 25% drop in
STIs among those who got the payments.
guardian.co.uk Copyright (c) Guardian News and Media Limited. 2010
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