HIV and Injectable Hormonal Contraceptives in sub-Saharan Africa

This research investigates the association between HIV prevalence and use of injectable hormonal contraceptives (depot medroxyprogesterone acetate, DMPA), for sexually active women aged 15 to 49 in 18 African countries. First we use thematic maps to show the respective prevalences of HIV and injectables. We then run multi-level logit models to predict HIV status for users and nonusers of injectables. We run similar regressions for users of hormonal contraceptives versus non-users. Preliminary results show that a positive correlation exists between ever use of injectables and being HIV positive. This relationship seems to persist even when we control for high-risk behavior. The relationship between HIV and use of injectables might be positively mediated by use of other contraceptive methods - when the sample is restricted to women who have only ever used one method, there appears to be no difference in the odds of being HIV positive for users of DMPA and non-users. These relationship suggests a need to move forward with policy initiatives to protect women and their partners.