Prevalence of HIV among women in Malawi: Identify the most-at-risk groups for targeted and cost-effective interventions

Though global HIV/ AIDS incidence is declining, HIV/AIDS remained the leading cause of death in women of reproductive age in low-and middle-income countries, particularly in sub-Sahara Africa. Given the high costs of HIV treatment, evidence-based targeted interventions are advocated as cost-effective strategy to fighting HIV/AIDS.
This study aims to assess the socioeconomic predictors of HIV infection and identify the most-a-risk groups among women in Malawi using a Chi-square Automatic Interaction Detector. The analysis was performed on a sample of 8,596 women aged 15-49 years from the 2004 and 2010 Malawi Health and Demographic Surveys.
The results revealed that marital status is the most significant predictor of HIV infection among women in Malawi. Women who are no longer in union and living in the households within the highest wealth quintiles were the most-at-risk group of HIV infection. The less-at-risk group included nulliparous never married women living in the rural areas. In the light of these findings, we recommend targeted interventions taking into account HIV prevalence and the demographic size of different groups at risk groups; and reinforcement of integration of family planning and HIV/AIDS services through community health workers, households and school based campaign and reproduction health services.