Coping with Risk : The Effects of Shocks on Reproductive Health and Transactional Sex in Rural Tanzania

Dow, William H.; de Walque, Damien; Gong, Erick

Coping with Risk : The Effects of Shocks on Reproductive Health and Transactional Sex in Rural Tanzania

Autores

Dow, William H.

de Walque, Damien

Gong, Erick

Editor

World Bank, Washington, DC

Descripción

Transactional sex is believed to be an important risk-coping mechanism for women in Sub-Saharan Africa and a leading contributor to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. This paper uses data from a panel of women in rural Tanzania whose primary occupation is agriculture. The analysis finds that following a negative shock (such as food insecurity), unmarried women are about three times more likely to have been paid for sex. Regardless of marital status, after a shock women have more unprotected sex and are 36 percent more likely to have a sexually transmitted infection. These empirical findings support the claims that transactional sex is not confined to commercial sex workers and that frequently experienced shocks, such as food insecurity, may lead women to engage in transactional sex as a risk-coping behavior.

Palabras clave

ADOLESCENT, ADOLESCENT GIRLS, ADVERSE HEALTH, AIDS PREVENTION, ALCOHOL, AVERAGE AGE, BABY, BIOLOGICAL MARKERS, BIRTH OUTCOMES, BIRTH WEIGHT, BIRTHS, BLINDNESS, CHILDHOOD, CHLAMYDIA, CHRONIC PAIN, CLINICS, COMMERCIAL SEX, COMMERCIAL SEX WORKERS, COMPLICATIONS, COMPLICATIONS DURING PREGNANCY, CONDOM, CONDOM USE, CULTURAL CHANGE, DEVELOPMENT POLICY, ECONOMIC STATUS, EPIDEMIC, FACT SHEET, FALLOPIAN TUBES, FAMILY PLANNING, FEMALE, FERTILITY, FOOD INSECURITY, FOOD SECURITY, GONORRHEA, HEALTH OUTCOMES, HEALTH PROBLEMS, HIGH-RISK, HIGH-RISK SEXUAL BEHAVIOR, HIV, HIV INFECTION, HIV/AIDS, HOME, HOUSEHOLD LEVEL, HUMAN DEVELOPMENT, HUSBANDS, ILLNESS, IMPORTANT POLICY, INFECTION PREVENTION, INFERTILITY, INSURANCE, LAM, LOW-INCOME COUNTRIES, MALE PARTNERS, MARITAL STATUS, MARRIAGES, MEDICAL TREATMENT, MEDICINE, MEDICINES, MIGRATION, MORBIDITY, NURSE, OLDER MEN, PANDEMIC, PELVIC INFLAMMATORY DISEASE, POLICY DISCUSSIONS, POLICY IMPLICATIONS, POLICY RESEARCH, POLICY RESEARCH WORKING PAPER, POLITICAL INSTABILITY, POPULATION REFERENCE BUREAU, PREGNANCIES, PROGRESS, PROSTITUTION, PUBLIC HEALTH, PUBLIC SERVICES, REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH, RESPECT, RISK FACTORS, RISKY SEXUAL BEHAVIOR, RISKY SEXUAL BEHAVIORS, SAFE SEX, SEX, SEX FOR MONEY, SEXUAL ACTIVITY, SEXUAL BEHAVIOR, SEXUAL BEHAVIORS, SEXUAL BEHAVIOUR, SEXUAL INTERCOURSE, SEXUAL PARTNERS, SEXUAL RELATIONS, SEXUAL RELATIONSHIPS, SEXUAL RISK, SEXUAL RISK FACTORS, SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED INFECTION, SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED INFECTIONS, SINGLE WOMEN, SOCIAL ECONOMIC STATUS, SOCIAL SCIENCE, SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS, SPOUSE, SPOUSES, STIS, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, SYPHILIS, UNMARRIED WOMEN, UNMARRIED YOUTHS, UNPROTECTED SEX, URBAN MIGRATION, WIDOWS, WILL, WOMAN, YOUNG ADULTS, YOUNG MEN, YOUNG WOMEN, YOUNGER WOMEN, YOUTHS