Understanding Men’s Health & Use of Violence: Interface of Rape and HIV in South Africa

South Africa has one of the highest rates of rape reported to the police in the world and the largest number of people living with HIV. There is considerable concern about the link between these two problems. Obviously, HIV can be transmitted during rape and this pontential compounds the human rights violation of rape. Research has established that men who rape and are more physically violent towards partners are more likely to engage in sexual risk taking than other men – this has raised a concern that they are more likely to be infected with HIV. The aim of this research was to understand the prevalence of rape pepetration in a random sample community – based adult men, to understand factors associated with rape perpetration, and to describe intersections between rape, physical intimate partner intimate partner violence, and HIV.

Publisher: South African Medical Research Council
Year of Publication: 2009