Domestic Violence Against Women and HIV Vulnerability in Nigeria

This paper analyzed the impact of domestic violence on HIV vulnerability using the 2008 Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data. Fuzzy set method was used to construct indices of HIV vulnerability and its correlates were determined by Tobit regression. It was found that among the selected HIV vulnerability attributes, the number of other wives contributed the most (10.30 percent) to HIV vulnerability indices, while North Central and South-South zones had the highest average HIV vulnerability of 0.0669 and 0.0633, respectively. At the state level, Niger, Enugu and Nasarawa states recorded the highest average HIV vulnerability indices of 0.0889, 0.0879 and 0.0864. respectively. Also, the most reported domestic violence against women were violation of women’s right to ask for the use of condom in sexual relationships (68.32 percent) and lack of power to refuse sex (44.92 percent). The Tobit regression showed that HIV vulnerability was significantly promoted (p<0.05) by majority of the included domestic violence variables in addition to husbands’ smoking habit, consumption of alcohol, number of wives, and ignorance about HIV. Access to media (newspaper, radio and television) and wife’s years of education significantly reduced HIV vulnerability (p<0.05). It was inter alia noted that within some socio-cultural norms, programmes and policies to advocate for enforcement of women’s rights in sexual and marital issues are needed.