Statistical Methodology to Measure HIV Serodiscordance Among Couples: The case of Mozambique

Abstract

The number of people newly infected by Human Immunodeficiency Virus globally is continuing to decline, but national epidemics continue to expand in many parts of the world. In many countries including Mozambique, a substantial proportion of heterosexual couples, often in stable partnerships, is Human Immunodeficiency Virus serodiscordant and some of them are unaware of their partner’s status.

Statistical Methodology to measure Human Immunodeficiency Virus ’Serodiscordance’ among couples to investigate the effect of Human Immunodeficiency Virus prevalence among Serodiscordance couples is our main focus.

We propose a new measure of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Serodiscordance, the conditional synchrony measure, which is the probability of a couple to be concordant positive (both members within a couple being Human Immunodeficiency Virus positive), given that at least one of the two is already infected.

Cross-sectional data from INISIDA 2009, which is a national survey on prevalence, behavioral risks and information on HIV status in Mozambique was used.