Religion and HIV Status in Sub-Saharan Africa: Examining Influence and Pathways

Jenny Trinitapoli, University of Texas at Austin

A growing body of research examining the relationship between religion and HIV risk in sub-Saharan Africa has suggested that members of certain religious groups (particularly Pentecostal ones) may have distinctive risk behaviors. Using a sample of married women and their husbands in rural Malawi, this study moves beyond the reliance on self-reported risk behaviors that characterizes this body of literature and uses survey data combined with biomarkers to examine whether or not HIV status is associated with religious affiliation or with religious involvement. Analyses of survey data from the Malawi Diffusion and Ideational Change Project (2004) reveal differences in risk behavior, perceived risk, and HIV status according to several measures of religiosity. Regular attendance at religious services, for example, is associated with reduced odds of reporting extramarital partners, lower levels of perceived risk of infection, and reduced likelihood of testing positive for HIV for men.