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Extra year in school equals less HIV infections

An extra year of secondary schooling can reduce HIV infection rates, this is according to a study conducted in Botswana.

According to the study, formal education and HIV infection rates can not be separated especially for women.

The study suggests that because education gives women social and economic independence so that they do not find themselves trapped in “economically dependent sexual relationships where they don’t necessarily have enough power to insist on condom use or avoid HIV infection risk in other ways.”

“Research has also showed that girls who complete primary and secondary education have fewer unwanted pregnancies, which suggests they may engage more often in safe sex,” reported Rand Daily Mail.

 

Botswana is said to have one of the highest HIV infection rates in the world with over 20% of males aged between 15 and 49 years infected in 2009.

 

The study shows that women who completed 13 years of schooling were at an even lower risk of contracting HIV by at least half the total of those who only completed about 8-9 years of schooling.

 

“The additional schooling may also be improving cognitive skills that help people make better decisions.

“Students at that age are forming a sense of who they are and what their future is going to be: will they have a career, focus on finding a spouse and starting a family, or a combination of these paths?,” quoted from RDM.

“These results suggest that improving access to secondary schooling, which is a lot more expensive, should be considered alongside the less costly circumcision and treatment as HIV prevention methods."

 

*Screenshots and graphics from The Lancet.

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