Study in Mexico Suggests Mayans at Greater Risk of Contracting HIV teleSUR
go to original January 19, 2016

A lack of adequate health services and information on HIV is increasing the risk of infection in Mayan communities. (Flickr)

Mayan women may be at greater risk of being infected with HIV because of higher rates of migration within their communities, according to a new study in Mexico.    

Researchers Rocio Quintal Lopez and Ligia Vera Gamboa of Yucatan Autonomous University found the lack of formal information about infection rate in Mayan communities was telling: “if statistics in Mexico are maps of needs that public health institutions must or must not respond to, the absence of numbers showing the presence and magnitude of HIV among the Maya population becomes politically notable,” says the study. “What’s not said, cannot speak.”    

The two Yucutan municipalities studied have Mayan-speaking populations of 95.6 and 99.9 percent and a poverty rate of about 90 percent. Migration is likely a big factor in infection rate in as the two municipalities have seen a steadily rising number of men migrate to neighboring states in Mexico for days or weeks at a time to find work. The first cases of HIV were detected there in 1987 – and that this discovery came at a time of rapidly increasing migration.    

Migrants are three times more likely to contract HIV, according to a previous study, because of higher rates of unprotected sex, minimal or inaccurate sex education and less access to health services.

The purpose of the study was to improve sexual health education in Mayan communities. The researchers found that 60 percent of the population believe myths about HIV transmission. For instance, most of those surveyed believed they could be infected by being bit by a mosquito, or sharing utensils, and that they could prevent the spread of the disease by washing their genitals before and after sex.    

Besides a lack of information, the study cited domestic violence and alcoholism as a factor in higher rates of unprotected sex that could lead to contracting HIV.

Read the rest at teleSUR

Related: Yucatan in First Place in New Cases of HIV (The Yucatan Times)

Related: AIDS Affecting Mexican Adolescents (Prensa Latina)

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