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1994 - VOLUME 4, NUMBER 2

95.57.1 - English - Uche C. Isiugo-Abanihe, Department of Sociology, University of Ibadan, Ibadan (Nigeria) Extramarital relations and perceptions of HIV/AIDS in Nigeria (p. 111-125)

Data from a 1991 survey of five Nigerian towns are used to examine currently married men's and women's perceptions of AIDS which, together with other socioeconomic factors, are then related to extramarital sexual behaviour. An overwhelming majority of the respondents have accurate information about AIDS. In particular, most associate HIV/AIDS transmission with multiple sexual partners, though only one-third of them think that the fear of AIDS has limited casual sex in their communities. About 54% of men and 39% of women have had extramarital relations, with 18% of men and 11% of women having done so in the previous week. The incidence of extramarital relations varies considerably by respondents' level of education, type of marriage, religion, and spousal closeness. More importantly, knowledge of multiple sexual partners as a risk factor for HIV/AIDS is inversely related to extramarital affairs. The study underscores the link between knowledge and behaviour, and calls for a well-articulated campaign designed to educate the populace about the threat of AIDS, with the aim of modifying both premarital and extramarital sexual behaviour, thereby reducing the risk factor for HIV through heterosexual relations which is the main mode of transmission in Nigeria. (NIGERIA, AIDS, SEXUAL BEHAVIOUR)

95.57.2 - English - Martin Brockerhoff, Research Division, The Population Council, One Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, New York, NY 1001 7 (USA)

The impact of rural-urban migration on child survival (p. 127-149)

Large rural-urban child mortality differentials in many developing countries suggest that rural families can improve their children's survival chances by leaving the countryside and settling in towns and cities. This study uses data from Demographic and Health Surveys in 17 countries to assess the impact of maternal rural-urban migration on the survival chances of children under age two in the late 1970s and 1980s. Results show that, before migration, children of migrant women had similar or slightly higher mortality risks than children of women who remained in the village. In the two-year period surrounding their mother's migration, their chances of dying increased sharply as a result of accompanying their mothers or being left behind, to levels well above those of rural and urban non-migrant children. Children born after migrants had settled in the urban area, however, gradually experienced much better survival chances than children of rural non-migrants, as well as lower mortality risks than migrants' children born in rural areas before migration. The study concludes that many disadvantaged urban children would probably have been much worse off had their mothers remained in the village, and that millions of children's lives may have been saved in the 1980s as a result of mothers moving to urban areas. (DEVELOPING COUNTRIES, CHILD SURVIVAL, RURAL-URBAN MIGRATION)

95.57.3 - English - Bhanu B. Niraula, Population Studies Center, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA (U.S.A.) Use of health services in Hill villages in Central Nepal (p. 151-166)

This paper reports the use and non-use of health care facilities in the Hill villages in central Nepal. The health behaviour model (HBM) is applied to test the significance of socioeconomic variables on the use of the modern health care system. The study finds that all three characteristics of the HBM model, predisposing, enabling and need, are significantly related to use and non-use of the modern health care system. The analysis shows that number of living children, respondent's education, nearness to the road and service centre, value of land, knowledge about health workers and experience of child loss are some of the variables that are positively and significantly related to the use of modern health care. Age of the respondents and household size were found to be negatively associated with health-care use. Contrary to expectation, caste is unimportant. Making use of the qualitative data, this paper argues that the health care system is unnecessarily bureaucratic and patriarchal, which favours the socio-economically well-off. (NEPAL, RURAL POPULATION, HEALTH FACILITIES, HEALTH SERVICES)

95.57.4 - English - Ray Langsten, Social Research Center, American University in Cairo, Cairo (Egypt), and Kenneth Hill, Department of Population Dynamics, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MA (U.S.A.) The effect of physician training on treatment of respiratory infections: Evidence from rural Egypt (p. 167-182)

A three-round survey of child mortality, morbidity and treatment conducted in rural lower Egypt in 1990-91 found relatively poor treatment practices for respiratory infections. Only about 56% of children with a respiratory infection received appropriate treatment. Antibiotics were prescribed for more than half of all mild coughs and colds, but were not prescribed for a quarter or more of serious cases. A training program for government physicians conducted midway through the survey improved treatment practice slightly in government facilities. However, training alone is unlikely to improve treatment much. Better supervision, and information campaigns focused directly on mothers, are suggested as necessary components of a successful project. (EGYPT, INFANT MORTALITY, MORBIDITY, RESPIRATORY DISEASES, MEDICAL CARE, PHYSICIANS)

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