A longitudinal study of the sexual behaviour of high-risk men and women living in a trading town on the trans-Africa highway showed that distinct sexual networks operated within the town. Forty-eight prostitutes kept daily records for 6 months of all their sexual contacts including the occupation and place of residence of each client and the price paid.
Details of sexual contacts of the women were recorded. Thirty-eight male potential clients were recruited in low-cost bars where some of the women worked. They provided similar details of their daily sexual contacts. All were resident in the town and 22 had occupations which were classified as unskilled.
PIP: A longitudinal study of the sexual behavior of men and women living in a trading town on the trans-Africa highway km south-west of Kampala, Uganda revealed the presence of distinct networks of casual and commercial sex. Among women, a total of sexual contacts were recorded over woman-weeks of observation, for an average of 5. Among male respondents, sexual contacts were reported during man-weeks of observation, for an average of 3. In-depth interviews with a convenience sample of six men revealed a total of 32 sexual contacts in the previous 2 weeks, of which eight involved wives or regular partners, 11 were with a sex worker encountered in discos or on the road, and 13 were with a woman known for days.
The condom use rates reported by respondents for casual partners are considered inflated, especially in light of the drunkenness that usually accompanies sexual encounters initiated in lower-class bars.
