The Importance of Redesigning Approaches Toward HIV Knowledge and Prevention in Married Saudi Arabian Women

Abstract

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) began its public health response to acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in 1984. Since then, multiple studies of the epidemiology of transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in KSA have been published, and this has revealed that KSA, due to unique cultural features, has high-risk subpopulations that are different from those in other countries. An important high-risk population in KSA is married women, who are at risk from getting an STI from their husbands. Culturally appropriate and accessible public health prevention and treatment resources are available, but historically, the KSA public health response has focused on low-risk populations in KSA, and the measurement of HIV-related knowledge that is not applicable to this population. This paper argues that married women in KSA constitute a high risk group for contracting HIV, and that public health efforts in KSA should be directed toward better understanding how to reduce the HIV risk of married women in KSA through improved HIV prevention knowledges and practices.