Marriage presents the single greatest risk for HIV infection among women in rural Mexico. We drew on 6 months of participant observation, 20 marital case studies, 37 key informant interviews, and archival research to explore the factors that shape HIV risk among married women in one of the country's rural communities. We found that culturally constructed notions of reputation in this community lead to sexual behavior designed to minimize men's social risk (threats to one's social status or relationships), rather than viral risk and that men's desire for companionate intimacy may actually increase women's risk for HIV infection. We also describe the intertwining of reputation-based sexual identities with structurally patterned sexual geographies (i.e. the social spaces that shape sexual behavior). We propose that, because of the structural nature of men's extramarital sexual behavior, intervention development should concentrate on sexual geographies and risky spaces rather than risky behaviors or identities.

No abstract

International migration is associated with increased HIV vulnerability, but little is known about the vulnerability of internal migrants. This qualitative study explored perceptions of HIV and condom use among Mexican migrant female factory workers. Migration and male sexual infidelity contributed to increased HIV vulnerability and unprotected sex was ubiquitous. The dominant cultural discourse that dichotomizes "good" (monogamous) and "bad" (sexually stigmatized) women, and male partner's resistance, were barriers to condom use. Women's positive attitudes toward the dual protection (pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections) offered by condoms and sexual agency expressed by refusing unwanted sexual contact are resources for HIV prevention.

Objective. To identify factors related to cases of low birth weight among a sample of Mexican women. Material and Methods. The present analysis utilizes data from a post partum survey of 565 women implemented in eight different social security hospitals in western Mexico during 2001. Women giving birth to low weight infants (2.5 kgs) were oversampled and make up half of the sample. Results. A series of logistic regression equations are presented that estimate the risk of low birth weight. Study findings indicate that, although behavioral factors appear to be highly significant in predicting the odds of low birth weight, socioeconomic and sociodemographic factors were found to be important in determining utilization of prenatal care. Conclusions. The key role of behavioral characteristics in determining low birth weight risk and the role of socioeconomic and sociodemographic factors in determining prenatal care usage highlights the need to improve prenatal care utilization by disadvantaged populations.

The supplement tends to replace milk as a food product in the daily diet. There is a necessity to develop culturally specific evaluations in regions with different food intake practices. The study results should be interpreted in the context of other program components, such as health care and education.