The Effect of Maternal Knowledge and Husband Job Type on the Risk of Hiv Infection among Housewives in Balige, North Sumatera

Background: HIV continues to be a major global public health issue, having claimed more than 35 million lives so far. In 2017, 940,000 people died from HIVrelated causes globally. There were approximately 36.9 million people living with HIV at the end of 2017 with 1.8 million people becoming newly infected in 2017 globally. Previous study reported that there are two types of men: “adventurous” ones and “loyal” ones. The adventurous ones were said to go from work to the street, and to forget their homes. Housewives living with an adventurous type of husband are hypothesized to have a higher risk of HIV infection. This study aimed to examine the effect of maternal knowledge and husband job type on HIV infection among housewives in Balige, North Sumatera. Subjects and Method: This was a case control study conducted at AIDS HKBP Balige committee, North Sumatera. A sample of 90 housewives was selected for this study, consisting of 45 housewives with positive HIV and 45 housewives with negative HIV. The dependent variable was HIV infection. The independent variables were maternal knowledge and husband job type (in-town versus out-of-town job type). Data on HIV infection status were obtained from the medical record. The other data were collected by questionnaire. The data were analyzed by a multiple logistic regression. Results: The risk of HIV infection increased with poor maternal knowledge (OR= 3.43; 95% CI= 1.81 to 6.49; p<0.001) and out-of-town husband job type (OR= 2.50; 95% CI= 0.95 to 6.52; p= 0.063). Conclusion: The risk of HIV infection increases with poor maternal knowledge and out-of-town husband job type.