Is education the link between orphanhood and HIV/HSV-2 risk among female adolescents in urban Zimbabwe?
As the population of orphans grows in AIDS-affected settings, recent studies describe a heightened risk of HIV and sexual risk behaviours among adolescent orphans compared to their non-orphaned peers. This study explores the role of education in explaining the excess sexual risk previously documented among unmarried female orphans in urban Zimbabwe. School attendance and attainment were assessed by type of orphanhood, and for their association with markers of sexual risk (HIV and/or HSV-2 infection) among 743 participants drawn from a random sample of 15-19-year-old girls identified in a cross-sectional survey in Highfield, Harare, in 2004. Multivariable logistic regression was used to assess the role of educational status in explaining the higher prevalence of adverse sexual outcomes among unmarried orphans compared to non-orphans, adjusting for possible confounders. Double orphans had significantly lower educational attendance and attainment than non-orphans. Maternal orphans had hig
