Dual protection, contraceptive use, HIV status and risk among a national sample of South African women

The aim of this study was to investigate dual protection, contraceptive use, HIV status risk among a national sample of South African women. The final sample included only female participants (N=4675) who reported to have had sexual intercourse in the past 12 months aged 15 to 49 years. Results indicate that almost one thirds (31.7%) of the participants indicate that they were protected from both pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections the last time they had sexual intercourse, 18.6% using dual methods compared to the 6.8% who were found to use both barrier and hormonal methods and 13.1% using a condom alone; 40.9% were protected from pregnancy only through the use of a non-barrier contraceptive, while 46% of the participants used no method at all. In multivariate analysis younger age, higher education, African black, not married and high HIV risk perception were associated with dual method use. Dual method use is low in this population and the use of contraceptive methods that offer protection against pregnancy and STIs/HIV is encouraged.