Men stick with 'gal in a bungle'

WESTERN BUREAU:

Promiscuity among Jamaican males has remained high, with the average man having up to six different sexual partners each year.

A study titled Knowledge, Attitude, Behaviour and Practices (KARB), conducted by the National HIV STI Programme of the Ministry of Health and its newly merged National Family Planning Board, which tracks the attitude and behaviour of the general public to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, has revealed that 20 per cent of the men interviewed were either married or have common-law relationships.

The majority of the respondents were heterosexual.

In 2008, the survey showed a similar trait, with Jamaican men having 5.68 sexual partnerships per annum. For women, they had half as many partners, stated the report.

"The behaviour is consistent with the men," said Sannia Sutherland, acting executive director of the National Family Planning Board, during a PANOS workshop on 'Understanding the Issues Affecting Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, and Transgenders and Fostering Unbiased Reporting in Contributing to HIV and AIDS Prevention' at the Gloucestershire Hotel in Montego Bay last Saturday.

"Men traditionally would overreport because of the cultural norms of having 'nuff gal in a bungle', in comparison to the women, who would underreport because they want to portray that they are virginal and sexually pure," said Sutherland.

One of the drivers of the epidemic is multiple partnerships, with the majority of the men not using condoms every time.

The survey shows a decline in the number of respondents acknowledging multiple partner-ships using a condom every time.

According to the report, most of the women involved were aware that they were not the man's only partner.