Calling for ending gender-based violence, the researchers of a new study led by Montreal-based McGill University found that women who experience intimate partner violence (IPV) are three times more likely to contract HIV.

The findings of the study, published in The Lancet HIV, further found that in regions like Sub-Saharan Africa, women face an intersecting epidemic of intimate partner violence (IPV) and HIV.

“Worldwide, more than one in four women experience intimate partner violence in their lifetime,” says McGill University Professor Mathieu Maheu-Giroux, a Canada Research Chair in Population Health Modelling.

“Sub-Saharan Africa is among one of the regions in the world with the highest prevalence of both IPV and HIV. We wanted to examine the effects of intimate partner violence on recent HIV infections and women’s access to HIV care in this region,” he says.

The study shows a considerable overlap between violence against women and the HIV epidemics in some of the countries that face the highest burden of the disease.

It further found that among women living with HIV, those experiencing intimate partner violence were nine per cent less likely to achieve viral load suppression, a crucial step in HIV treatment.

Calling for eliminating all forms of gender-based violence the researchers pointed out that the 2021 United Nations General Assembly, adopted the Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS with bold new global targets for 2025.

“This encompasses a commitment to eliminate all forms of sexual and gender-based violence, including IPV, as a key enabler of the HIV epidemic. Improving our understanding of the relationships between IPV and HIV is essential to meet this commitment,” Professor Maheu-Giroux says.

The researchers found that physical or sexual intimate partner violence in the past year was associated with recent HIV acquisition and less frequent viral load suppression.

IPV could also pose barriers for women in accessing HIV care and remaining in care while living with the virus, they noted in the paper.

“Given the high burden of IPV worldwide, including in Canada, the need to stem the mutually reinforcing threats of IPV and HIV on women’s health and well-being is urgent," Salome Kuchukhidze, a PhD candidate studying epidemiology and the lead author of the research, says.