Cultural differences in acceptability of a vaginal microbicide: A comparison between potential users from nashville, tennessee, usa, and kafue and mumbwa, zambia

Purpose: We sought to determine the relationship between acceptability of a hypothetical vaginal microbicide, cultural factors, and perceived HIV risk among African-American women in Nashville, TN, USA, and African women in Kafue and Mumbwa, Zambia. Patients and methods: Women in both sites completed a survey. Regression analyses were performed on valid samples (Nashville, 164; Zambia, 101) to determine cultural differences affecting microbicide acceptability. Regression analyses also tested whether individual risk perception affected acceptability. Results: In Zambia, 89.6% of women were willing to use a microbicide versus 81.6% in Nashville (P, 0.0001). One cultural difference is that women in the Zambian cohort viewed risk of HIV infection as distinct from risk of acquiring STIs, with 48% believing they were certain to become infected with AIDS, compared to 4% of Nashville participants. Conclusion: These results suggest a high degree of acceptability toward use of a vaginal microbicide to prevent HIV infection.