Editing Polygyny (section)

=== Disease ===
Studies show there are two mechanisms that could lead to higher prevalence rates of HIV in men and women who are in polygynous unions: partners in polygynous unions have more extra-marital relationships and thus increase each other's exposure to HIV; women who are recruited into a polygynous union are more likely to be HIV positive than those who marry a monogamous husband.<ref name="demog journal">{{Cite journal|last1=Reniers|first1=Georges|last2=Tfaily|first2=Rania|date=2012-08-01|title=Polygyny, Partnership Concurrency, and HIV Transmission in Sub-Saharan Africa|journal=Demography|volume=49|issue=3|pages=1075–1101|doi=10.1007/s13524-012-0114-z|pmid=22661302|s2cid=207472013 |doi-access=free}}</ref> In addition to these two mechanisms, variation in HIV prevalence rates by union type is possibly due to individuals in polygynous unions are typically part of a sexual network with concurrent partnerships.<ref name="demog journal"/>

The ecological association between polygyny and HIV prevalence is shown to be negative at the sub-national level. HIV prevalence tends to be lower in countries where the practice of polygyny is common, and within countries it is lower in areas with higher levels of polygyny. Proposed explanations for the protective effect of polygyny include the distinctive structure of sexual networks produced by polygyny, the disproportionate recruitment of HIV positive women into marriages with a polygynous husband, and the lower coital frequency in conjugal dyads of polygynous marriages.<ref name=":2" />

For example, studies in Malawi have shown that for men and women in polygynous marriages, the rate of HIV is between 10 and 15 percent.<ref name="demog journal"/> About 14 percent of Malawi's population is infected with HIV, which causes AIDS, according to official figures. There are approximately 78,000 AIDS-related deaths and 100,000 new infections every year in the country.<ref name="mwale">{{Cite journal |last=Mwale |first=Biziwick |date=September 2002 |title=HIV/AIDS in Malawi |journal=Malawi Medical Journal |volume=14|issue=2 |pages=2–3 |pmc=3346002 |pmid=27528929}}</ref>