Behavioral Interventions
Behavioral interventions discourage risky behaviors and reinforce protective ones, typically by addressing knowledge, attitudes, skills, and beliefs.
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Comprehensive Condom Use Programs
Unprotected sex is the leading cause of HIV transmission, accounting for more than 80 percent of the total number of infections. Male and female condoms, when worn correctly, serve as an impermeable barrier to the sexual exchange of secretions that carry HIV and a number of other sexually transmitted infections (STIs), providing protection against transmission. Comprehensive condom programming remains an essential component of combination prevention programs.
Updated March 2012
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Comprehensive Sexuality Education
Young people in many countries have unprotected sexual intercourse with one or more partners, potentially exposing themselves to HIV, other sexually transmitted infections (STIs), or unintentional pregnancy. Comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) programs work to delay initiation of sex, reduce the number of sexual partners, and increase the use of condoms and other forms of contraception. Some programs also seek to increase testing and treatment for HIV and other STIs. They can be implemented both in schools and in other community settings.
Updated: February 2012
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Delayed Sexual Debut
HIV programs generally define abstinence as not engaging in sexual intercourse, delaying sexual debut, or, for those who have already been sexually active, abstaining from sex (secondary abstinence). Abstinence-only programs promote abstinence as the only effective method for preventing HIV. Many researchers and programmers advocate for abstinence-plus programs, which include sex education and information on abstinence, delay of sexual debut, condom use, and contraception.
Updated: March 2009
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Mass Media and HIV Prevention
Mass media interventions aim to prevent HIV by increasing knowledge, improving risk perception, changing sexual behaviors, and questioning potentially harmful social norms.
Updated: March 2011
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Multiple and Concurrent Sexual Partnerships
Many people are now aware that having multiple sexual partners increases their risk of contracting HIV. Fewer people are aware that having concurrent sexual partnerships, defined as having two or more partnerships that overlap in time, increases their risk of acquiring HIV; an individual is at increased risk of acquiring HIV if their sexual partner(s) connects them to a wider sexual network through which HIV can spread.
Updated: March 2011
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Partner Reduction
Partner reduction is a prevention strategy focused on decreasing overall number of partners in order to lessen the risk of becoming infected with or transmitting HIV.
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Peer Outreach and Education
Peer outreach and education (POE) engage members of a specific group to influence other members to adopt healthy sexual behaviors and modify norms. Peer educators may be more effective at influencing hard-to-reach or disenfranchised individuals because they’re seen as more credible or less judgmental than non-peers.
Updated: March 2011
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Prevention of Alcohol-related HIV Risk Behavior
Alcohol use in virtually all cultures reduces both people’s perception of risk and their inhibitions against engaging in risky behaviors. Alcohol use is associated with HIV risk factors, including inconsistent condom use and number and concurrency of sexual partners. Novel approaches show promise in bringing about behavior change, reducing, for example, the frequency of consuming alcohol prior to sex and of meeting sex partners at drinking venues.
Updated: March 2011
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Transactional and Age-disparate Sex in Hyperendemic Countries
Transactional sex (TS) is the practice of exchanging sex for financial or lifestyle rewards. Distinct from formalized sex work, transactional sex is thought to be a fairly common form of sexual partnering in parts of sub-Saharan Africa.
Updated: November 2010