Beating Aids in Africa means tackling promiscuity Times Online

The fight against the Aids epidemic in Africa is founded on ineffective strategies and should focus on male circumcision and reducing promiscuity, according to leading scientists in the field.

HIV containment is generally based on the “three pillars” - promotion and provision of condoms, HIV status testing and treatment of other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) that can increase the risk of becoming infected. There is little evidence, however, that any of these methods works well in sub-Saharan Africa, where two thirds of the 33.2 million people who carry the virus live, a review for the journal Science has found. It was published in a special issue to mark the 25th anniversary of the discovery of the HIV virus that causes Aids.

Its authors said that only two approaches - male circumcision and campaigns to persuade people to take fewer sexual partners - have been shown to reduce HIV transmission significantly in the world's worst affected region.

International resources need to focus on these unfashionable policies, which receive minimal funding, to make them the cornerstones of HIV prevention, the scientists from Harvard School of Public Health and the University of California, Berkeley, said.

 Beating Aids in Africa means tackling promiscuity Times Online