Is ABC enough to explain Changes in HIV Prevalence in rural Uganda?

Jim Todd, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM)
Dermot Maher, MRC/UVRI Uganda Research Unit on AIDS
Heiner Grosskurth, MRC/UVRI Uganda research Unit on AIDS

In Uganda the HIV prevalence declined over the 1990’s and at the same time HIV prevention campaigns stressed ABC. We used annual survey data from 1997 to 2007 and defined 5-year birth cohorts. We assessed changes in age at first sex, the proportion that had sex in the past 12 months, the average number of sexual partners in the past 12 months, and the proportion that used condoms at last sex. Later birth cohorts had later age at first sex, compared to those born earlier, but there was no change in the proportion reporting sex during the past 12 months. (Condom results are being analysed). Sexual behaviour changes with increasing age, but there was no change in the proportion who were sexually active, or the number of sexual partners reported in this population. Changes in the age at first sex occurred after 2000, several years after the peak HIV prevalence.