DO PROGRAMMES that promote sexual abstinence help cut HIV rates? The question matters, because the US government says they do and directs its funding accordingly. But when Kristen Underhills team at the University of Oxford, UK, examined the literature, they found that almost all the evidence suggests not.
They studied 13 trials of US-based abstinence programmes and found that none helped to reduce the incidence of unprotected sex or cut the number of partners that young people slept with (BMJ, vol 335, p 248 ). A similar lack of success has already been found in abstinence projects in developing countries.
The paper is the second knock to US HIV/AIDS policy in recent weeks. The government also requires that the organisations it funds sign a pledge saying they oppose prostitution. HIV/AIDS organisations say this means they stigmatise groups they are meant to be helping and point towards a recent review which found that HIV programmes that target sex workers are effective in cutting infection rates (PLoS Medicine, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pmed.0040207)
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19526163.600-abstinence-programmes-dont-stop-hiv.htmlSo much for the ideas of the American Christians. Will maxi visit and rofl? :shrug:
