Multiple partnerships fueling AIDS epidemic

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Multiple partnerships fueling AIDS epidemic

Tue Aug 15, 2006 9:23am ET Health News

Health experts look to new weapons to battle AIDS

By Terri Coles

TORONTO (Reuters Health) - In Swaziland they are called " lishendes " --

multiple concurrent sexual partners -- and they are the driving

factor behind the HIV epidemic in southern Africa, said researchers

on Monday at the 16th International AIDS Conference in Toronto.

Instead of casual sexual encounters with multiple partners,

established partnerships outside of marriage are fueling a

generalized epidemic in southern African countries. These

partnerships often involve inconsistent condom use and occur in the

context of low rates of male circumcision.

At the conference in a presentation titled " Prevention Works: What's

The Evidence, " researchers put forward evidence for various HIV

prevention programs aimed at increasing education, reducing stigma

and changing behavior.

" In southern Africa and a country like Swaziland we're talking about

a very generalized epidemic, " said Dr. Halperin of the US

Agency for International Development's Southern Africa HIV-AIDS

Program in Mbabane, Swaziland.

Halperin described the HIV infection rate in Swaziland

as " astonishingly high. " The prevalence rate for the general adult

population was 33.4 percent in 2005. Multiple concurrent sexual

partnerships are a main driver of the generalized epidemic in

Swaziland, Dr. Halperin said. These partnerships are not casual

sexual encounters or polygamy, but are instead longer-term

relationships outside of marriage.

" Data worldwide consistently shows that people with a higher number

of partners have a higher prevalence of HIV, " Halperin said. Partner

reduction can be one important element of HIV prevention, but it's

not the only factor to consider.

Men in countries like Thailand and the United States report more

lifetime sexual partners than men in some African countries, but have

a lower prevalence rate of HIV infection. The problem is not that

Africans have more sexual partners, Halperin said, but that

concurrent partnerships lead to villages becoming linked up in sexual

networks, aiding the spread of the virus. Having two or three regular

sexual partners leads to an increase in the risk of HIV infection.

A large majority of those who responded to a baseline survey of 2000

adults in 12 randomly selected communities -- done before the start

of a sexual behavior communication campaign in Swaziland -- agreed

that lishendes were common or very common in their communities.

During the study, many respondents said that multiple partnerships

were harmful to the fight against HIV/AIDS. Females in particular

felt that choosing to have only one sexual partner at a time was

important for prevention and the fight against HIV/AIDS in Swaziland.

A government-led campaign was launched in June 2005, and a follow-up

survey of 2000 adults was conducted in the same 12 communities a year

later, along with three rounds of focus group discussions with men

and women in each of the communities.

The campaign focused on a message of abstinence and monogamy.

Advertisements aimed at young people promoted waiting to have sex,

while those for adults presented messages like " I choose to have only

one sex partner " and " I'm circumcised, proud of it...and I'm still

faithful to my partner. "

Another group of advertisements had fear-based messages highlighting

the risks of multiple partnerships, with messages like " Why kill your

family? "

The advertisements were controversial in their approach, going

against a belief by some NGOs and activist groups that fear-based

messages are not effective, Halperin said.

" Many of people in the (focus) group said 'You should show people

dying of AIDS, you should scare people', " Halperin said. " We're

seeing a bit of a disconnect between what people in the community say

and what we, as experts, believe is the right way to do AIDS

prevention. "

The controversial advertisements were widely discussed in Swaziland,

where they were subject to heavy public and media attention. In their

surveys after the fact, researchers found that more than 80 percent

of respondents were aware of the campaign. Anecdotally, he said that

the advertisements were widely discussed in the general population.

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