Abstinence programmes do not reduce HIV prevalence in Uganda

Use of condoms and death explain the substantial decline in the prevalence of HIV in Uganda in the past decade.

The reduction had previously been credited to ABC programmes (abstinence, be faithful, and use condoms). A longitudinal study, presented at the 12th retroviral conference in Boston, however, challenges the contributions of abstinence and fidelity. The study included a door to door survey of about 10 000 adults aged 15-49 in 44 villages in the Rakai district of southern Uganda.

A surge of infections in the early 1990s is the …