POPLINE Document Number: 289773
Corporate Author(s):
Alan Guttmacher Institute [AGI]
Source citation:
New York, New York, AGI, [2004]. [13] p.
Abstract:
Between the late 1980s and mid- 1990s, at a time when HIV/AIDS was well on its way toward ravaging Sub- Saharan Africa, Uganda achieved an extraordinary feat: It stopped the spread of HIV/AIDS in its tracks and saw the nation’s rate of infection plummet. As word of the “Uganda miracle” spread, journalists, researchers, policymakers and advocates all descended to try to ascertain how it was accomplished. By now, Uganda’s success story has become virtually synonymous with the so-called ABC approach to HIV/AIDS prevention, for Abstain, Be faithful, use Condoms. And, indeed, it is clear that some combination of important changes in all three of these sexual behaviors contributed both to Uganda’s extraordinary reduction in HIV/AIDS rates and to the country’s ability to maintain its reduced rates through the second half of the 1990s. Beyond that, however, the picture becomes considerably less clear. ABC refers to individual behaviors, but it also refers to the program approach and content designed to lead to those behaviors. Researchers and public health experts continue to study both and to delve into the many and varied complex relationships among them. This information is critical to determining to what extent the Uganda experience really is replicable and what from that experience productively might be exportable to other countries. At the same time, much more research is needed into the relevance of the ABC approach for the prevention of other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) as well as unintended pregnancy and the abortions or unplanned births that inevitably follow, both in Sub-Saharan Africa and in other parts of the world. (excerpt)
Keywords:
UgandaIndex page
Progress Report
Case Studies
Sexual Partners
Health Policy
HIV Prevention
Condom Use
Abstinence
Sex Behavior
Safer Sex
Extramarital Sex Behavior
Africa, Eastern
Africa, Sub Saharan
Africa
Developing Countries
Studies
Research Methodology
Behavior
Policy
HIV Infections
Viral Diseases
Diseases
Risk Reduction Behavior
Family Planning, Behavioral Methods
Family Planning