HIV/AIDS Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! === Sexual contact === <!--Condoms --> [[File:FACING AIDS a condom and a pill at a time - I am FACING AIDS because people I -3 are infected. (5202985364).jpg|thumb|People wearing AIDS awareness signs. On the left: "Facing AIDS a condom and a pill at a time"; on the right: "I am Facing AIDS because people I ♥ are infected"]] Consistent [[condom]] use reduces the risk of HIV transmission by approximately 80% over the long term.<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Crosby R, Bounse S |title=Condom effectiveness: where are we now? |journal=Sexual Health |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=10–17 |date=March 2012 |pmid=22348628 |doi=10.1071/SH11036|doi-access=free }}</ref> When condoms are used consistently by a couple in which one person is infected, the rate of HIV infection is less than 1% per year.<ref name=WHOCondoms>{{cite web |publisher=World Health Organization |date=August 2003 |url=http://www.wpro.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs_200308_Condoms/en/index.html |title=Condom Facts and Figures |access-date=January 17, 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121018145513/http://www.wpro.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs_200308_Condoms/en/index.html |archive-date=October 18, 2012 }}</ref> There is some evidence to suggest that [[female condom]]s may provide an equivalent level of protection.<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Gallo MF, Kilbourne-Brook M, Coffey PS |title=A review of the effectiveness and acceptability of the female condom for dual protection |journal=Sexual Health |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=18–26 |date=March 2012 |pmid=22348629 |doi=10.1071/SH11037 |url=https://zenodo.org/record/1236046 |access-date=September 4, 2020 |archive-date=October 28, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211028225037/https://zenodo.org/record/1236046 |url-status=live }}</ref> Application of a vaginal gel containing [[tenofovir]] (a [[reverse transcriptase inhibitor]]) immediately before sex seems to reduce infection rates by approximately 40% among African women.<ref name=VagGel2012>{{cite journal |vauthors=Celum C, Baeten JM |title=Tenofovir-based pre-exposure prophylaxis for HIV prevention: evolving evidence |journal=Current Opinion in Infectious Diseases |volume=25 |issue=1 |pages=51–57 |date=February 2012 |pmid=22156901 |pmc=3266126 |doi=10.1097/QCO.0b013e32834ef5ef}}</ref> By contrast, use of the [[spermicide]] [[nonoxynol-9]] may increase the risk of transmission due to its tendency to cause vaginal and rectal irritation.<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Baptista M, Ramalho-Santos J |title=Spermicides, microbicides and antiviral agents: recent advances in the development of novel multi-functional compounds |journal=Mini Reviews in Medicinal Chemistry |volume=9 |issue=13 |pages=1556–67 |date=November 2009 |pmid=20205637 |doi=10.2174/138955709790361548}}</ref> <!--Circumcision --> [[Circumcision]] in [[sub-Saharan Africa]] "reduces the acquisition of HIV by heterosexual men by between 38% and 66% over 24 months".<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Siegfried N, Muller M, Deeks JJ, Volmink J |title=Male circumcision for prevention of heterosexual acquisition of HIV in men |journal=The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews |issue=2 |page=CD003362 |date=April 2009 |pmid=19370585 |doi=10.1002/14651858.CD003362.pub2 |editor1-last=Siegfried |editor1-first=Nandi}}</ref> Owing to these studies, both the World Health Organization and [[UNAIDS]] recommended male circumcision in 2007 as a method of preventing female-to-male HIV transmission in areas with high rates of HIV.<ref>{{cite web |title=WHO and UNAIDS announce recommendations from expert consultation on male circumcision for HIV prevention |publisher=World Health Organization |date=March 28, 2007 |url=https://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2007/pr10/en/index.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110703140439/http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2007/pr10/en/index.html |archive-date=July 3, 2011 }}</ref> However, whether it protects against male-to-female transmission is disputed,<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Larke N |title=Male circumcision, HIV and sexually transmitted infections: a review |journal=British Journal of Nursing |volume=19 |issue=10 |pages=629–34 |date=May 27, 2010 |pmid=20622758 |pmc=3836228 |doi=10.12968/bjon.2010.19.10.48201}}</ref><ref name="pmid19849961">{{cite journal |vauthors=Eaton L, Kalichman SC |title=Behavioral aspects of male circumcision for the prevention of HIV infection |journal=Current HIV/AIDS Reports |volume=6 |issue=4 |pages=187–93 |date=November 2009 |pmid=19849961 |pmc=3557929 |doi=10.1007/s11904-009-0025-9}}(subscription required)</ref> and whether it is of benefit in [[developed countries]] and among [[men who have sex with men]] is undetermined.<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Kim HH, Li PS, Goldstein M |title=Male circumcision: Africa and beyond? |journal=Current Opinion in Urology |volume=20 |issue=6 |pages=515–19 |date=November 2010 |pmid=20844437 |doi=10.1097/MOU.0b013e32833f1b21|s2cid=2158164 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Templeton DJ, Millett GA, Grulich AE |title=Male circumcision to reduce the risk of HIV and sexually transmitted infections among men who have sex with men |journal=Current Opinion in Infectious Diseases |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=45–52 |date=February 2010 |pmid=19935420 |doi=10.1097/QCO.0b013e328334e54d|s2cid=43878584 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Wiysonge CS, Kongnyuy EJ, Shey M, Muula AS, Navti OB, Akl EA, Lo YR |title=Male circumcision for prevention of homosexual acquisition of HIV in men |journal=The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews |issue=6 |page=CD007496 |date=June 2011 |pmid=21678366 |doi=10.1002/14651858.CD007496.pub2 |editor1-last=Wiysonge |editor1-first=Charles Shey}}</ref> <!--Education --> Programs encouraging [[Abstinence-only sex education|sexual abstinence]] do not appear to affect subsequent HIV risk.<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Underhill K, Operario D, Montgomery P |title=Abstinence-only programs for HIV infection prevention in high-income countries |journal=The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews |issue=4 |page=CD005421 |date=October 2007 |pmid=17943855 |doi=10.1002/14651858.CD005421.pub2 |url=http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/o/cochrane/clsysrev/articles/CD005421/frame.html |editor1-last=Operario |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101125105707/http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/o/cochrane/clsysrev/articles/CD005421/frame.html |url-status=dead |editor1-first=Don |archive-date=November 25, 2010 |access-date=May 31, 2012 }}</ref> Evidence of any benefit from [[peer education]] is equally poor.<ref name="pmid22641791">{{cite journal |vauthors=Tolli MV |title=Effectiveness of peer education interventions for HIV prevention, adolescent pregnancy prevention and sexual health promotion for young people: a systematic review of European studies |journal=[[Health Education Research]] |volume=27 |issue=5 |pages=904–13 |date=October 2012 |pmid=22641791 |doi=10.1093/her/cys055|doi-access=free }}</ref> Comprehensive [[Sex education|sexual education]] provided at school may decrease high-risk behavior.<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Ljubojević S, Lipozenčić J |title=Sexually transmitted infections and adolescence |journal=Acta Dermatovenerologica Croatica |volume=18 |issue=4 |pages=305–10 |year=2010 |pmid=21251451}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0026/002607/260770e.pdf |title=International technical guidance on sexuality education: an evidence-informed approach |publisher=UNESCO |year=2018 |isbn=978-92-3-100259-5 |location=Paris |page=12 |access-date=February 22, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181113072101/http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0026/002607/260770e.pdf |archive-date=November 13, 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref> A substantial minority of young people continues to engage in high-risk practices despite knowing about HIV/AIDS, underestimating their own risk of becoming infected with HIV.<ref name="Patel2008">{{cite journal |vauthors=Patel VL, Yoskowitz NA, Kaufman DR, Shortliffe EH |title=Discerning patterns of human immunodeficiency virus risk in healthy young adults |journal=[[The American Journal of Medicine]] |volume=121 |issue=9 |pages=758–64 |date=September 2008 |pmid=18724961 |pmc=2597652 |doi=10.1016/j.amjmed.2008.04.022}}</ref> Voluntary counseling and testing people for HIV does not affect risky behavior in those who test negative but does increase condom use in those who test positive.<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Fonner VA, Denison J, Kennedy CE, O'Reilly K, Sweat M |title=Voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) for changing HIV-related risk behavior in developing countries |journal=The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews |volume=9 |issue=9 |page=CD001224 |date=September 2012 |pmid=22972050 |pmc=3931252 |doi=10.1002/14651858.CD001224.pub4}}</ref> Enhanced family planning services appear to increase the likelihood of women with HIV using contraception, compared to basic services.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lopez |first1=LM |last2=Grey |first2=TW |last3=Chen |first3=M |last4=Denison |first4=J |last5=Stuart |first5=G |title=Behavioral interventions for improving contraceptive use among women living with HIV. |journal=The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews |date=August 9, 2016 |volume=2016 |issue=8 |pages=CD010243 |doi=10.1002/14651858.CD010243.pub3 |pmid=27505053|pmc=7092487 }}</ref> It is not known whether treating other sexually transmitted infections is effective in preventing HIV.<ref name=CochraneSTI2012/> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. 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