UGANDA: Condoms minor cause of HIV/AIDS decline

The decline in HIV/AIDS infections in Uganda could be attributed to abstinence and faithfulness, and to a lesser extent, condom use, according to a recent report by a team of American and Ugandan researchers. The report, 'What Happened in Uganda' said condom promotion had played " a key but evidently not a major role" in reducing infection rates. The report was based on analysis of the changes in people’s behaviours as seen in demographic and health surveys. The fact that fewer Ugandans were having casual sex had contributed most to the decline, co-author Edward Green of the Harvard Centre for Population and Development Studies, said in the report. According to the report, HIV/AIDS prevalence in Uganda started declining in 1992. This could have been the result of a reduction in new infections around 1989, as by that time very few people were using condoms, it added. However, the increased use of condoms during the mid and late 1990s must have placed an additional muzzle on the HI virus. According to demographic survey reports, in 1989 only 1 percent of Ugandan women had ever used a condom, but this increased to 6 percent in 1995 and 16 percent in 2000 with the figure for men rising from 16 percent in 1995 to 40 percent in 2000. For more information: http://www.usaid.gov/pop_health/aids/Publications/docs/ugandareport.pdf