Call for papers

International seminar on Potential and Actual Contributions of Behavioural Change to Curbing the Spread of HIV

Organized by the IUSSP Scientific Panel on Sexual Behaviour and HIV/AIDS
and the Population Council, Kenya.
Kenya, 17-19 February 2008

Close to 40 million people world wide are now estimated to be HIV positive, two-thirds of these being in sub-Saharan Africa where transmission is largely through heterosexual sex. In the absence of a vaccine, a microbicide, or a cure, the key to reducing the spread of HIV/AIDS lies with behavioural change. Such change might occur in the behaviours targeted in now-conventional ABC interventions (Abstinence, Be faithful, use a Condom) and might also take the form, for example, of greater care in partner selection, divorcing an unfaithful spouse, avoiding a sexual partner who is suspected to have other partners or has STI symptoms, or using a condom with a partner who is believed to be “risky”.

While interventions to promote behaviour change have signifi¬cantly increased in some countries and have shown that prevention programmes do work, such efforts are reaching only a small minority of those in need, and a number of prevention targets including young people who account for over 40% of all new infections are not being reached in several countries. Further, it appears that in many countries, behaviour change interventions have not been adapted to changes in infection patterns or the stage of the epidemic. For example even in countries with generalized epidemics, condom promotion efforts continue to focus on increasing condom access for vulnerable populations rather than on encouraging condom use for all sexually active persons as well. Moreover, there is emerging evidence that support for HIV prevention in some regions may be diminishing. Hence, a renewed emphasis on HIV prevention is critically needed to prevent millions of new infections occurring each year. Given that the condom remains a vital prevention strategy for those who are sexually active, efforts to promote condom use for all sexually active persons are of particular interest, especially in countries with generalized HIV epidemics. A clearer understanding of the current situation and changes over time with respect to condom use within and outside marriage, and potential contributions of such practices not only to HIV prevention but also to fertility and child mortality would greatly assist policy and programme managers in sexual and reproductive health field.

In addition to targeted prevention programmes, an individual’s experience of VCT (Voluntary Counselling and Testing), or the energetic promotion of local VCT activities might prompt behavioural change. It is reported that the number of people using HIV testing and counselling services quadrupled in the past five years in several countries; however, very little is known about whether VCT is effective in stimulating behaviour change. Likewise, while expanded treatment access offers opportunities for increasing prevention services for people living with HIV, little is known about the effectiveness of behavioural interventions for people living with HIV. Behavioural change might also be prompted spontaneously, without explicit external interventions, by an individual’s experiences of an epidemic (e.g. the AIDS deaths of relatives and friends).

The objective of this seminar is to stimulate and advance research on potential and actual contributions of behavioural change to curbing the spread of HIV. This seminar will provide opportunities for researchers to present results from new studies that address one or more of the following questions:

• What is the current situation with respect to condom use within and outside marriage? Has this situation changed over time? If change has occurred, can it be linked to the evolution of a local HIV/AIDS epidemic, or to publicity surrounding this epidemic?
• Does condom use change when people marry? If so, how does it change?
• What is the current situation with respect to condom use for dual protection? What might happen not just to the transmission of HIV but also to fertility and child mortality if condoms were employed to prevent HIV transmission and acquisition?
• What is the current situation with respect to condom use and sexual activity among the increasing number of couples who know their HIV status? More generally, is VCT effective in stimulating behavioural change, either among individuals who have experienced VCT, or in communities in which major VCT programmes have been established?
• What is the current situation with respect to condom use and sexual activity among the increasing number of HIV-positive individuals who are on antiretroviral therapy?
• To what extent are individuals modifying their behaviour in reaction to their own subjective experiences of the AIDS pandemic (e.g. increasing awareness of the incapacity and deaths of relatives, friends, and community members more generally)? How are they modifying their behaviour? Might such modification affect the course of particular HIV epidemics? Is it possible to identify triggers for spontaneous modification of sexual behaviour, including condom use?
Contributions to the seminar may take the form of case studies (regional, national or sub-national), comparative studies, theoretical studies (i.e. model-based), and meta-analyses. Sub-Saharan Africa provides an obvious geographic focus, but contributions dealing with Asian and other epidemics are also invited both on their own account, and to provide illuminating contrasts to the current African situation.
The IUSSP Scientific Panel on Sexual Behaviour and HIV/AIDS invites researchers in the above field to submit a detailed 500-1000 word abstract (and if the author(s) wish, a full paper which must be unpublished) and fill out the online submission form before 31 August 2007. If the paper is co-authored, please indicate the names of co-authors at the end of the abstract. Submission should be made by the author who will attend the seminar.

Applicants will be notified whether their paper has been accepted by 15 October 2007. In the case of acceptance on the basis of an abstract, the completed paper must be uploaded on the IUSSP website by 31 December 2007.

Abstracts must be submitted in English only and the working language at the meeting is English. Simultaneous translation into French will be provided only if sufficient funding is secured. In addition to dissemination through posting on the member-restricted portion of the IUSSP website, seminar organizers will explore possibilities for publishing the papers in a scientific journal, after the seminar.

Current funding for the seminar is very limited; efforts are under way to raise additional funds, but the outcome is at this point uncertain. Participants are therefore encouraged to seek their own funding to cover the cost of their participation in the seminar. Those who are applying for financial assistance from the IUSSP should indicate their need when they submit by ticking the appropriate box on the on-line submission form when submitting paper or abstract.