Missing safer sex strategies in HIV Prevention: A call for further research
population health
25
Issue: 2
(12 - 2011)
Despite the efforts of educators, public health officials, and HIV/AIDS prevention
experts, condom promotion has failed to stop the HIV epidemic in most of sub-
Saharan Africa and most researchers and policy makers have focused on risk
reductions for interventions for penetrative sex. We consider another HIV preven-
tion option: female-to-male oral sex (fellatio). Extensive medical evidence indi-
cates that fellatio is roughly as protective against HIV transmission as vaginal sex
with a condom, and much safer than unprotected sex, but it is rarely emphasized
in HIV prevention curricula. Moreover, available data on the practice of oral sex in
Africa suggests that the practice is very rare compared to the practice in the
United States. This paper reviews some of the existing evidence on the efficacy
and prevalence of oral sex, discusses the potential of this safer sex strategy for
mitigating the spread of HIV in Africa, and stresses the need for further research.
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