HIV

In 2004, a randomised controlled trial provided individuals in Malawi with information about their HIV status, despite treatment being unavailable in the country at the time. Did knowing one’s diagnosis help or hurt?

Despite the high HIV prevalence in Malawi, individuals do not seem to adjust their behaviour to avoid infection—this may be due to the perceived transmission risk being so high that people become fatalistic, assuming they are doomed to HIV infection ...

A new experiment in Mozambique found that the social stigma attached to HIV has been falling, but people do not tend to realise it. A simple message that informed individuals of their communities’ true (low) degrees of stigma substantially increased ...

How did a large-scale health intervention – the expansion of HIV antiretroviral therapy – impact the prevalence of violent events throughout Africa?

A widely implemented HIV/AIDS programme inadvertently decreased HIV testing by worsening misinformation and HIV-related stigmatising attitudes, but a simple follow-up intervention offset the programme’s adverse effects.

Participatory information interventions empower and inspire women to become more ambitious and invest in income-generating activities

The offer of an appointment more than doubled the likelihood of men getting an HIV test, and was most effective for men wanting a commitment device

Criminalising sex work in Indonesia led to large increases in sexually transmitted infections among sex workers and likely across the whole population

Has anti-retroviral therapy policy or information access that induces sexual behavioural change been responsible for Malawi’s success in fighting HIV?