January 23, 2008

Abstinence-Plus Programs Shown to Reduce Risky Behavior

Sexual education programs that promote sexual abstinence while also encouraging safe sex—known as “abstinence-plus” programs—are found to reduce HIV risk among young people in developed countries, Medical News Today reports (medicalnewstoday.com, 1/23).

According to a recent Cochrane Review —which examined 39 studies involving a total of more than 37,000 young people in North America—no adverse effects of abstinence-plus programs were reported. In 23 of those studies, participants reported a sizeable increase in protective sexual behavior.

“In a previous Cochrane Review, we concluded that abstinence-only programs have no effect in high-income countries, which makes the findings that abstinence-plus programs can influence behavior even more striking,” says lead researcher Dr. Don Oerario of the University of Oxford. “This is an opportunity for the HIV prevention and public health communities to harness the potential benefits of comprehensive sexual health education such as abstinence-plus programs.”

NEW! Scroll down to comment on this story.

Name:	(2-50 characters)
Email:	(will not show)
City:	(optional)

Comment (500 characters left):

(Note: The POZ team review all comments before they are posted. Please do not include either ":" or "@" in your comment.)

| Posting Rules

Previous Comments: