Manicaland Centre at International AIDS Conference 2018

The Manicaland HIV Prevention Project team was represented at the 22nd International AIDS Conference in Amsterdam (23-27 July 2018) – where more than 15,000 researchers, activists, and policy makers gathered – by Robin Schaefer. He presented two posters on longitudinal analyses of perceptions about risks of HIV infection in the Manicaland Study. HIV prevention interventions, programmes, and messages commonly aim at increasing perceptions about HIV infection risks, but the importance of risk perception for engaging in HIV prevention behaviour is poorly understood due to a lack of longitudinal studies. These studies by the Manicaland Project represent the first scientifically robust evidence that self-perceived risks about HIV infection can be accurate – i.e. correspond to actual HIV infection risks – and that changes in risk perception over time predict changes in condom use behaviour. However, this work also shows significant gaps in risk perception, even among those reporting behaviours associated with increased risks of HIV infection, and that only small proportions of change in condom use can be attributed to changes in risk perception. This underscores the broad range of factors that influence HIV prevention behaviour and the need for a comprehensive approach to HIV prevention. A further poster presented collaborative work with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine on HIV prevention cascades. The poster outlined the consultations that were held over the course of two years to develop a unifying framework on HIV prevention cascades that builds on a core prevention cascade of motivation, access, and effective use, with further extensions allowing for more complex characterisation of HIV prevention use in a priority population. 

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