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. 2022 Feb 11:5:91.
doi: 10.12688/gatesopenres.13278.2. eCollection 2021.

The impact of condom use on the HIV epidemic

John Stover  1 , Yu Teng  1
Affiliations

The impact of condom use on the HIV epidemic

John Stover et al. Gates Open Res. .

Abstract

Background: Condom promotion and supply was one the earliest interventions to be mobilized to address the HIV pandemic. Condoms are inexpensive and provide protection against transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases (STIs) as well as against unintended pregnancy. As many as 16 billion condoms may be used annually in all low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). In recent years the focus of HIV programs as been on testing and treatment and new technologies such as PrEP. Rates of condom use have stopped increasing short of UNAIDS targets and funding from donors is declining. Methods: We applied a mathematical HIV transmission model to 77 high HIV burden countries to estimate the number of HIV infections that would have occurred from 1990 to 2019 if condom use had remained at 1990 levels. Results: The results suggest that current levels of HIV would be five times higher without condom use and that the scale-up in condoms use averted about 117 million HIV infections. Conclusions: HIV programs should ensure that affordable condoms are consistently available and that the benefits of condom use are widely understood.

Keywords: Condoms; HIV prevention; modeling.

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Conflict of interest statement

No competing interests were disclosed.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.. Number of new HIV infections with and without historical scale-up of condom use.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.. Number of new HIV infections in the future under three scenarios.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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