ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines an evidence-based anthropological approach to HIV prevention and offers evidence that an AIDS prevention approach that focuses on fundamental changes in behavior can and has reduced HIV infections in real-world settings, especially in the African hyper-epidemics. The Ugandan government recognized, for instance, that Catholics represented nearly 40" of the population and were major providers of treatment for People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV) and of care and support for PLHIV, orphans, and vulnerable children. In the case of Africa's heterosexually transmitted epidemics, declines in HIV have always been associated with a trend toward fewer sexual partners. In January 2009, the Harvard AIDS Prevention Research Project sponsored a research meeting with United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS) and The World Bank that convened key experts in Multiple Concurrent Partnership (MCP) related prevention from the southern Africa region, including representatives from UNAIDS, World Bank, PSI, and several national HIV prevention initiatives.
