Chapter 16

Interaction of Behavior and Biomedical Prevention

Maryam Foroughi and Pegah Valiollahi

Abstract

Today we know that for new HIV infection prevention, there are some effective and feasible programs such as needle exchange, behavioral interventions and antiretroviral therapy (ART). The main component to maintaining behavioral changes is to find novel techniques and know how to stay motivated and also use combination of techniques and methods. This is what researcher and health providers call Biomedical and Behavioral interventions in prevention of HIV infection. Current evidence confirms the efficacy of behavioral interventions in lowering HIV acquisition versus standard care or no intervention. Biomedical intervention is another effective program for HIV prevention, where medical and clinical approaches are used to decrease HIV infection. As HIV infection rates are strongly influenced by human behavior, behavioral changes has long been understood as essential to curb the prevalence of infection. In all cases where a decrease in prevalence has been observed, broad-based changes in behavior were the key of success. Besides behavior change strategies, it is necessary to consider the accessibility to novel biomedical HIV prevention modalities such as vaccines and microbicides. The combination of behavioral changes and application of medical treatment (as ARV or Drug treatment such as Methadone and preventive treatments like microbicides) is regarded as the best effective intervention aganist HIV acquisition.

Total Pages: 234-243 (10)

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