Partner reduction

I’m ending AIDS by reducing my number of sexual partners

Partner reduction is a prevention strategy focused on decreasing your overall number of partners in order to reduce the risk of getting or transmitting HIV. As well as reducing the number of partners, it is also important to focus our efforts on reducing the number of concurrent partners as well. There are many complex and interrelated social, class, cultural, and economic factors that affect this.

For example:

Socio-Cultural Economic Factors

  • Social and gender norms help perpetuate attitudes and beliefs that encourage, or at least tolerate, men and/or women having multiple or concurrent partnerships.
  • Despite a wide understanding of how HIV is transmitted and the prevention options available, many people continue to engage in high-risk partnerships. Some reasons being:
    • Poverty
    • Gender based violence
    • Migrant workforce
    • Alcohol / drug abuse

Partner reduction strategies should be coupled with other prevention messages, such as abstinence, correct and consistent condom use, HIV testing, PrEP, VMMC, and PMTCT.

Key Facts About Partner Reduction

  • Having one sexual partner for life significantly reduces the risk of acquiring HIV.
  • Sequential partnerships are sexual partnerships that occur one after the other and do not overlap.
  • Concurrent partnerships are sexual partnerships that overlap, meaning one begins and continues before the other one ends, or while it continues.
    • Concurrent partnerships spread HIV faster than sequential partnerships.
    • Concurrent partnerships greatly increase the size of your ongoing sexual network compared to sequential partnerships.

Large sexual network + Exposure to newly infected persons (with high viral load) = HIV Superhighway!