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Abstract
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The goal of behavioral interventions is to reduce the risk of HIV-related sexual and drug-use behaviors. Specifically, interventions

seek to delay the onset of sexual intercourse, reduce the number of sexual partners a person has, reduce the incidence of

unprotected sex by increasing condom use, and reduce or eliminate the incidence of drug injecting and the incidence of sharing

needles, syringes, and other drug-use equipment. True reductions in such behavioral risks—particularly if adopted widely

and sustained over time—translate into decreased transmission and acquisition of HIV.

Since the early 1980s, hundreds of studies of behavior-change interventions focused on different population groups—including

heterosexual adults and adolescents, injecting drug users, and men who have sex with men—have been conducted.

Several systematic reviews and meta-analyses (which combine findings from multiple studies) have found that such interventions

can result in significant reductions in risk behaviors among different population groups over periods ranging from three

months to two years. Some behavioral interventions also have demonstrated reductions in incidence of other sexually transmitted

infections (STIs).

On the basis of peer-reviewed publications through 2004, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) identified

42 prevention interventions demonstrated to be efficacious in well-designed studies. In each of these studies, trial participants

in the intervention (experimental) arm exhibited significant reductions in HIV risk behaviors compared with participants in the

control group or comparison condition.