People on ARVs take more sexual risks - study

People who have HIV and Aids and who are on anti-retroviral treatment (ART) tend to take greater sexual risks than those who are positive but who are not on treatment.

That's according to a recent study by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) into perceptions and behavioural risk relating to people who are HIV-positive.

The study's findings indicate that HIV-positive people on treatment tend to practise safe sex less frequently compared to those who are not on treatment.

They appear not to view the disease as a threat.

The study was conducted by Vuyiswa Mathambo, a research manager in the Child, Youth, Family and Social Development research programme.

The research was conducted by sampling a group of 104 HIV-positive men and women who had been receiving ART for more than six months and 111 HIV-positive men and women who were not receiving ART at the time of the study.

Most of those surveyed were women aged 26 to 30, unmarried, with a secondary level qualification and unemployed.

People in both groups were asked about their perceptions of the impact of HIV and Aids on the frequency with which they practised safe sex.

The report is published in the HSRC Review.

In terms of the statistics, more people who were in the treatment group viewed Aids as a disease that was no longer life-threatening and reported practising safe sex less often since starting treatment.

Of those interviewed, 84 percent of those in the treatment group said Aids was no longer a threat compared to 76 percent in the non-treatment group.

Sixty-three percent of those in the treatment group practised safe sex compared to 51 percent of those in the non-treatment group.

Mathambo writes that the study's findings showed a need to communicate appropriate HIV-prevention messages to those on treatment as it was still important to practise safe sex.

"ART is known to reduce viral loads, Aids-related illnesses and death and to improve the quality of life of those taking this treatment but concerns have been raised about the perceptions of risk as well as the behaviour of those receiving ART...

"While acknowledging the difficulty of linking risk perception and sexual practices, it was notable that some respondents had sought treatment for STIs (sexually transmitted infections) in both groups in the past two to three months," she says.

Mathambo adds that the study site was located within a hospital founded on a Catholic ethos, meaning that condoms may not have been as readily available.

Meanwhile, a comprehensive study by the Institute of Security Studies says that the politicisation of HIV and Aids has impacted on corruption and accountability.

The study, A Lethal Cocktail by Collette Schulz-Herzenberg, explores the impact of corruption on HIV and Aids prevention and treatment efforts in South Africa.

"It (politicisation) appears to relate indirectly to instances of abuse and corruption on the part of public officials and other individuals by affording a degree of protection."