1) A high rate of HIV testing and,
2) Disclosure of status.

A number of different posters looked at rates of disclosure by HIV-positive people all over the world. A poster from Uganda (King) found that of 1,092 HIV-positive clients of the country's largest AIDS NGO, TASO, 45% of them men, 42% of them had been sexually active in the past three months and of these 69% had disclosed their HIV status to their partner. Encouragingly, higher rates of disclosure were associated with higher rates of condom use, showing that the two activities are linked.

Finally, in an upbeat presentation, Fiona Percy-de Korte reported on high rates of disclosure among recipients of antiretrovirals in the Botswana National Treatment Programme.

Among this cross-sectional survey of 275 patients in two districts, she said that 90% of ARV recipients had disclosed their HIV status to family members, 71% to their spouse or partner, 54% to friends, 26% to a church leader, and 20% to their employer.

Seventy-three per cent said they always used a condom during sex. And 48% said they had reduced their number of sexual partners since diagnosis."(1)

"There is plenty of evidence that serosorting exists as a behaviour. Jonathan Elford presented a poster showing that serosorting was common not only among HIV-positive gay men in the UK but also among Africans."(2)

"Investigators from Sydney therefore looked at the serosorting behaviour of gay men known to be HIV-negative between 2002 and 2005. Although these men were not explicitly asked if they had "serosorted," this behaviour was inferred from information they provided.

The practice of deliberately selecting partners of the same HIV status - often called "serosorting" - has been well described amongst HIV-positive gay men and even been credited with contributing to a fall in HIV incidence in San Francisco. Most investigators have looked at the serosorting behaviours of HIV-positive men and there are limited data on serosorting amongst HIV-negative gay men. There is also some evidence from the United States that HIV-negative men are increasingly avoiding sex with men who know they are HIV-positive. They also suggest that the internet may have a role in the apparent increase in serosorting." (3)

(1) Percy-de Korte F. Experiences of people living with AIDS (PLWA) following enrollment in the Botswana National Treatment Programme (BNTP). Sixteenth International AIDS Conference, Toronto, abstract WEAC0102, 2006.

(2) Elford J et al. Serosorting among Africans living with HIV in London. Sixteenth International AIDS Conference, Toronto, abstract WEPDC05, 2006

(3) Mao L et al. "Serosorting" in casual anal sex of HIV-negative gay men is noteworthy and is increasing in Sydney, Australia. AIDS 20: 1204-1206, 2006.
Abelson J et al. HIV optimism does not explain increases in high-risk sexual behaviour among gay men of positive or negative HIV status in Sydney, Australia. AIDS 20: 1215-1216, 2006.

Conclusion For more than a decade, Serosorting has broken the cycle of NEW HIV transmissions and has made safe sex safer.

NOTE to researchers: Do HIV-negative people have SAFE SEX? If "YES", then what's stopping YOU and YOUR RESEARCH TEAM from documenting this vital Safe Sex Serosorting data?

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