STD Prevention: Behavior Change

Safer Sex - The Guidelines Today

Even general AIDS prevention guidelines differ somewhat from country to country.
While the scientific facts remain the same, the way they are presented can vary considerably.

In some cultures graphic depictions of sexual behaviors are uncontroversial and helpful, but in other cultures they may be counterproductive.They may scandalize too many people, who then reject them together with the useful message they are trying to convey. Health officials in many countries therefore often try to find some middle ground: The urgency of the problem forces them to be explicit enough to make a difference, but public sensitivities prevent them from becoming too drastic.

The present course also tries to avoid offending the students and teachers around the world who may wish to use it. In the following sections we are therefore relying - as far as possible - on well-established and widely accepted governmental sources.