Abstract

In the past years, HIV prevention efforts have increased with focus on people living with HIV and AIDS (PLWHA) in addition to addressing risk reduction efforts targeting HIV-uninfected individuals. HIV prevalence is 6.3% in Yaounde. This prevalence calls for improvement of prevention strategies. In Cameroon, sensitization activities are continuous and preventive strategy is directed towards HIV negative people. We assessed the suitability of positive prevention in Cameroon, through the comparison of risky behaviors between HIV infected and non-infected people. Methods HIV positive and HIV negative people were recruited in the capital city of Cameroon. Data were collected through a structured questionnaire, pretested and validated, before and after the knowledge of HIV status. The information collected include: Age at first sexual intercourse, number of sexual partners, usage of condoms and frequency of sexual intercourses. Results A total of 320 participants were enrolled, among which 162 People living with HIV (of which 67.3% female) and 158 HIV sero-negative/ignorant people (of which 63.92% female). 18.3% of PLWHA reported having sex before the age of 15 against 10.8% of HIV sero-negative/ignorant people (p = 0.001). PLWHA had more sexual partners than HIV sero-negative/ignorant before and after the knowledge of their HIV status (P = 0.000 and p = 0.001 respectively). Among PLWHA, 39.2% never used condoms before starting treatment against 15.3% of HIV negative (p = 0.000). Before being aware of their HIV status, PLWHA used less condoms than HIV sero-negative/ignorant (p = 0.000). After the awareness of their status, there was no significant difference (p = 0.37) in condoms usage in the two groups, implying risk reduction among PLWHA. Conclusions PLWHA present more risky behavior than HIV-negative and HIV ignorant. Thus positive prevention strategies could be developed and implemented in Cameroon. Furthermore, given the improved use of condoms by PLWHA after awareness of their HIV status, we foresee success in positive prevention.

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