Couple-Based HIV Prevention Strategies
Summary
Couple-based approaches to HIV prevention recognise the pivotal role that intimate partnerships play in shaping individuals’ risk and protective behaviours. By engaging both partners simultaneously, these strategies harness mutual support, shared decision-making and open communication to promote safer sexual practices, regular testing and adherence to biomedical interventions. Central elements include joint counselling sessions—often termed couples HIV testing and counselling (CHTC)—where partners receive tailored education on transmission dynamics, negotiate sexual agreements and develop collaborative risk-reduction plans. Behavioural components address relationship skills, conflict resolution and disclosure, while biomedical elements integrate pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), treatment as prevention (TasP) and timely linkage to care. Such dyadic interventions have been adapted for diverse populations, spanning heterosexual serodiscordant couples, men who have sex with men, young adolescents and couples in community supervision settings. Globally, couple-based strategies offer scalable pathways to reduce incidence, enhance adherence and bridge gaps in traditional individual-centred models by embedding prevention within the relational context.
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Couple-Based HIV Prevention Strategies publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in couple-based hiv prevention strategies across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Serodiscordant couple: A partnership in which one individual is HIV-positive and the other is HIV-negative.
Couples HIV testing and counselling (CHTC): A joint process where both partners undergo HIV testing together and receive shared counselling on prevention and risk reduction.
Sexual agreement: A mutually negotiated set of rules that partners establish to manage sexual behaviours within and outside the relationship.
Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP): The use of antiretroviral medication by HIV-negative individuals to prevent infection before potential exposure.
References
- Effectiveness of a Couple-Based HIV and Sexually Transmitted Infection Prevention Intervention for Men in Community Supervision Programs and Their Female Sexual Partners. JAMA Network Open (2019).
- Feasibility and Acceptability of an Electronic Health HIV Prevention Toolkit Intervention With Concordant HIV-Negative, Same-Sex Male Couples on Sexual Agreement Outcomes: Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial. JMIR Formative Research (2020).
- Relationship Education and HIV Prevention for Young Male Couples Administered Online via Videoconference: Protocol for a National Randomized Controlled Trial of 2GETHER. JMIR Research Protocols (2020).
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