HIV prevention in young homosexual men. A medical ethical challenge

Abstract

Although considerable progress in the treatment of patients with AIDS has been achieved over the recent years, AIDS remains a non-curative disease. Therefore the prevention of new infections with HIV is an important goal for medicine and public health. However, during recent years the number of new HIV-infections in young gay men increased. New empirical data from the U.S. and the U.K. suggest that the traditional prevention methods fail to reach young gay men in Western countries who become HIV-infected by unsafe sex within intimate relationships. The paper discusses these problems from the perspective of medical ethics. New approaches to sex education and prevention of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases are developed and the importance of personal values, responsibility, intimacy and emotions are emphasized.