Reservations on the Use of New HIV Prevention Technologies in HIV Prevention in Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

The aim of the study was to explore the effectiveness of New HIV Prevention Technologies in preventing HIV infection among participants in clinical trials. The study assessed the effectiveness of New HIV Prevention Technologies as reported by researchers on the field. Although it is reported in the media that New HIV Prevention Technologies have made a great deal of progress in HIV prevention, research on the ground indicates that the clinical trials have not managed to reduce HIV infection by a great margin despite the fact that some of the clinical trials have been in place for more than two decades in Sub-Saharan Africa. Most of the clinical trials in HIV prevention have not gone beyond phase III. In this study, it is argued that the use of vaccines, microbicides, antiretroviral therapy for discordant couples, pre-exposure prophylaxis and medical male circumcision in HIV prevention in Sub-Saharan Africa needs a paradigm shift because the results reported so far in clinical trials show more challenges than solutions to the prevention of the HIV pandemic in Sub-Saharan Africa.