Effectiveness of female and male condoms in preventing exposure to semen during vaginal intercourse: a randomized trial.

Objectives: Comparison of male condom (MC) vs. female condom (FC) with respect to self-reported mechanical and acceptability problems and semen exposure using prostate-specific antigen (PSA) as an objective biological marker and evaluation of the effect of an educational intervention on self-reported problems and semen exposure, by condom type.

Design: Randomized crossover trial.

Changing patterns of knowledge, reported behaviour and sexually transmitted infections in a South African gold mining community.

Background: In 1998, a major HIV intervention project was started in a mining community in Carletonville, South Africa. This included community-based peer education, condom distribution, syndromic management of sexually transmitted infections (STI), and presumptive STI treatment for sex workers.

Objectives: To investigate changes in sexual behaviour and the prevalence of STI before and 2 years after the start of the HIV prevention programme.

Evidence-based treatment guidelines for sexually transmitted infections developed with and for female sex workers.

Background: Sex work is frequently one of the few options women in low-income countries have to generate income for themselves and their families. Treating and preventing sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among sex workers (SWs) is critical to protect the health of the women and their communities; it is also a cost-effective way to slow the spread of HIV. Outside occasional research settings however, SWs in low-income countries rarely have access to effective STI diagnosis.