Portuguese Have Not Changed Sexual Behavior, Including Condom Use

Although Portugal has one of the highest HIV incidence rates in the European Union, many people living in the country have not altered their sexual behavior to avoid HIV transmission, according to a poll published on Friday in Portugal's Expresso, AFP/Yahoo! News reports. Polling company Eurosondagem surveyed 726 people between Dec. 13 and Dec. 20 and found that 60.2% of female respondents and 44.0% of male respondents said they have not altered their sexual behavior in light of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The poll also finds that 33.5% of respondents said they never use a condom during sexual relations, while 28.8% of people polled said that they use condoms only in certain circumstances. Of the 8.3% of people who responded that they frequently or occasionally visited commercial sex workers, 15.0% said that they sometimes used condoms and 6.7% said they never did. The poll's margin of error is plus or minus 3.6%, according to Agence France-Presse. Portugal recorded an HIV incidence rate of 78.6 cases per one million people in 2003, according to the European Union's statistical authority Eurostat. The 25-member E.U. recorded an average HIV incidence rate of 14.2 cases per one million people in 2003.
from Kaiser Network