Abstract

This paper sets out to assess changes in sexual risk behaviour among homosexual men in the Netherlands in relation to Hiv prevention for this community. Homosexual men were found to have increased the use of condoms and reduced the number of partners with whom they had sex. These decreases in risk-taking resulted in a sharp reduction of the annual incidence of Hiv infection among homosexual men in the 1980s. It is generally believed that these observed changes resulted from the massive information and health education campaigns that were initiated. To document this relation between health education and behaviour change in the field of Aids prevention among homosexual men, this paper presents an overview of Hiv prevention activities that have been undertaken for homosexual men in the Netherlands and assesses how these activities coincided with changes in sexual risk behaviour. Data from the Amsterdam Cohort Study show that the massive information campaigns for homosexual men that were initiated in 1983 have been successful in quickly promoting safe sexual behaviour. An issue that has received much attention in recent years is the occurrence of unprotected intercourse in primary relations. Hopefully new campaigns in this field will contribute to an even further reduction of sexual risk behaviour among homosexual men.