Glossary
B
- Behavioral interventions:
- An HIV prevention initiative that attempts to change the sexual behavior and/or drug use practices of people to reduce their risk of HIV infection.
- Biomedical interventions:
- An HIV prevention initiative that uses technologies to prevent HIV transmission, for example, male circumcision, which can lower the risk of a man acquiring HIV by up to 60%.
C
- Concentrated epidemic:
- Refers to places (such as Eastern Europe and Latin America) where the HIV epidemic is primarily affecting people that have high-risk behaviors, like sharing needles to inject drugs, or having unprotected sex with multiple partners, for example sex workers. Young people often make up half of the key populations in concentrated epidemics.
D
- Declaration of Commitment on HIV:
- An accord signed by 192 member countries at the 2001 UNGASS high level meetings to guide and secure action, commitment, support and resources for the AIDS response by 2010. The DoC is reviewed every year to evaluate countries' progress in meeting the goals and targets.
- Disaggregated data:
- Data divided into separate categories according to various characteristics (sex, age, nationality, religion, occupation, etc.).
G
- Generalized epidemic:
- Refers to places (such as sub-Saharan Africa) where the epidemic generally affects the entire population, and where a country's prevalence rate is higher than 1 percent.
H
- Harm reduction:
- A set of practical strategies that reduce negative consequences of drug use, incorporating a spectrum of strategies from safer use, to managed use to abstinence. Harm reduction strategies meet drug users "where they're at," addressing conditions of use along with the use itself.
- HIV prevalence:
- The estimated percentage of the population in a given area, such as a country, that is living with HIV.
M
- Most-at-risk populations:
- Populations that engage in behaviors that give them a higher risk of contracting HIV than other populations. Behaviors that make young people most-at-risk of becoming infected with HIV include having sex with many partners without a condom and injecting drugs using shared needles and syringes.
S
- Social interventions:
- An HIV prevention initiative that tries to alter aspects of society, for example laws, customs, traditions, that can make people vulnerable to HIV.
Y
- Youth-friendly health services:
- Health services that are free of judgment and stigma towards young people, where they can receive inexpensive or free services and information that are relevant to their sexual, reproductive, and social lives, and that are open at hours that are convenient for young people.