December 7, 2010

HIV prevention efforts go mobile

by Matt Baume

AIDS advocacy organizations are increasingly building high-tech online tools to keep safer sex at the top of San Franciscans' minds.
Among those new tools are a sex-education app for the iPhone and iPad, condom-locators, a conference on youth media and sexual health, and a revamped website for the San Francisco AIDS foundation.
The digital emphasis coincides with two new studies in the journal AIDS and Behavior that indicate a need for more online outreach.
One study found that men who pursue "online partnerships" are more likely to engage in unsafe sex. Although Internet hookups themselves do not necessarily cause riskier behavior, the authors concluded, online usage may be a "marker" of a tendency towards heightened risk-taking.