Behavioral prevention is today's AIDS vaccine!
BACKGROUND
Behavioral prevention is currently the only effective way to stem the further spread of HIV. This article reviews the pro-active programmatic model of behavioral research that has led to the development and testing of successful HIV/STD preventive interventions in the last fifteen years.


OBJECTIVE
To present (1) a model of behavioral prevention adapting phases of clinical trials research: Phase I: Discovery; Phase II: Exploratory; Phase III: Efficacy; and Phase IV: Effectiveness; and (2) a theoretical framework for behavioral prevention; and (3) A Lifespan Model of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention which can be used to design HIV/STD prevention programs across the lifespan, at different levels (e.g., individual, couple, family, community, societal) using different intervention modalities.


CONCLUSIONS
Behavioral prevention is effective with different age groups and at different levels of intervention when the prevention program has a theoretical basis. Behavioral prevention works now and can be mobilized within a community to address all of the factors associated with the rapid development of an epidemic. Behavioral prevention is cost effective and can be delivered in communities that have limited resources.
Pequegnat
W
W
Center for Mental Health Research on AIDS, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA. Wpequegn@nih.gov
Stover
E
E
D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000517:prevention & control*; D001519:Behavior; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D012922:Social Change