Lottery ticket program to prevent HIV makes young people practice safe sex
In the study, funded by the World Bank, a group of researchers has observed a significant reduction in HIV rates through behavioral intervention.
A lottery program offered participants in the study an opportunity to win cash on the condition that they tested negative for sexual transmitted infections. The results were astonishing. After two years there was a 21,4 percent reduction in HIV infections and a reduction of more than 60 percent among participants identified as 鈥渞isk-loving individuals鈥 鈥 those who were identified at the study鈥檚 start as people who enjoyed taking risks.
鈥淲e are the first to find a significant reduction in HIV incidence through behavioral intervention鈥, says Assistant Professor Martina Bj枚rkman Nyqvist, the principal researcher on the project.
The researchers worked with approximately 3,000 volunteers in 29 villages across the country to see if the opportunity to enter a lottery in exchange for a clean test result might lower the rates of infections. Participants testing negative for curable sexually transmitted infections were entered automatically into a lottery with the possibility to win either USD 50 or USD 100.
The lotteries were most successful among people who are prone to taking risks. 鈥淎s risky sexual behavior, which is responsible for the vast majority of new HIV infections, also involves a risky gamble, lottery programs may better target those at higher risk of getting infected by HIV鈥 writes the authors in their working paper.
鈥淭he results are really big鈥 says Martina Bj枚rkman Nyqvist. But the results apply to Lesotho. To conclude that this has external validity, we would need to replicate the lotteries elsewhere.鈥
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The study has gained international media attention.
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Contact:
Martina Bj枚rkman Nyqvist
E-mail: Martina.Bjorkman.Nyqvist@hhs.se
Phone: +46-8-736 9285
