Format
News
Original Language

English

Country
Kenya
Keywords
HIV
alcohol
abstinence
treatment
public health
Kenya
Africa

Can Abstaining from Alcohol Help to Fight the Spread of HIV?

Studies have shown that alcohol may play a role in more that 13% of deaths resulting from infectious diseases, including HIV.

Evidence suggests that alcohol consumption negatively affects the fight against HIV primarily by:

  • Increasing the likelihood of transmission through risky sex
  • Making those infected less likely to take their medicine regularly

In response, researchers at Brown University have piloted a cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) programme to promote alcohol abstinence among those infected with HIV in an area of Kenya.

The treatment can be delivered successfully by “paraprofessionals … independently rated to be as competent as college-educated U.S. therapists when delivering a standardized CBT intervention to reduce alcohol use”.

There are arguments that up-scaling the programme nationwide, and eventually across the continent, could save money by helping to combat the spread of costly infections.

Click here to read more.