African's high on condom, low on sex

Many young Africans are losing their virginity later, having fewer sexual partners and using more condoms — signs that the campaign against AIDS is finally hitting home, a world authority on the disease said on Thursday. HIV infection rates among young people are falling in many parts of East Africa for the first time, about five years after African leaders took the initiative against the virus and declared it an emergency on the world's poorest continent. "What we are seeing is some serious behavior change," United Nations HIV/AIDS chief Peter Piot said at an AIDS summit in Nigeria. "Young people start later with their first sexual intercourse. Also there's a reduction in number of partners and condom use has gone up," Piot said. "Billions of dollars have been invested, some would say poured, into AIDS programs in Africa and until now there were not that many results. Now these results are coming," he added. Young people in Uganda, Kenya and Zimbabwe are losing their virginity two years later than they used to, Piot said, while the rate of new infections is falling in East African cities. The number of Africans receiving life-saving AIDS drugs have also started growing fast, from a few tens of thousands five years ago to 750,000 now. Sub-Saharan Africa has 10% of the world's population, but is home to more than 60% of people living with HIV — 26 million people.