Does Knowledge of Risk of Contracting AIDS Change Sexual Behavior? The Case of Mozambican Youth

Ndola Prata, University of California, Berkeley
Mark Stehr, Drexel University
Leo Morris, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Elizio Mazive, National Institute of Statistics, Mozambique

This paper assesses the level of knowledge of HIV among adolescents and young adults in Mozambique, evaluates whether self-assessment of risk of HIV infection is accurate, and if HIV awareness affects sexual behavior. We use data from the 2001 national population-based Young Adult Reproductive Health and Behavior Risk Survey.The sample includes 5,338 women and 5,150 men aged 15-24. Respondents assessed their risk of HIV infection as: none; small; moderate high and we compare respondents’ self-assessment of risk with a post data collection risk definition based on sexual behaviour. We estimate that 17% of women 15-24 that reported being at no risk for contracting AIDS and 40% who reported to be at low risk, are actually at moderate to high risk of contracting HIV. Similarly, 19% of men who report being at no risk and 37% of those at low risk, can actually be considered at moderate to high risk.