Barking up the wrong evidence tree. Comment on Lurie & Rosenthal, 'Concurrent partnerships as a driver of the HIV epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa? The evidence is limited'.

摘要

It is good that concurrency is becoming a central topic of discussion in the HIV prevention research community [1]. A healthy debate on this topic is long overdue. A productive debate requires a solid understanding of the relationship between behavior (at the individual level) and disease transmission dynamics (at the population level). This relationship determines the relevant evidence. The concepts are simple, but subtle. Get them wrong, and it is easy to make some common mistakes, as Lurie and Rosenthal do here [2].