Married men and women. Among married people in every country surveyed, the most common reported change in sexual behavior in response to AIDS is to restrict sex to the person's spouse (see Table 3). Other changes that married respondents mention include using condoms, asking the spouse to be faithful, having fewer sex partners, stopping sex entirely, avoiding sex with prostitutes, and not using unsterilized needles for injections.

Among married men, using condoms is the third or fourth most common response. Among married women, it is mentioned even less often. Of course, many married women and men may report making no changes in their sexual behavior because they already are practicing safe behavior (or think they are). Few married couples report that they have stopped having sex because of the risk of AIDS.

Never-married men and women. Among never-married men and women (whether sexually active or not) who have heard of AIDS, the most commonly reported change in behavior to avoid AIDS is to stop having sex or, if not yet sexually experienced, to delay sexual initiation (see Table 4).

Many never-married people who have heard of AIDS report that they have started using condoms to avoid AIDS. Among men, the range is from 10% in Mozambique to 33% in Nicaragua; among women, from 1% in Eritrea, the Dominican Republic, and Guatemala to 10% in Colombia.

While many unmarried people report taking steps to protect themselves against AIDS, substantialnumbers report that they have not changed their sexual behavior. Some may not be sexually active and thus do not need to change their behavior. In most countries never-married women are more likely than never-married men to report no change in sexual behavior. How accurately people's reports reflect their behavior is not known.

In one surveyed country—Zimbabwe, where HIV/AIDS is quite prevalent—50% of never-married men and 78% of never-married women report making no change in their sexual behavior because of AIDS. In Zimbabwe, as in three other countries, the survey question about behavior change was asked only of sexually active people (see Table 4). Thus these statistics demonstrate the great extent of risk and the immediate need to make condom use the norm.