Sunday Times (Johannesburg) - April 16, 2006
Claire Keeton

WHAT kind of lover are you?

You probably fall into one of five categories: Faithful, Conservative, Responsible, Scared or Lover Boy.

That's according to the independent research company Markinor and Unisa's Bureau of Marketing Research, which have identified these five groups and estimated the risk of each group being HIV-positive.

Predictably, the highest-risk group is "Lover Boy".

Judging by what the Johannesburg High Court has heard this week, this category could include ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma - a sexually active person who, among other "high risk" activities, "will not discontinue sexual intercourse with a partner if they discovered that he/she is HIV-positive".

The Markinor categories are:

• Lover Boys: A high-risk group of single people who sleep around, 56% male and 44% female.

They do not believe that the risk of getting HIV/Aids is reduced by having fewer sexual partners.

They do not believe that Aids exists, or they believe that Aids is not serious or that it can be cured.

They believe that listening to the Aids message only spoils the fun and are embarrassed about using condoms.

• Scared but Lovers: A medium-risk group, mostly young people, with an equal ratio of males and females.

They have intercourse with multiple partners but usually wear condoms.

However, they believe that sex is better without condoms and are less likely to suggest using condoms with a new partner.

• Responsible Lovers: This is one of three low-risk groups.

Its members are mostly single, in their early 20s and predominantly male.

They are aware that HIV/Aids is a serious disease that cannot be cured and when they have intercourse, they use a condom.

• Conservative Lovers: A low- risk group that includes mostly married males and females older than 35 years.

Although they do not use condoms on a regular basis, they believe that having sex with one partner lowers the risk of contracting HIV/Aids.

• Faithful Lovers: A low-risk group, consisting of older married people with a high knowledge of HIV/Aids. They have few sexual partners and are mostly female.

The likelihood of being HIV- positive is estimated at:

• Sixty percent for Lover Boys;

• Thirty percent for the Scared but Lovers group;

• Fifteen percent for Responsible Lovers;

• Eight percent for Conservative Lovers; and

• Zero for Faithful Lovers.

But Dr Francois Venter, the president of the Southern African HIV Clinicians Society, said: "I think this is simplistic and presumes people do not change their sexual behaviour and risk groups.

"It's also wrong to assume that faithful lovers have no risk for HIV - married women remain one of the highest-risk groups for HIV in South Africa."

People are notoriously bad at assessing their own sexual risk, said Agnes Fiamma, the director of the Africa office for the University of California Los Angeles Global Health programme.

"Men typically over-report and women underreport their sexual behaviour," she cautioned.

Markinor director and political analyst Mari Harris said the estimates had been worked out using a demographic model based on three major HIV surveys of South Africans.

She said that South African companies would be able to predict the percentage of their customers, clients or employees with HIV using this tool.

Employees would fill in a three-page questionnaire on their sexual behaviour and their answers would be calibrated against the survey data to give an HIV prevalence rate for that company.

Professor Carel van Aardt of Unisa's Bureau of Marketing Research said the model also made it possible to estimate the percentage of people who were HIV-positive by level of education, employment, income, age, race, and gender.

Harris said: "Contrary to popular belief, professionals and the affluent are not immune to HIV/Aids infection, as the highest percentage increases between 2002 and 2005 in HIV prevalence ... are from those who are fully employed and with high levels of income and education."

She said there were many people in the Lover Boy category, "who behave as if they are untouchable and won't get infected".

Markinor's research uncovered myths that Lover Boys believe, including:

• You can always see if someone has Aids (35%);

• Aids can be spread by mosquitoes (27%); and

• Aids does not exist (17%).

Dr Sue Goldstein of the HIV/health institute Soul City said this highlighted that "people need to understand what behaviour can cause the transmission of HIV and how to prevent that".

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