Johannesburg — A lengthy study on HIV/AIDS prevention in Uganda suggests that the country's much-lauded success in tackling the pandemic has little to do with abstinence.

Findings presented at the 12th Annual Retrovirus Conference, underway in Massachusetts, USA, show that condom-use is on the rise, with 50 percent of men and boys aged 15 to 49 consistently using condoms with their most recent non-marital sex partner.

Reuters quoted the chief researcher, Dr Maria Wawer, as saying: "By African standards that's incredibly high. We are seeing somewhat less abstinence and monogamy ... [but] condom use is getting better among both sexes."

The research team, which includes experts from the Johns Hopkins University in the US and Uganda's Makerere University, followed the sexual behaviour of 10,000 adults - about 85 percent of the population in 44 villages - in Uganda's Rakai district for 10 years.