Thailand

A film interview with Malcolm Potts

June 18, 2026
The Overpopulation Project presented a film, an interview with Malcolm Potts.

"Malcolm Potts, who died April 2025 at the age of 90, was a professor in Maternal and Child Health and holder of the Fred H. Bixby Endowed Chair in Population and Family Planning in the School of Public Health at UC Berkeley, USA. As physician, reproductive scientist and contraceptive evangelist, Potts spent more than half a century directing programs that provided family planning services to women in developing countries. For instance, he helped to develop and promote the device most frequently used to...

Partner reduction is crucial for balanced “ABC” approach to HIV prevention

James D Shelton
Daniel T Halperin
Vinand Nantulya
Malcolm Potts
Helene D Gayle
King K Holmes
2004

Behaviour change programmes to prevent HIV have mainly promoted condom use or abstinence, while partner reduction remains the neglected component of ABC

The key to preventing the spread of HIV, especially in epidemics driven mainly by heterosexual transmission, is through changing sexual behaviour. Interest has been growing in an “ABC” approach in which A stands for abstinence or delay of sexual activity, B for be faithful, and C for condom use. Although “be faithful” literally implies monogamy, it also includes reductions incasual sex and multiple sexual partnerships (and related...