Likely Healthy

Risk compensation occurs when individuals alter their behavior due to a perceived change in risk.  Individuals may behave more cautiously if the perceived risk increases; however, the opposite is also true.  Individuals may behave less cautiously if the perceived risk decreases or they feel more protected.  

Case in point:  The provision of PrEP (Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis) for HIV prevention may decrease the use of other HIV prevention tools, such as condoms, because the perceived risk of HIV is reduced by PrEP.  Which makes sense - why do I need to use condoms to prevent the transmission of HIV when I can take a pill?

 However, this logic is problematic for two reasons:  

(1) More research needs to be conducted on the efficacy PrEP as an HIV prevention tool.  In some studies, PrEP is not as a effective as condoms at preventing HIV transmission.

(2) PrEP does not prevent transmission of other STIs.