According to a new study, the fears of contracting HIV have led to a big drop in people infected with the disease in the African nation of Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe’s HIV/AIDS epidemic was considered one of the worst in the world, but the rate was almost cut in half from 1997 to 2007. It went down from 29 percent of the population to 16 percent.

According to the researchers of Imperial College London, the citizens of Zimbabwe were motivated to change their sexual behaviour because of improved public awareness of AIDS deaths and due to the fear of contracting the HIV virus.

The researchers give the total credit to the different educational programs for shifting people’s attitudes about having multiple sexual partners. These programs have increased the acceptability of using a condom during casual sex.

According to the researchers, there are other factors, which have lead to the drop, include well-educated population and stronger traditions of marriage.

These factors have helped the people of Zimbabwe to cut down the number of AIDS patients drastically. According to the researchers, people have become well aware of HIV/AIDS leading to the drop.