This article presents research which assessed the contributions of rising mortality, falling HIV incidence and sexual behaviour change to the decline in HIV prevalence in Zimbabwe. It comprised of a comprehensive review and secondary analysis of national and local sources on trends in HIV prevalence, HIV incidence, mortality and sexual behaviour in the period 1985 - 2007. The findings provide the first convincing evidence of an HIV decline accelerated by changes in sexual behaviour in a southern African country, nevertheless, in 2007 one in seven adults in Zimbabwe was still infected by a life-threatening virus and mortality rates remained at crisis point