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I. PROGRAM RESOURCES
1. Are Schools Safe Havens for Children? Examining School-related Gender-based Violence
2. Impact of Oportunidades on Contraceptive Methods Use in Adolescent and Young Adult Women Living in Rural Areas, 1997-2000
3. Kids Abroad: Ignore Them, Abuse Them or Protect Them? Lessons on How to Protect Children on the Move from Being Exploited
4. Prescription for Life: Take Action to Help Children Living with HIV
5. Review of Sex, Relationships, and HIV Education in Schools
6. A Study on Violence against Girls in Primary Schools and Its Impacts on Girls' Education in Ethiopia
7. UNAIDS Inter-Agency Task Team (IATT) on HIV and Young People: Guidance Briefs
8. Violence Against Women and Girls: A Compendium of Monitoring and Evaluation Indicators
II. RESEARCH SUMMARIES
1. Child sexual abuse as a risk factor for sexual risk behaviours among socially disadvantaged adolescents in Ibadan, Nigeria
2. Community influences on young people's sexual behavior in 3 African countries
3. Effect of male circumcision on the prevalence of high-risk human papillomavirus in young men: results of a randomized controlled trial conducted in orange farm, South Africa
4. Keep them in school: the importance of education as a protective factor against HIV infection among young South African women
5. Long-term follow-up study on peer-led school-based HIV/AIDS prevention among youths in Shanghai
6. An outcome assessment of an ABC-based HIV peer education intervention among Kenyan university students
7. Predictors of early first sexual intercourse among adolescents in Cape Town, South Africa
8. Sexual abstinence behavior among never-married youths in a generalized HIV epidemic country: Evidence from the 2005 Cote d'Ivoire AIDS Indicator Survey
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I. PROGRAM RESOURCES
1. Are Schools Safe Havens for Children? Examining School-related Gender-based Violence (2008, 60 pages, 592 KB)
The physical, psychological, and sexual violence some children experience in and around school compromises their ability to fully realize the benefits of education. Although there are no global data on the prevalence of school-related gender-based violence, the literature reviewed for this report indicates that physical, sexual, and psychological abuse in and around schools is a worldwide problem.
Organization: Management Systems International/EQUATE
Contact: info@msi-inc.com
2. Impact of Oportunidades on Contraceptive Methods Use in Adolescent and Young Adult Women Living in Rural Areas, 1997-2000 (2008, 41 pages, 469 KB)
"Oportunidades" is a social program run by the Mexican government that seeks to improve education, health, nutrition, and living conditions of those in extreme poverty. People supported by the program attend monthly health talks, which include information on contraceptive methods. Reduction in fertility, especially among youth, is deemed crucial to the program's goals. This report analyzes information from the Oportunidades evaluation surveys conducted between 1997 and 2000 to learn more about contraceptive method use among young women.
Organization: MEASURE Evaluation
Contact: measure@unc.edu
3. Kids Abroad: Ignore Them, Abuse Them or Protect Them? Lessons on How to Protect Children on the Move from Being Exploited (2008, 90 pages, 1.1 MB)
This study focuses on the experience of young people who leave home in search of a better life or who are sent away from home by their parents. The authors explore initiatives that have reduced the likelihood that such children will be subjected to economic or sexual exploitation.
Organization: Terre des Hommes International Federation (TDHIF)
Contact: info@terredeshommes.org
4. Prescription for Life: Take Action to Help Children Living with HIV (2008, 6 pages, 3.4 MB)
The Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance developed this short guide for communities, organizations, and individuals who want to help children who are living with HIV. This advocacy guide is intended for use by teachers, parents, youth leaders, and others. French and Spanish versions can also be downloaded.
Organization: Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance
Contact: info@e-alliance.ch
5. Review of Sex, Relationships, and HIV Education in Schools (2008, 38 pages, 235 KB)
In 2007, UNESCO commissioned this global review of sex and HIV education in the schools. The review is based on interviews with 22 experts from Africa, Europe, and North and South America, together with searches of scientific journals and other literature. One conclusion reached is that throughout the world too few young people, including those who are living with HIV, receive adequate preparation for adult sexual life.
Organization: UNESCO
Contact: edknowledge@unesco.org
6. A Study on Violence against Girls in Primary Schools and Its Impacts on Girls' Education in Ethiopia (2008, 109 pages, 686 KB)
This paper identifies and analyzes the types, prevalence, major causes, and effects of violence against girls in schools in Ethiopia. It also assesses the availability and effectiveness of anti-violence policies, rules, and regulations and concludes with recommendations on ways to reduce violence against school girls.
Organization: Save the Children Denmark, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Women's Affairs
Contact: rb@redbarnet.dk
7. UNAIDS Inter-Agency Task Team (IATT) on HIV and Young People: Guidance Briefs (2008, each brief is eight pages)
The UNAIDS Inter-Agency Task Team (IATT) developed this series of briefs on HIV and young people. The seven briefs are:
- Overview of HIV interventions for young people
- HIV interventions for most-at-risk young people
- HIV interventions for young people in humanitarian emergencies
- Community-based HIV interventions for young people
- HIV interventions for young people in the education sector
- HIV interventions for young people in the health sector
- HIV interventions for young people in the workplace
Organization: UNAIDS Inter-Agency Task Team (IATT) on HIV and Young People
Contact: info-iatt-yp@unfpa.org
8. Violence Against Women and Girls: A Compendium of Monitoring and Evaluation Indicators (2008, 252 pages, 843 KB)
MEASURE Evaluation and a technical advisory group developed this compendium for program managers, organizations, and policy-makers who are working to address violence against women and girls at the individual, community, district/provincial and national levels in developing countries.
Organization: MEASURE Evaluation
Contact: measure@unc.edu
II. RESEARCH SUMMARIES
1. Child sexual abuse as a risk factor for sexual risk behaviours among socially disadvantaged adolescents in Ibadan, Nigeria. Olley BO. Vulnerable Child Youth Stud 2008;3(3):243–8.
The author conducted a cross-sectional study with 1,079 boys and 1,211 girls in 22 socially disadvantaged public secondary schools in a suburb of Ibadan, Nigeria. A 70-item sexual risk behavior questionnaire was used to collect information on lifetime and current sexual experiences. Fifty-five percent of students reported to have ever experienced at least one form of child sexual abuse (CSA). Thirty-six percent reported a history of intrafamily CSA, whereas 46% had experienced interfamily CSA. Five hundred and sixty-four (24.6%) of these adolescents were sexually active at the time of the study. There was a strong relationship between having ever experienced CSA and sexual risk behaviors: adolescent boys and girls with CSA were three times as likely not to have used a condom at last vaginal intercourse, three times as likely to engage in casual sex with a partner known for a day, twice as likely to drink alcohol heavily before sex, three times as likely to use tobacco, and three times as likely to have a sexually transmitted infection. Logistic regression shows that the relationship between CSA and non-use of a condom at last vaginal intercourse remained after controlling for age, family type, and parents staying together.
2. Community influences on young people's sexual behavior in 3 African countries. Stephenson R. Am J Public Health 2009;99(1):102–9.
The author analyzed demographic and health survey data from Burkina Faso, Ghana, and Zambia from 2001 through 2003 to identify individual, household, and community factors associated with reports of risky sexual behaviors among youth aged 15–24. Community demographic profiles were not associated with reports of risky sexual behavior among young women but were influential in shaping the behavior of young men. Prevailing economic conditions and the behaviors and attitudes of adults in the community were strong influences on young people's sexual behaviors. These results provide strong support for a focus on community-level influences as an intervention point for behavioral change.
3. Effect of male circumcision on the prevalence of high-risk human papillomavirus in young men: results of a randomized controlled trial conducted in orange farm, South Africa. Auvert B, Sobngwi-Tambekou J, Cutler E, et al. J Infect Dis 2009;199(1):14–9.
The authors used data from a male circumcision (MC) trial conducted in Orange Farm, South Africa among men aged 18–24 years to investigate the association between male circumcision (MC) and the prevalence of high-risk human papillomavirus (HR-HPV) among young men. Urethral swab samples were collected during a period of 262 consecutive days from participants in the intervention (circumcised) and control (uncircumcised) groups who were reporting for a scheduled follow-up visit. Swab samples were analyzed using polymerase chain reaction. HR-HPV prevalence rate ratios were assessed using univariate and multivariate log Poisson regression. In an intention-to-treat analysis, the prevalence of HR-HPV among the intervention group was 14.8% (94/637) and in the control group was 22.3% (140/627). Controlling for propensity score and confounders (ethnic group, age, education, sexual behavior [including condom use], marital status, and human immunodeficiency virus status) had no effect on the results. This is the first randomized controlled trial to show a reduction in the prevalence of urethral HR-HPV infection after MC. This finding explains why women with circumcised partners are at a lower risk of cervical cancer than other women.
4. Keep them in school: the importance of education as a protective factor against HIV infection among young South African women. Pettifor AE, Levandowski BA, MacPhail C, et al. Int J Epidemiol 2008;37(6):1266–73.
In 2003, the authors conducted a nationally representative household survey on sexual behavior and HIV testing among 11,904 young people aged 15–24 years in South Africa. The analysis focused on the subset of sexually experienced young women with only one reported lifetime sex partner (n = 1,708). Using the proximate determinants framework and the published literature, the authors identified factors associated with HIV in young women. The associations between these factors and HIV infection were explored in multivariable logistic regression models. Fifteen percent of the young women reporting one lifetime partner were HIV positive. In multivariable analyses, young women who had not completed high school were more likely to be infected with HIV than those who had completed high school. Young South African women in this population were at high risk of HIV infection despite reporting only having one lifetime partner. Few individual level factors were associated with HIV infection, emphasizing the importance of developing HIV prevention interventions that address structural and partner-level risk factors.
5. Long-term follow-up study on peer-led school-based HIV/AIDS prevention among youths in Shanghai. Cai Y, Hong H, Shi R, et al. Int J STD AIDS 2008;19(12):848–50.
To determine both the short- and long-term effects of a peer education program, the authors conducted a follow-up study to evaluate the related knowledge, attitudes, and intended behavior related to HIV/AIDS among senior high-school students in Shanghai, China. They selected 1,950 students from 10 senior high schools, from whom 968 students were selected at random for the intervention group and 982 students for the control group. The same questionnaires were given to both groups before the intervention, one month after, and one year later. In the intervention group, the knowledge score on reproductive health, HIV/AIDS, and sexually transmitted infection rose from 21.66 to 31.72 one month later. After one year it was still 30.97. After both the one month and one-year follow-up intervention, the authors also found that more students declared that they would use condoms during sexual intercourse than did students in the control group. No change was seen in either knowledge or behavior intention in the control group. These results showed that peer education on HIV/AIDS prevention among high-school students is both effective in promoting knowledge and in changing behavior intention over the long term.
6. An outcome assessment of an ABC-based HIV peer education intervention among Kenyan university students. Miller AN, Mutungi M, Facchini E, et al. J Health Commun 2008;13(4):345–56.
This study reports on an outcome assessment of an HIV peer education intervention at the main campus of Kenyatta University in Nairobi, Kenya. A quasi-experimental separate sample pretest-posttest design was used. Campus-wide baseline and endline surveys were conducted with 632 and 746 students, respectively, soliciting information on HIV-related knowledge, attitudes, and behavior. After two years of on-campus intervention, no changes in behavior were evident regarding either abstinence or number of sexual partners. Small but statistically significant changes were found in condom attitudes and behavior, and a large increase in HIV testing was evident. The authors recommend that future research more specifically compare abstinence versus multiple option peer education programs, giving special attention to the role of peer educators as models.
7. Predictors of early first sexual intercourse among adolescents in Cape Town, South Africa. Mathews C, Aaro LE, Flisher AJ, et al. Health Educ Res 2009;24(1):1–10.
The authors used a social cognition theoretical framework to investigate the predictors of young adolescents' transition to first intercourse. The analyses were based on a longitudinal study of students in schools allocated to the control arm of a cluster-randomized controlled trial to investigate the effect of a school-based HIV prevention program. The study involved 2,360 Grade 8 students in Cape Town. Of the 1,440 students who were virgins at baseline, 1,144 remained virgins 15 months later, and 296 (20.6%) reported having had their first sexual intercourse. Transition to first sexual intercourse was more likely among males, among older students, and among students with a lower socio-economic status. Transition to first sexual intercourse was significantly associated with intentions to have sexual intercourse, poor self-efficacy to negotiate delayed sex, and intimate partner violence. The model predicted 35% of the variance in intentions and 16% of the variance in transition. These findings indicate some of the factors that influence young people to have first sex and that need to be addressed when designing effective interventions.
8. Sexual abstinence behavior among never-married youths in a generalized HIV epidemic country: Evidence from the 2005 Cote d'Ivoire AIDS Indicator Survey. Koffi AK, Kawahara K. BMC Public Health 2008;8(Article No.408):15 p.
The authors explored sexual abstinence among never-married individuals aged 15 to 24 in Cote d'Ivoire and assessed factors that predict sexual abstinence. They obtained data from the nationally representative and population-based 2005 Cote d'Ivoire AIDS Indicator Survey, conducted from September 2004 to October 2005. The sample included 3,041 never-married people aged 15 to 24. Of these, 990 reported never having sexual intercourse (primary abstinence) and 137 reported sexual experience but not in the 12 months prior to the survey (secondary abstinence). In all, 1,127 youths reported sexual abstinence practice. Of the 3,041 never-married youths, 54.4% were male and 45.6% were female. About 33.0%, 6.7%, and 37.1% of them were practicing primary, secondary, and sexual abstinence behavior, respectively. Females of higher education level were about 11 times as likely as those of no education to practice either primary or secondary abstinence. Males who were animists, had no religion, or were practicing religions other than Christianity or Muslim were significantly less likely than other male youths to practice sexual abstinence. Living in the north-west region of the country significantly decreased the odds of sexual abstinence among female youths. Similarly, female youths living in rural areas were 0.42 times as likely as those in the urban zones to practice sexual abstinence.
