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Global Reproductive Health: HIV Prevention |
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HIV Prevention Research
Approximately 40 million people in the world are living with HIV/AIDS;
the majority are women and children. Almost 6,000 women of reproductive age
become infected with HIV every day. HIV/AIDS has become the number one cause
of death in adults in much of sub-Saharan Africa. CDC participates in
research to better understand the complex issues of HIV transmission,
including related morbidity and mortality among women and children, and to
identify interventions to reduce the transmission of HIV. Research
activities in which CDC staff are currently or were recently involved have
taken place in Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and
Thailand. The CDC activities in these countries cover various topics related
to the transmission of HIV, such as the risk of transmission via
breastfeeding, the effectiveness of various drug regimens in inhibiting
transmission, research on microbicides, and the acceptability of various
methods of contraception. An example of the kind of findings from these
activities is that data from Nairobi indicate that HIV infected women who
breastfeed their infants may experience an increase in maternal mortality
compared to HIV-infected women who do not breastfeed. CDC is also working
with several partners in Russia on development of a program to prevent
mother to child transmission in high risk populations.
Using
Entertainment to Combat HIV Infection and Improve Reproductive Health
Partnering with the
Global AIDS Program (CDC) and
in-country partners including governmental and non-governmental
organizations (NGOs), DRH has developed a behavior change intervention
strategy to reduce the spread of and mitigate the impact of HIV/AIDS. The
Modeling and Reinforcement to Combat HIV (MARCH) strategy uses long-running
serialized dramas on radio or in print to model positive health behaviors.
Characters face and overcome real-life barriers as they model behavior
change. The strategy uses community-based activities to reinforce and
support behavior change. CDC reviewed HIV prevention curricula and
interventions and created a catalogue of existing small group and
community-based activities for use in the reinforcement activity component
of the MARCH strategy. Makgabaneng, a radio serial drama, was launched in
Botswana based on the MARCH strategy. Other serial dramas and
community-level reinforcement activities are being implemented in Ghana,
Ethiopia, and Zimbabwe. Today, CDC continues to develop both small-group
listening discussion activities and community-level reinforcement
activities. To assist with the writing of the radio serial dramas, CDC
developed a set of tools, including the “Pathways to Change” game and chart,
and Speech Acts Journal, designed to help scriptwriters better incorporate
behavioral theory into the radio serial drama.
Division of Reproductive Health's Unintended Pregnancy, STD, HIV, Intervention Research (USHIR)
CDC conducts integrative research into preventing of HIV, sexually
transmitted diseases, and unintended pregnancy and promotion of health among
women of reproductive age, their partners, and their children. Page
last reviewed: 7/29/08
Page last modified: 2/01/07
Content source: Division
of Reproductive Health,
National Center for Chronic
Disease Prevention and Health Promotion |
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