What Works for Women and Girls

What Works—Prevention for Young People: Increasing Access to Services1. Providing clinic services that are youth friendly, conveniently located, affordable,confidential and non-judgmental can increase use of clinic reproductive healthservices, including VCT.Promising Strategies:2. Youth-friendly condom distribution can help young people feel more comfortableaccessing condoms.EVIDENCE1. Providing clinic services that are youth-friendly, conveniently located, affordable, confidentialand non-judgmental can increase use of clinic reproductive health services, including VCT.A review of HIV prevention interventions among youth from 80 developing countriesfound evidence that youth-friendly services increase young people’s use of healthservices (Ross et al., 2006). (Gray III) (health services, youth)A survey of 445 young women with access to a youth-friendly clinic in Mozambiquedemonstrated high levels of knowledge to avoid risk of HIV acquisition and low ratesof HIV compared to HIV prevalence in the same city. In 1999, Adolescent and YouthFriendly Services (SAAJ) was created in the capital city, Maputo. The service was part of amultidisciplinary project that provides young people with sexual and reproductive healthservices with a no cost clinic. In October 2001, the clinic offered HIV testing and counseling.From 1999 to 2003, approximately 23,000 adolescents attended the clinic. In2002, a sample of 435 young women completed a questionnaire and lab exams. The levelof HIV knowledge was high, with correct answers about the effectiveness of condomsat 96% and 74% knowing that healthy looking people can transmit HIV. Of the youngwomen, 44.4% had sexual intercourse with occasional partners. Of the young women,only 4% tested positive for HIV, while the general seroprevalence for Maputo City was17.3% (Melo et al., 2008). (Gray III) (HIV testing, youth, health services, Mozambique)A survey conducted between 2000 and 2002 in Madagascar evaluating the developmentand promotion of a network of youth-friendly, private sector clinics offering HIVtesting, STI treatment, and other reproductive health services, found that the numberof youth seeking services at these clinics rose dramatically, from 527 to 2,202 youth(predominately female), over two years. In addition to offering confidential, convenient,and affordable services by nonjudgmental providers to attract youth to the clinics, massmedia and face-to-face communication campaigns using peer educators, television andradio spots, television talk shows, films, and mobile condom use demonstration teamsWHAT WORKS FOR WOMEN AND GIRLS139