What Works for Women and Girls

1. Interventions are needed to increase community involvement and investment in programsthat promote the introduction and utilization of youth-friendly services. A literature reviewfound that in order to increase utilization of youth friendly services, efforts to changecommunity attitudes on adolescent sexuality were needed.Gap noted, for example, in a literature review of youth-friendly service programs (Speizeret al., 2003).2. Laws and practices that obstruct adolescents’ access to services, such as parental consentrequirements, age, and marital status requirements, must be reviewed and revised. Studiesfound that legal requirements restricted adolescents from getting tested for HIV even ifthey were sexually active and at risk for HIV.Gap noted, for example, in Democratic Republic of Congo (Muyisa et al., 2008);India, Botswana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Tanzania, Thailand, Trinidad,Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe (McCauley, 2004) and South Africa (HRW, 2003a).3. Adolescents who acquired HIV through perinatal transmission need information andservices through adolescent-friendly HIV and family planning services. Studies found thathealth providers were unprepared to discuss HIV and contraception with adolescents whoacquired HIV through perinatal transmission, despite the fact that significant numbers ofthese adolescents were already sexually active.Gap noted, for example, in Uganda and Kenya (Birungi et al., 2009a,b,c) and Uganda(Nyombi et al., 2008).4. Actions are needed to increase young people’s knowledge of when and where to accesshealth services. A UNESCO review found that young people lacked knowledge of where toaccess health services to meet their needs.Gap noted in numerous countries (UNESCO, 2009).WHAT WORKS FOR WOMEN AND GIRLS141