What Works for Women and Girls

was obtained and reviewed. The lead author read and reviewed all the articles obtained anddetermined if there was sufficient information to be included in “What Works” and that theintervention took place in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the post-Soviet states. Key interventionsthat had taken place only in the US, Europe, Japan and Australia were included only ifthe authors determined that they could be relevant for developing country contexts but hadnot yet been initiated in developing countries. For example, many of the studies on the safetyof contraceptive options for HIV positive women have been conducted in developed countriesbut are relevant for women throughout the world. Likewise, much of the scientific evidencebase for harm reduction for intravenous drug users (IDU) comes from developed countrycontexts. If studies met the criteria that they included an intervention which had an outcomeand had been evaluated for effectiveness, one of the authors read and wrote up the interventionin a standard format: study year, country where the study took place; the numbers included inthe study (N); study design; the intervention; and the outcome.From 2001 to 2005, searches on women and AIDS were conducted using Popline andMedline. Few studies prior to 2005 have been included and only when more recent data arenot available. Studies prior to 2005 were included if they were key articles with more robustmethodologies, and data than studies in more recent years; or more recent data did not exist.For example, all the studies on treatment options for occupational exposure to HIV were donein the 1990s, so these were included.In addition, the authors searched the gray literature by reviewing documents from some keywebsites. Key websites reviewed included: UN agencies, UNAIDS, World Health Organization(WHO), The Cochrane Collaboration; OSI; ICRW; Population Services International (PSI);The Population Council; ICW; World Bank; Family Health International (FHI); AIDStar I, andthe Guttmacher Institute.Themes emerged from these write-ups and the authors shaped those themes into an interventionpoint. These are the numbered interventions in each chapter. It is important to notethat these interventions emerged organically from the evidence; the authors did not selectinterventions and look for supporting data.Experts were consulted during the writing of the document (see Acknowledgments). Anumber of these experts provided review comments that were incorporated into the final document.A review meeting was held in Cape Town, South Africa, February 17–19, 2010. Sourcesfor January and February 2010 have been included only if they provide significant new evidencerelated to the review. Forthcoming material was not included, as there was no systematic wayto include such material.LimitationsOne limitation of the methodology used is that the search methodology did not capture otherendpoints besides HIV/AIDS. For example, increased education for girls is associated withreduced risks of HIV acquisition. The search did not include program interventions to keepWHAT WORKS FOR WOMEN AND GIRLS37