What Works for Women and Girls

girls in school, for example. The chapter on co-infections, particularly the section on malaria,was not as thoroughly reviewed as other topics in the compendium. Stakeholders should consultthe relevant experts for each of those topics. The topic of legal reform related to HIV/AIDS didnot receive a systematic review of the legal literature that health related topics received in thepublic health and HIV/AIDS literature. Stakeholders wishing to work on legal reform shouldconsult with legal experts.It should be noted that there are likely many valuable interventions that have not been evaluatedand/or published in the public peer reviewed literature. Important websites may havebeen unintentionally missed. Additionally, it is clear that faith-based organizations have playeda major role in responding to the AIDS pandemic and they are responsible for a significantproportion of treatment, in addition to care and support, including spiritual support. Their rolein prevention has also been strong, although not without controversy. The literature reviewedfor this compendium of evidence did not yield many studies based on programs implementedby faith-based organizations that met the criteria for inclusion in this document. Given the roleof faith-based organizations, this is a significant gap in the evidence base.Furthermore, while the authors attempted to undertake a systematic review of the evidence,and to get input from expert reviewers, some key resources here are not an exhaustive list,however, and some important interventions may be inadvertently omitted. This documentshould be viewed as a living document; to be updated as new information is available.How Evidence is Included in the CompendiumThis resource contains research published in peer-reviewed publications and study reportswith clear and transparent data on the effectiveness of various interventions for women andgirls, program and policy initiatives that can be implemented to reduce prevalence and incidenceof HIV and AIDS in developing countries. Basic information, as well as policy issuesconcerning treatment and care for HIV and AIDS is also included. Biomedical informationis included in so far as it is relevant to programmatic considerations. Most evidence in thedocument comes from developing countries; however, where that was not available, evidencefrom developed countries is included. Articles in English, Spanish and French were reviewed.However, the vast majority of the literature was in English.Evidence in the compendium was rated, to the extent possible, using the Gray Scale (Gray,1997), which lists five levels of evidence.38 CHAPTER 2 METHODOLOGY