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Abstract
HIV and AIDS prevention efforts have relied heavily on providing information, and have sometimes provided a weak link to services, without perceiving or addressing the factors which make adolescent girls particularly vulnerable. Social factors, such as friendship networks, and economic factors, such as financial literacy and financial goals, independently but synergistically decrease girls’ risk of coerced sex or exchanges of sex for money, and increase their ability to cope in HIV-affected households. Current work focusing on HIV and youth is failing to reach many of the most vulnerable girls. This article discusses innovative interventions in four African countries, which explicitly address the distinctive social, economic, and cultural factors that shape girls’ vulnerability, and build up their health, social, and economic assets.
Acknowledgements
The analyses presented and programmes described here are part of the Population Council's Adolescent Girl's Program (Part of the Transitions to Adulthood portfolio). This work received leadership support from the UK Department for International Development (DFID), The Dickler Family Foundation, EMpower (The Emerging Markets Foundation), The Ford Foundation, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Nike Foundation, United Nations Foundation, and the United Nations Population Fund (UNPFA). The authors would also like to thank Jill Benson and Hannah Carter-Menn for their contributions and support during the writing of this article.
Notes
1. For example, African-American adolescent girls in the southern states of the USA have the highest prevalence, 6.4 per 1000, relative to adolescents from other geographic regions and relative to white, Hispanic, and African-American male peers (Diclemente et al. Citation2004).
2. The National Surveys of Adolescence conducted by the Guttmacher Institute and country partners in Burkina Faso, Malawi, Uganda, and Ghana revealed data on density of friendship networks, showing that across all groups (rural/urban, schooling achievement), boys have more close friends on average than girls (A. Biddlecom (2008) correspondence with researcher). For a fuller discussion, see also Hallman Citation2004 (South Africa); Erulkar et al. 2004a; 2004b (Ethiopia); Amin et al. Citation2002 (Bangladesh); Haberland et al. 2003 (India); UNICEF and Population Council Citation2002; and Alexander et al. Citation2006.
3. The Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) are nationally representative household surveys that provide data for a broad set of analytical exercises in order to advance understanding of trends in the areas of population, health, and nutrition in developing countries. They are conducted by ORC Macro – in partnership with a number of institutions – and are funded by USAID. Currently, there are over 200 surveys from 75 countries dating from 1985 to 2007 from all geographic regions.
4. Unpublished tabulations from Ann Biddlecom (2004) ‘L'Enquête Nationale sur les Adolescents du Burkina Faso’, Guttmacher Institute.
5. For a fuller discussion, see Population Council's Adolescent Girls Livelihoods Meeting Report 2004.
6. For a fuller discussion, see also Demographic and Health Survey of Burkina Faso 1999; Lloyd 2005; and Population Council Citation2006.
7. Illustrative programme experiences include: Brady et al. 2007; Erulkar et al. 2006; 2008; Erulkar and Mekbib Citation2007b; Hallman and Roca Citation2007; Austrian 2008.
8. These findings are from small sample sizes and so should be viewed cautiously.
