Learning Lab 41: HIV prevention for young South African women: Lessons from Swa-Koteka
Abstract
A randomised controlled trial by the HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN) in rural South Africa found that giving cash transfers to school-going young women conditional on school attendance did not reduce their risk of contracting HIV. However, young women who stayed in school and attended school more of the time across both arms of the study had a reduced risk of acquiring HIV. Furthermore, young women who received cash transfers reported less risk behaviours than those who did not. Findings from the HPTN 068 study (or Swa-Koteka) - conducted by the Medical Research Council (MRC) /Wits Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Unit, Wits RHI and the University of North Carolina, USA – hold many important lessons for the field in terms of HIV prevention for young women