Innovation Webinar 13: Online Communities of Practice

This August 31, 2016 webinar focused on utilizing online COPs to connect global health practitioners.

Technical Considerations for Demand Generation for Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision in the Context of the Age Pivot

In alignment with U.S. Presidents Emergency Fund for AIDS Relief’s (PEPFAR) approach to do the right thing, at the right time and place for the right people in order to achieve greater effectiveness and efficiencies, the COP16 technical considerations highlight the importance of voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) for a more focused target audience. The focus on men ages 15 to 29 as a primary audience is termed “the Age Pivot.”

The impact of behaviour change communication on the use of insecticide treated nets: a secondary analysis of ten post-campaign surveys from Nigeria

Ahead of an ITN mass distribution campaign in Nigeria, the authors of this article conducted a secondary analysis of surveys conducted after ITN distributions between 2009 and 2012 to investigate the role of social and behavior change communication in adequate net hanging and use, and how it may influence SBCC efforts for the next campaign.

The Role of Health Systems and Policy in Producing Behavior and Social Change to Enhance Child Survival and Development in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: An Examination of the Evidence

This review provides conclusions and recommendations on the studies of evidence-based behavior change interventions that addressed health systems or policy. The author's recommendations are offered around each topic area (pneumonia/diarrhea, neonatal survival, nutrition, PMTCT, malaria, healthy pregnancies, and immunizations) that is classified by the World Health Organization Health System Building Blocks of health system delivery, health workforce and health financing, leadership and governance.

Community Engagement to Enhance Child Survival and Early Development in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: An Evidence Review

An evidence review team was organized to address the question, ‘‘What are the effective means to facilitate and empower communities to organize and advocate for interventions to achieve behavioral and social changes that are needed to accelerate reductions in under-5 mortality and optimize healthy and protective child development to age 5?’’ This article is a report from the evidence review team.

Scaling Up and Sustaining Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision: Maintaining HIV Prevention Benefits

This article asserts that, in order to maintain high circumcision prevalence, voluntary medical male circumcision programs in Eastern and Southern Africa need to plan for sustainability and conduct transition assessments early on, rather than waiting until the saturation of priority targets at the end of the program.

Enhancing Benefits or Increasing Harms: Community Responses for HIV Among Men Who Have Sex With Men, Transgender Women, Female Sex Workers, and People Who Inject Drugs

A synthesis of evidence characterizing community-level determinants and their influence on HIV-related outcomes for key populations, this systematic review revealed a limitation of studies conducted that focused on key populations in LMICs.

Role of Community-Level Factors Across the Treatment Cascade: A Critical Review

This review – the first critical review of literature that examines the role community-level factors (CLFs) play in the design of multilevel, effective and sustainable interventions that address all elements of the HIV/AIDS treatment cascade – identified 100 peer-reviewed articles based on studies in LMICs that assessed CLFs in relation to the HIV/AIDS treatment cascade.

Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health Services and Implications for the Provision of Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision: Results of a Systematic Literature Review

This literature review revealed a general absence of health services in Sub-Saharan Africa that addressed the needs specific to male adolescents, exposing potential knowledge gaps that could negatively influence the population's benefit from voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) programming.

HIV Communication Capacity Strengthening: A Critical Review

This gray literature review examined varying definitions, measurements, implementations and effects of HIV communication capacity strengthening. Based on their review, the authors make recommendations for establishing a holistic model for HIV communication capacity strengthening, among other things.

HIV Communication Programs, Condom Use at Sexual Debut, and HIV Infections Averted in South Africa, 2005

This secondary statistical analysis examines survey data from South Africa in 2005 on condom use at sexual debut, normally occurring before HIV infection from unprotected sex, and how this might have contributed to the reduction of HIV infections in the early 2000s.