Prevention of HIV and Sexually Transmitted Infections among Married Women in Urban India

Project Duration

2008 - 2013

Project Countries

India

Project issues/theme

HIV and AIDS, Men and Masculinities, Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights

Lead Project Partners

National Institute of Mental Health/NIH; University of Connecticut Health Center; Institute for Community Research, Connecticut; University Laval, Canada; Tulane University; London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, U.K.; Population Council, New Delhi; Tata Institute of Social Science, Mumbai; CORO for Literacy, Mumbai; TN Medical College, Mumbai; and National Institute of Medical Statistics, New Delhi

ICRW Project Director

Ravi Verma

SHARE

A majority of women in India are exposed to HIV and sexually transmitted infections (STI) because of the behavior of their spouses. Yet few interventions focus on addressing the HIV and STI prevention needs of married women. To fill this gap, ICRW launched an innovative four-year program to engage women and couples in culturally-appropriate, HIV/STI prevention programs based in reproductive health clinics. The program partnered with the University of Connecticut and received financial support from the U.S.-based National Institute of Mental Health.

ICRW and partners first gathered baseline information about the nature of reproductive health care for women through interviews with health care providers and married couples. ICRW then designed and implemented an intervention to deliver high quality women- and couple-centered counseling services to empower women. These services also engaged men in how to reduce their risk of sexually transmitted infections. The results of the intervention suggest major policy and programmatic implications for how women-centered services are delivered through India’s public health system.  
 
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