Title
Interventions to Prevent Sexually Transmitted Infections, Including HIV, Among Young People in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Systematic Review of the Published and Gray Literature
Date Issued
01 September 2016
Access level
metadata only access
Resource Type
review
Author(s)
Kalamar A.
Hindin M.
University of California
Publisher(s)
Elsevier USA
Abstract
Sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV, are prevalent among adolescents and can have lasting adverse health consequences. The objective of this review is to identify high-quality interventions and evaluations to decrease STI transmission and related risky behaviors among young people in low- and middle-income countries. PubMed, Embase, PsycInfo, Cinahl Plus, Popline, and the Cochrane Databases were searched without language limitations for articles published through November 2015. Gray literature was searched by hand. Reference tracing was utilized, as well as the unpacking of systematic reviews. Retained articles were those that were evaluated as having high-quality interventions and evaluations using standardized scoring. Twenty-one high-quality interventions and evaluations were abstracted. Three reported declines in STI diagnoses, three reported declines in STI symptoms, six showed declines in risky sexual behavior, seven reported increases in abstinence, 11 found increases in condom use, and five reported increases in health care utilization. There is a wide range of rigorously evaluated high-quality interventions included in this review that can inform researchers, donors, and policy makers about where to make strategic investments to decrease the spread of STIs, including HIV. With the recent advent of biomarkers, researchers can use a gold standard measure to assess intervention impact. The diversity of interventions can allow decision makers to tailor interventions to the context, age range, and gender of the target population.
Start page
S22
End page
S31
Volume
59
Issue
3
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Enfermedades infecciosas Salud pública, Salud ambiental Epidemiología
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-84995466543
PubMed ID
Source
Journal of Adolescent Health
ISSN of the container
1054139X
Source funding
John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
Sponsor(s)
This work was supported by a grant to Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation .
Sources of information: Directorio de Producción Científica Scopus