The need for HIV prevention efforts to more explicitly incorporate program elements to address gender inequality and violence has been repeatedly articulated, and the elimination of sexual and gender-based violence has been identified by the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) as being one of the core pillars of HIV prevention.
Recognising that intimate partner violence (IPV) is an independent risk factor for HIV infection, researchers in this SASA! study sought to assess the community-level impact of SASA!, a community mobilisation intervention to prevent violence and reduce HIV-risk behaviors.
This is the first CRT in sub-Saharan Africa to assess the community impact of a mobilization program on the social acceptability of IPV, the past year prevalence of IPV and levels of sexual concurrency. SASA! achieved
important community impacts, and is now being delivered in control communities and replicated in 15 countries.