Abstract
Microfinance can be used to reach women and adolescent girls with HIV prevention education. We report findings from a cluster-randomized control trial among 55 villages in West Bengal to determine the impact of non-formal education on knowledge, attitudes and behaviors for HIV prevention and savings. Multilevel regression models were used to evaluate differences between groups for key outcomes while adjusting for cluster correlation and differences in baseline characteristics. Women and girls who received HIV education showed significant gains in HIV knowledge, awareness that condoms can prevent HIV, self-efficacy for HIV prevention, and confirmed use of clean needles, as compared to the control group. Condom use was rare and did not improve for women. While HIV testing was uncommon, knowledge of HIV-testing resources significantly increased among girls, and trended in the positive direction among women in intervention groups. Conversely, the savings education showed no impact on financial knowledge or behavior change.
We thank the Center for Microfinance at the Institute for Financial Management and Research and GfK Mode, whose research teams learned with us how to interview adolescent girls and their mothers about sensitive topics and also helped strengthen our research process. We thank the Child in Need Institute for its technical assistance dealing with how to treat sexual and reproductive health issues with adolescent girls in India. In addition, we gratefully thank the participating organizations, their staff members and their clients who all played an important role in implementing and participating in the Learning Games for Girls curriculum. We would especially like to thank Sri Mayapur Vikas Sangha and the Reach India team members and Service Center Managers for their participation, patience and implementation of the Learning Gamesfor Girls curriculum. Finally, we want to express our appreciation to Nike Foundation for investing in this program.
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