Addressing HIV/AIDS and gender-based violence through comprehensive programming: the "Our Health, Our Responsibility" program

Similar to other developing countries, Zambia is experiencing high rates of both gender-based violence (GBV) as well as Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS). Both of these issues present significant public health concerns for the country. Research suggests that there is a relationship between the two. Programs addressing one or the other of these issues have been implemented in Zambia; however, projects addressing both issues are limited in number. Combined programs have been successfully implemented in other countries that share characteristics similar to Zambia, so it is likely that this type of program could be successfully implemented in Zambia. This paper reviews eight programs addressing HIV, GBV, or both that were implemented in Zambia and other countries. Key successful components of those programs are identified to inform the design of a potential program in Zambia

Cross-sector collaboration in Project Catalyst: Creating state partnerships to address the health impact of intimate partner violence

Intimate Partner Violence and Human Trafficking are major public health problems with myriad health and social consequences. This paper describes a federal initiative in the United States to formalize cross-sector collaborations at the state-level and encourage practice and policy changes intended to promote prevention and improve health and safety outcomes for Intimate Partner Violence/Human Trafficking (IPV/HT) survivors.Project Catalyst Phases I and II (2017–2019) engaged six state leadership teams, consisting of leaders from each state’s Primary Care Association, Department of Health, and Domestic Violence Coalition. Leadership teams received training and funding to disseminate information on trauma-informed practices to health centers and integrate IPV/HT considerations into state-level initiatives. At the beginning and end of Project Catalyst, participants completed surveys assessing the status of their collaboration and project goals (e.g., number of state initiatives involving IPV/HT, number of people trained).All domains of collaboration increased from baseline to project end. Largest improvements were seen in ‘Communication’ and ‘Process & Structure,’ both of which increased by more than 20% over the course of the project. ‘Purpose’ and ‘Membership Characteristics’ increased by 10% and 13%, respectively. Total collaboration scores increased 17% overall. Each state made substantial efforts to integrate and improve responses to IPV/HT in community health centers and domestic violence programs, and integrated IPV/HT response into state-level initiatives.Project Catalyst was successful in facilitating formalized collaborations within state leadership teams, contributing to practice and policy changes intended to improve health and safety for IPV/HT survivors

Engendering healthy masculinities to prevent sexual violence: Rationale for and design of the Manhood 2.0 trial

Violence against women and girls is an important global health concern. Numerous health organizations highlight engaging men and boys in preventing violence against women as a potentially impactful public health prevention strategy. Adapted from an international setting for use in the US, “Manhood 2.0” is a “gender transformative” program that involves challenging harmful gender and sexuality norms that foster violence against women while promoting bystander intervention (i.e., giving boys skills to interrupt abusive behaviors they witness among peers) to reduce the perpetration of sexual violence (SV) and adolescent relationship abuse (ARA). Manhood 2.0 is being rigorously evaluated in a community-based cluster-randomized trial in 21 lower resource Pittsburgh neighborhoods with 866 adolescent males ages 13–19. The comparison intervention is a job readiness training program which focuses on the skills needed to prepare youth for entering the workforce, including goal setting, accountability, resume building, and interview preparation. This study will provide urgently needed information about the effectiveness of a gender transformative program, which combines healthy sexuality education, gender norms change, and bystander skills to interrupt peers\u27 disrespectful and harmful behaviors to reduce SV/ARA perpetration among adolescent males. In this manuscript, we outline the rationale for and evaluation design of Manhood 2.0