Monitoring inclusion on male sex-partners in HIV prevention
HIV programming for adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) increasingly aims to involve their male sexual partners (MSPs). Research to characterise MSPs is needed to tailor services effectively.
Genesis Analytics was contracted by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to document the extent to which research with MSPs had been undertaken as part of the DREAMS programme, the methods used, and the use of results to inform programming in ten high-burden countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
Through literature reviews and stakeholder interviews with programme implementers in all ten countries, we identified that research to characterise MSPs of AGYW exists, but it was not being conducted consistently.
Additionally, results were not being presented in a user-friendly manner and lacked clear programme recommendations for tailoring services. Most programme implementers were not aware of the formal research conducted in their own countries, nor were they aware of research other organisations had undertaken. Few were able to clearly articulate the findings, or how these had been (or should be) used to inform programming. Some implementers had used research findings to inform where they reached men, rather than whom they targeted.
Our recommendations for building capacity to improve male characterisation research included: use of ASERT™ tool across countries with guidelines on analysing and presenting data in user-friendly formats; inclusion of psycho-behavioural information to develop personas; and identification and sizing of priority MSP segments.
Results were presented back to the DREAMS team as well as to each country specifically and were used to tailor programming.