Background HIV prevention among young people in southern Africa is a public health priority. There is little rigorous evidence of the effectiveness of different intervention approaches. We describe findings of a cluster randomised trial of a community-based, multi-component HIV and reproductive health intervention aimed at changing social norms for adolescents in rural Zimbabwe. Methods Thirty rural communities were randomised to early or deferred implementation of the intervention in 2003. Impact was assessed in a representative survey of 18–22 year olds after 4 years. Participants self-completed a questionnaire and gave a dried blood spot sample for HIV and HSV-2 antibody testing. Young women had a urinary pregnancy test. Analyses were by intention-to-treat and were adjusted for clustering. Findings 4,684 18–22 year olds participated in the survey (97.1% of eligibles, 55.5% female). Just over 40% had been exposed to ≥ 10 intervention sessions. There were modest improvements in knowledge and attitudes among young men and women in intervention communities, but no impact on self-reported sexual behaviour. There was no impact of the intervention on prevalence of HIV or HSV-2 or current pregnancy. Women in intervention communities were less likely to report ever having been pregnancy. Interpretation Despite an impact on knowledge, some attitudes and on reported pregnancy, there was no impact of this intervention on HIV or HSV-2 prevalence, further evidence that behavioural interventions alone are unlikely to be sufficient to reverse the HIV epidemic. The challenge remains to find effective HIV prevention approaches for young people in the face of continued and unacceptably high HIV incidence, particularly among young women.

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This is one of the first rigorous evaluations of a community-based HIV prevention intervention for young people in southern Africa. The low rates of HIV suggest that the intervention was started before this population became sexually active. Inconsistency and under-reporting of sexual behaviour re-emphasise the importance of using externally validated measures of sexual risk reduction in behavioural intervention studies.

Objective: To report on the response rate achieved in a survey of medical practitioners and discuss the reasons for it. researchers should continue to use paper questionnaires for maximum response. Method

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