Research on AIDS interventions in developing countries: state of the art.

This paper reviews achievements of past and current research on AIDS interventions in developing countries, and identifies three major issues. (1) Several areas of research have been severely neglected, namely transmission from mother to infant, the impact of treating curable STD and transmission in health care settings. (2) AIDS intervention research is mainly concerned with behavioral changes in a very intimate part of human lives, namely sexual relationships. This makes it difficult to design studies that are at the same time ethically acceptable and scientifically sound. A more creative mix of methodologies is needed, that goes hand in hand with a close collaboration between researchers from the social sciences and health sciences field. (3) Counseling is a major aspect of any targeted AIDS intervention program. However, there is no evidence yet for the effectiveness of specific messages and particular forms of counseling. Investigation in this area is urgently needed.