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This volume, a collaboration of Swedish SIDA and the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD), presents research on the social and developmental aspects of HIV and AIDS prevention and treatment. The papers highlight treatment and prevention, epidemiological analysis, stigma and discrimination, human rights, the role of the private sector, and community responses and innovative approaches to open discussion of sexuality and risk behaviour

This note provides information about microfinance and examines when it is most effective, compared to other complementary and alternative interventions. Specifically, microcredit is discussed as an intervention to generate income, employment and alleviate poverty. This note would be useful for people interested in microfinance

The aim of this e-conference was to provide a forum for sharing information, experience and views on issues related to disabled people's access to and use of water and sanitation facilities. The report looks at barriers to accessible water and sanitation facilities; strategies to improve accessibility; and tools to support improvement in access. It is useful for CBR projects, governments, and planners

This guide focuses on the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS approved by the UN General Assembly in June 2001. The primary purpose of this guide is to suggest actions that Country Teams can take to support the implementation of this declaration

This paper is a literature and evidence survey of cross-generational and transactional sex in Africa. It examines the age and economic asymmetries in sexual relationships in an African context, prevalence of cross-generational and transactional sexual relationships, adolescent girls' and men's motivations and adolescent girls' negotiating power in relationships. It comes to the conclusion that adolescent girls have power when negotiating the start and end of relationships and they are strongly motivated to enter into cross-generational relationships for the material benefits and status that they bring. However, once they have entered the relaltionship the balance of power shifts to the man, especially in the context of gift-giving.
The paper also examines the evidence around cultural acceptance of cross-generational and transactional sexual relationships, violence and rape within the relationships, multiple relationships, and outcome of the relationships. The authors' recommendations are to: gather policy support for changing the social norm; mount programmatic responses; conduct research to investigate the success of programmatic responses, document the policy process, and fill other important information gaps

Rural households are managing as best they can in a rapidly changing and often threatening world which makes them vulnerable to the risk of HIV infection and ill equipped to cope with the effects of AIDS. Their chances of managing can be improved if they function in a supportive environment. However, in many cases this supportive environment does not exist and communities have to build their own resilience if they are to prove effective allies for rural households. Despite the difficulties of such a task, as shown in this paper, it is feasible. Certain conditions have to be met and pitfalls avoided in order to set up processes leading to sustainability and benefit all households as stakeholders. Such awareness is important for the communities themselves, but also for those providing outside assistance in order to trigger the building of community resilience and sustainability for all households, including in HIV/AIDS prevention and mitigation. This paper also reviews from a South East Asian perspective some of the lessons to be drawn from the global and African experiences and highlights some of the specificities and challenges of the region