Support for HIV-Vulnerable Women in Rural Malawi: Economic Empowerment and HIV Prevention
Publication Date: 2018/02/22
Since January 2010, CARE Malawi has been implementing an HIV Prevention and Economic Empowerment Program with funding from Johnson & Johnson Foundation. The grant piloted and built on lessons that sought to reduce the risk of HIV infection and increase economic empowerment for 1310 women who were assessed to be at highest risk of HIV infection in the rural villages of Lilongwe District in Malawi. CARE hypothesized that integrating HIV prevention and economic empowerment would address economic vulnerabilities to HIV infection and support behavior change. The program was implemented in two phases or economic cycles as follows: (a) Pilot Phase (January to December 2011) covering villages in Traditional Authorities (TA) of Chitekwere, Kalumbu, and Mazengera. An interim evaluation was done in December 2011 at the end of this first economic cycle. (b) Followup Phase (January to December 2013) covering villages in two Traditional Authorities (TA Kalumbu, and TA Mazengera). In 2012 prior to the start of this Phase, the Program expanded to new areas or villages in the two Traditional Authories after dropping out TA Chitekwere’s area. This warranted conducting an Phase II Baseline Survey which was done in March 2013 to establish the situation at the start of the Folloup Phase. 1