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Abstract ISSUES: In the Phase 3 Carraguard® trial, which is currently underway in Durban, 2,178 women were screened and 1,055 enrolled as of the end of November 2005. Recruitment is targeted to women who must meet the eligibility criteria, which include being sexually active, ≥16 years, HIV-negative, nonpregnant, and having parental or guardian consent for 16–17-year-old participants. Recruitment is focused on sexually active young women aged 16–21 years as previous studies showed that these women are at high risk of HIV infection. However, recruitment of young women posed a number of challenges for recruiters, who developed strategies as described in this abstract. DESCRIPTION: Young women and their peers are not well-informed about HIV transmission and prevention and have fear of being tested for HIV. Thus they were educated on voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) and available referral centers for HIV care and treatment. The majority of women in the 16–21-year age group have time constraints to attend the research clinic as they are either employed or students. Thus, it is difficult to recruit young women for study participation, and those who do participate often miss scheduled visits. During recruitment and education sessions, young women were not comfortable discussing sexual issues in the presence of older women. Thus, separate recruitment workshops were held for younger and older women. The young women had limited information about research and clinical trials, thus a community awareness flyer summarizing the study was distributed during recruitment. The community had a misconception that young women were encouraged to be sexually active, thus community gatekeepers and organizations were educated about the research procedures. Sexually active young women are not empowered to negotiate safe sex and condom use with their partners, thus they were not willing to join the study. Researchers developed male involvement and HIV education programs for men and women who are not sexually active. OUTCOME: Recruiting sexually active women may be feasible provided there is community education and awareness of the research process. Poster Session
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