Population Council Research that makes a difference

The RHANI (Raising HIV Awareness Among Non-infected Indian) Wives Project was created in response to the lack of HIV prevention programs in India that directly address married women (rhani means "queen" in Sanskrit). The project involves the development, implementation, and assessment of the feasibility and acceptability of an HIV prevention intervention for at-risk wives in Mumbai. RHANI was adapted from the HIV Intervention Program (HIV-IP), a community-based, multi-session HIV intervention with demonstrated effectiveness among a U.S. sample of young adult Latinas whose primary risk for HIV was from their steady male sex partners.

The project will focus on married women, aged 18–30 years old who live in urban slums and report that their husbands are abusive and/or engage in risky alcohol use. The intervention has a multi-level design and will have a three-pronged approach:

• community level (community education);
• family level (financial management training and reducing stress within households); and
• individual level (building women's skills in negotiating with their husbands on reducing high-risk behaviors)

The success of the study will be measured by the feasibility and acceptability of the intervention with safety as the "focus"; marital communication and condom use; and intimate partner violence and perceptions of safety within the relationship.