Using formative research to design a behavior change strategy to increase the use of improved cookstoves in peri-urban Kampala, Uganda.

Household air pollution from cooking with biomass fuels negatively impacts maternal and child health and the environment, and contributes to the global burden of disease. In Uganda, nearly 20,000 young children die of household air pollution-related pneumonia every year. Qualitative research was used to identify behavioral determinants related to the acquisition and use of improved cookstoves in peri-urban Uganda.

Effectiveness of a school-based AIDS education program among rural students in HIV high epidemic area of China.

Purpose: To evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of a life-planning skills training program using participatory methods among rural senior high school students in Shangcai County, Henan Province, China.

Methods: The study was a quasi-experimental study conducted in three Shangcai County senior high schools with comparable socioculture-economic and demographic characteristics (two interventions and one control). The intervention, a life-planning skills program that uses participatory training methods, combining information education with effective skills building, was provided to all first-grade students (14-18 years old; 87% of them are between 15 and 17 years old) in the intervention group from October 2003 to December 2003.