Introduction

Over the past three decades, research focus on the development and evaluation of behavioural interventions aimed at reducing the spread of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) including HIV has expanded considerably. Individual, couple and group level interventions aimed at improving condom use, HIV testing, linkage to care and retention, medication adherence, partner counselling and referral services, and decreasing number of partners have been developed and evaluated for many subpopulations.1–5 The interventions have been evaluated among African–Americans, Asian and Pacific Islanders, drug users, heterosexual adults, high-risk youth, Hispanic populations, men who have sex with men, people living with HIV, STI clinic patients, and transgender populations. However, despite their availability, behavioural interventions are inadequately utilised, and evidence of their population level impact is lacking. In this paper we discuss issues related to the utility of behavioural interventions, including questions around feasibility of implementation, scale-up and maintenance, and suggest new directions for planning, implementation, evaluation and continuous improvement of social and behavioural interventions in the context of STI and HIV prevention programmes.