Trial reportBMC public health2020
The impact of the Adolescent Girls Empowerment Program (AGEP) on short and long term social, economic, education and fertility outcomes: a cluster randomized controlled trial in Zambia.
Trial report in BMC public health, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 47 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
47 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Better Together?: A Systematic Review of the Effectiveness of HIV Prevention Interventions that Build or Strengthen Social Ties.AIDS and behavior · 2025Pooled it
- Scoping review of social norms interventions to reduce violence and improve SRHR outcomes among adolescents and young people in sub-Saharan Africa.Frontiers in reproductive health · 2025Pooled it
- What works in 21st century skills education in sub-Saharan Africa: a systematic review.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Pooled it
- Use of contraceptives, empowerment and agency of adolescent girls and young women: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMJ sexual & reproductive health · 2024Pooled it
- Systematic review of cash plus or bundled interventions targeting adolescents in Africa to reduce HIV risk.BMC public health · 2024Pooled it
- HIV-sensitive social protection for vulnerable young women in East and Southern Africa: a systematic review.Journal of the International AIDS Society · 2021Pooled it
- A livelihood intervention improved nutritional, mental health and sexual health outcomes among HIV-affected adolescents in western Kenya: results from theBMJ global health · 2026Trial
- Evaluation of Girls Invest, an economic empowerment intervention to address social and economic risks associated with intimate partner violence among adolescent girls in Ibadan, Nigeria.BMC women's health · 2026Trial
- Effectiveness of a resilience, gender equity and mental health group intervention for young people living in informal urban communities in North India: a cluster randomized controlled trial.Global health action · 2025Trial
- The impact of the SKILLZ intervention on sexual and reproductive health empowerment among Zambian adolescent girls and young women: results of a cluster randomized controlled trial.Reproductive health · 2025Trial
- Culture, self-esteem and menstrual hygiene management among adolescent girls in Uganda: the impact of economic and family strengthening.BMC women's health · 2025Trial
- Impacts of two-year multisectoral cash plus programs on young adolescent girls' education, health and economic outcomes: Adolescent Girls Initiative-Kenya (AGI-K) randomized trial.BMC public health · 2021Trial
- Cystic Fibrosis Transition From Pediatrics to Adult Care in Low-Middle Income Countries.Pediatric pulmonology · 2026Review
- Incentive-based interventions to improve HIV prevention and care continuum: a global systematic review and meta-analysis.EClinicalMedicine · 2026Article
- Integrated Model of Cancer Control for Early Detection and Treatment in Adolescents and Young Adults Living With HIV: Protocol for a Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR research protocols · 2025Article
- Partnering with Young Parents to Improve Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Programmes.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- How do gender transformative interventions reduce adolescent pregnancy in low- and middle-income countries: a realist synthesis.Journal of global health · 2025Review
- Is adolescent health a priority program? A qualitative study on the stunting prevention program in Gunungkidul, Yogyakarta, Indonesia.International journal of adolescent medicine and health · 2025Article
- Adolescent marriage, maternity, and limited access to education in 106 countries: Bayesian analysis of prevalence, trend, and prediction.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Post-intervention gendered impacts and moderating factors of a government cash plus intervention for adolescents in Tanzania.SSM - population health · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundAdolescent girls in Zambia face risks and vulnerabilities that challenge their healthy development into young women: early marriage and childbearing, sexual and gender-based violence, unintended pregnancy and HIV. The Adolescent Girls Empowerment Program (AGEP) was designed to address these challenges by building girls' social, health and economic assets in the short term and improving sexual behavior, early marriage, pregnancy and education in the longer term. The two-year intervention included weekly, mentor-led, girls group meetings on health, life skills and financial education. Additional intervention components included a health voucher redeemable for general wellness and reproductive health services and an adolescent-friendly savings account.
methodsA cluster-randomized-controlled trial with longitudinal observations evaluated the impact of AGEP on key indicators immediately and two years after program end. Baseline data were collected from never-married adolescent girls in 120 intervention clusters (3515 girls) and 40 control clusters (1146 girls) and again two and four years later. An intent-to-treat analysis assessed the impact of AGEP on girls' social, health and economic assets, sexual behaviors, education and fertility outcomes. A treatment-on-the-treated analysis using two-stage, instrumental variables regression was also conducted to assess program impact for those who participated.
resultsThe intervention had modest, positive impacts on sexual and reproductive health knowledge after two and four years, financial literacy after two years, savings behavior after two and four years, self-efficacy after four years and transactional sex after two and four years. There was no effect of AGEP on the primary education or fertility outcomes, nor on norms regarding gender equity, acceptability of intimate partner violence and HIV knowledge.
conclusionsAlthough the intervention led to sustained change in a small number of individual outcomes, overall, the intervention did not lead to girls acquiring a comprehensive set of social, health and economic assets, or change their educational and fertility outcomes. It is important to explore additional interventions that may be needed for the most vulnerable girls, particularly those that address household economic conditions. Additional attention should be given to the social and economic environment in which girls are living.
trial registrationISRCTN29322231. Trial Registration Date: March 04, 2016; retrospectively registered.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.