Abstract: The HIV epidemic remains dynamic and rapidly expanding, especially in the developing world. In 1998 more than 95% of all prevalent HIV infections and 97% of all incident infections occurred in the developing world, and nearly 70% of these in sub-Saharan Africa. Because complex antiretroviral regimens are largely not available to patients in the developing world, we have attempted to stage the development of reviews and give highest priority to interventions that are applicable in the developing world. In this session we describe findings from four completed systematic reviews that are especially relevant to the developing world and explore barriers to adoption of interventions that have been proven to be effective. * Perinatal Transmission. Interventions aimed at decreasing the risk of mother-to-child transmission of HIV infection were reviewed. It was found that zidovudine, nevirapine and delivery by elective cesarean section appear to be very effective in decreasing the risk of mother-to-child transmission of HIV infection. * TB Prevention. A review of studies on the prevention of tuberculosis in HIV-infected persons found that preventive therapy appears to be effective in reducing the incidence of tuberculosis and death from tuberculosis in HIV-infected adults with a positive tuberculin skin test, at least in the short to medium term * Condom Effectiveness. Interventions of heterosexual couples in which one partner was known to be HIV infected were reviewed to estimate the effectiveness of condoms in reducing transmission of HIV. It found that when condoms were used with every sexual contact, they provided a reduction in risk of HIV transmission similar to that of pregnancy prevention. However, these estimates are considered the upper limits to the effectiveness of condoms for HIV transmission. * Community Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD) Control Interventions. A review of community-based STD control interventions concluded that these sorts of interventions could increase condom use, improve treatment of STDs, decrease incidence of STDs and potentially decrease incidence of HIV. The two largest studies undertaken to date, in Mwanza, Tanzania, and in the Rakai district of Uganda, used very different interventions in very different populations and predictably had very different results. It is important to widely disseminate findings from Cochrane reviews although lack of funding for drugs, health care facilities and trained personnel; national and international political concerns; and occasionally conflicting results have all limited adoption of these lower-technology interventions.