How To Use

Presenter Tools

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How to Use This CD-ROM

This CD-ROM can be used as part of a self-study program or for making presentations to groups. If you are a self-study user, please click the Self-Study Info tab at the top right of this screen to enter the Self-Study track. Should you wish to change tracks, while in the Self-Study track, you will find a Presenter Info tab in the same location.

General Guidance for Presenters

  1. Familiarize yourself with the contents of the CD-ROM and carefully review each item. As you review each item, especially the module slides and suggested narrative and the materials found in the presenter tools, consider which are most suited to your objectives, the participants’ needs, and the situation or venue. We recommend that you use the self-study version of the module as a first step in preparing for a presentation and then review the additional materials for more information about specific topics of interest.

    Note:     The learning objectives for this module are knowledge based. If your objectives are more extensive and include skills development, it will be necessary to develop a training curriculum that includes appropriate skill-building activities with ample opportunities for practice and formal evaluation to certify that the participant has achieved mastery of the new skill(s). With guidance from a skilled curriculum developer, the contents of the module can be incorporated into learning activities designed to build both knowledge and skill. The information provided here is designed to help presenters use the module and additional materials in the most appropriate manner; guidance on how to develop curricula is beyond the scope of these materials.

  2. Tailor your presentation to match the needs of the participants. Carefully review the relevant policies and procedures for ARV therapy and contraceptive methods in the country or community where you are conducting the presentation. Contact participants and inquire about specific topics that may be of interest to them. Select sections or specific slides that can help fill the knowledge gaps of participants. For example, if the participants are experienced family planning providers who have not provided HIV care and treatment services, you may decide to use all the slides in sections 1 and 4 but omit several of the slides from sections 2 and 5 because the participants are already familiar with this information. Alternately, if the participants are HIV treatment and care providers, you may decide to omit section 1 and much of section 4. The brief summaries below can help you decide which sections of the module contain information appropriate for your participants.

Section 1: HIV/AIDS epidemic disproportionately affects women
(slides 3 – 10)
Describes how HIV disproportionately affects women and reviews the societal and biological factors that make women vulnerable. Also described are the effects of HIV on children and the struggle that orphans face.

Section 2: Role of family planning in alleviating the burden of HIV
(slides 11 – 16)
Provides a brief overview of the role of family planning in HIV prevention, the benefits of providing family planning to women and couples with HIV, and the struggle to meet the demand for effective contraception.

Section 3: Reproductive choices and decisions
(slides 17 – 22)
Reviews the reasons why clients with HIV may consider pregnancy and why they may want to avoid childbearing. Highlights the importance of client knowledge and access when reproductive decisions are made.

Section 4: ARV therapy basics in the context of family planning
(slides 23 – 28)
Provides a very brief introduction to ARV therapy, including the classes of drugs used, a description of the most common HAART therapy regimen, and an overview of the prophylactic uses of ARV drugs. Also described is why women on ARV therapy benefit from contraception.

Section 5: Ensuring that services meet the needs of clients with HIV
(slides 29 – 35)
Describes a framework of reproductive health services that is structured around the choices and decisions that clients with HIV need to make. Briefly describes clients’ family planning rights and how to ensure informed choice. Also describes the benefits of integrating family planning and HIV-related services, including the potential programmatic synergies that can develop, such as “one-stop” services that provide more holistic care and are more attractive to both women and men.

Section 6: Contraceptive options for women and couples with HIV
(slides 36 – 81)
Provides an overview of the factors that affect the decision of whether to use contraception and which method to choose. Also briefly describes the attributes of each method, including the World Health Organization eligibility criteria for clients who are HIV-infected, have AIDS, and are using ARV therapy. Concerns, both theoretical and actual, related to use of hormonal contraceptives by women with HIV and those on ARV therapy are also discussed.

Section 7: Family planning counselling for clients with HIV
(slides 82 – 94)
Includes a brief description of the counselling behaviours essential for providers who offer services to clients with HIV and a list of topics that should be discussed during counselling for clients who are considering pregnancy or using contraception.


  1. Adapt the slides and suggested narrative to match the goals and objectives of your presentation. When possible, incorporate local information related to the reproductive health guidelines in your country, the demographic data from key health indicators, the availability of drugs, the drug resistance patterns, etc. If feasible, it may be interesting to compare the similarities and differences between the local situation and other areas. Be careful to select credible information sources. Make sure that you do not introduce factual errors into any of the evidence-based information included in the module. Using the files provided with the Presenter Tools and Microsoft PowerPoint software, you can easily revise the narrative and slides or add and remove slides from the presentation.

  2. Carefully review your speaker notes so that you can avoid reading directly from a script or the slides. Practice giving your presentation until you feel comfortable.

  3. Prepare collateral materials for use during the session using the files available in the Presenter Tools. Adapt the materials (e.g., list of learning objectives, note-taking pages, fact sheets) using the files provided. Make photocopies of the materials that you would like to distribute to the participants.

  4. At the beginning of the presentation, inform your audience about the organization of your presentation and how you would like to structure the session (e.g., when to take questions, when breaks will occur). Depending on how much information you decide to use, you may want to break the presentation into multiple sessions and include activities that allow participants to interact with and process new information and concepts.

  5. Identify and clarify the objectives with the participants. The objectives can be printed on handouts and distributed to participants or displayed on a flip chart. At the conclusion of the presentation, review the objectives to ensure the objectives have been met.

  6. During the session, engage your audience by making eye contact, encouraging questions, asking open-ended questions (prepared in advance), and facilitating discussion. When appropriate, ask participants to share their own expertise and experiences on a particular topic – this might be particularly useful if the participants have different areas of expertise (e.g., those with expertise in the provision of ARV therapy can share experiences with participants whose expertise is in the provision of family planning services and vice versa). Encourage participants to consider how they might apply new knowledge at their work site. Remember that learning and retention improve when participants are actively engaged in the process.

  7. Pace your presentation and guide the discussion to ensure ample time for accomplishing your goals.

  8. Use the pre-/post-test before the session to identify knowledge gaps and after the session to document the achievements of participants.