This study was carried out as part of the Kagera AIDS Research Project, a collaborative project between the University of Dar-es-Salaam in Tanzania and the Department of Epidemiology and Health Care Research at the University of Umea in Sweden. The project was created in the Kagera Region (Tanzania) in 1993 to assess the availability, nature and acceptability of HIV/AIDS interventions. An in-depth intensive study carried out in Ruhoko, a village in the Bukoba Rural District, looked at the types of interventions from both the providers' and beneficiaries' point of view. A variety of interventions exist in the area and all are carried out by both foreign and local NGOs in an uncoordinated and unsystematic manner. The government of Tanzania is unable to coordinate these activities because its participation in these processes is insignificant. There are five main interventions: health education, counselling, voluntary HIV testing, treatment of sexually transmitted diseases, and the promotion of condom use. It is clear that AIDS awareness is prevalent but varies among groups of men and women and between men and and women. Culture and social relations of gender inequality influence the acceptability of interventions. Recommendations for a comprehensive intervention strategy conclude the paper. Note, ref., sum.