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This research paper explores the importance of integrating mental health services into PrEP delivery, based on the experiences of a cohort of South African adolescent girls and young women. Previous research has shown that AGYW who may benefit from PrEP also face high rates of mental disorders. With a focus on integrating mental health treatment as supported by this research, PrEP adherence amongst AGYW may increase signficantly.
This research led to the development of a framework for understanding PrEP stigma among adolescent girls and young women in sub-Saharan Africa. This framework includes potential drivers and facilitators of stigma as well as resulting outcomes and health impacts. It provides insight into effective areas for intervention, and thus is a useful tool for the design and evaluation of future interventions.
Adolescents and young adults living with or affected by HIV have specific needs and priorities that are currently unmet by the global HIV response. This document provides evidence-based recommendations for interventions targeted towards adolescents and young adults based on WHO guidelines.
Nomonde Ngema, a young HIV activist, shares her experiences as a young woman living with HIV. She discusses her journey to advocacy, her mission and accomplishments, including her unique and powerful use of TikTok to spread awareness and empower others.
This study assesses the merits of an economic strengthening program for HIV prevention among adolescent girls and young women. The program showed great promise, as participants gained valuable skills, increased confidence and hope, and demonstrated shifts away from risky behaviors to protective ones.
Throughout sub-Saharan Africa, strongly entrenched patriarchal structures deprive young women of their agency and autonomy. This impedes their ability to safely navigate sexual experiences and engage in protective health behaviors, exacerbating their risk of acquiring HIV. Conducted in Uganda, this research paper explores the understudied relationship between limited autonomy and higher rates of HIV infection among young women.
This fact sheet shares important facts and figures that describe the state of the HIV epidemic for adolescent girls and young women. These statistics demonstrate the disproportionate burden of the HIV epidemic that adolescent girls and young women still face, especially as compared to their male counterparts. In 2022, there were an estimated 1.9 million adolescent girls and young women living with HIV, and comparably fewer--1.2 million--…
This study assesses the prevalence of HIV-related and/or risky behaviors among male partners of AGYW. The results highlight the need for targeted HIV prevention interventions for men to reduce both their own risk and the risk of transmission to their female partners.
This study identifies HIV-related inequalities among adolescent girls and young women of different socioeconomic backgrounds in Latin America and the Caribbean. The results indicate increased vulnerability amongst economically disadvantaged young women, due to less comprehensive knowledge about HIV, transmission mechanisms, and prevention methods.
Young women and girls who are affected by punitive drug policy face unique age-related as well as gender-specific risks, barriers and rights violations that are not well recognized or responded to by policymakers or service providers. Parental consent combined with minimum age restrictions to medical treatment as well as harm reduction services create access barriers for this cohort. This article examines these issues to highlight the importance…
The AIDS response has taught the world the importance of protecting human rights and promoting gender equality when fighting a disease. COVID-19 has amplified that lesson. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, UNAIDS has repeated the call that governments must protect human rights and prevent and address gender-based violence—an issue that is even more vital now that lockdowns are putting women and girls at an even higher risk of intimate…
The analysis demonstrated that adolescent girls and young women with the higher vulnerability profiles, including the impact of unequal gender norms, have increased odds of negative health outcomes and experiences. The analysis calls upon tailoring community-based HIV prevention efforts by deferentially targeting/tailoring interventions and health services for sub-populations in higher versus lower HIV vulnerability profiles. Across…
UNAIDS report on the global AIDS pandemic 2020 shows that women and girls in sub-Saharan Africa continue to be the most affected and accounted for 59% of all new HIV infections in the region in 2019, with 4500 adolescent girls and young women between 15 and 24 years old becoming infected with HIV every week. Young women accounted for 24% of new HIV infections in 2019, despite making up only 10% of the population in sub-Saharan Africa.
The aim of the present study was to assess the level of self-esteem and Hope among HIV positive Adolescents across gender. The researcher considered perinatally infected Adolescent boys and girls who are HIV Positive, currently living in a HIV care and support centre.
On Zero Discrimination Day this year, UNAIDS is challenging the discrimination faced by women and girls in all their diversity in order to raise awareness and mobilize action to promote equality and empowerment for women and girls.
Across the world, gender inequality, violence, poverty and insecurity continue to stoke excessive HIV risk among women and girls, especially those in marginalized and excluded communities.
In sub-Saharan Africa, four out five new HIV infections among 15-19 year olds are in girls according to UNAIDS 2019 estimates. Surveys during 2011- 16 showed that more than half of rural women aged 15–24 in sub-Saharan Africa had been pregnant before their 18th birthday, and as recently as 2016, 40% of young women in sub-Saharan Africa and 30% in South Asia were married while still children. These examples highlight how gender power relations…
Young women in sub-Saharan Africa remain at the epicentre of the HIV epidemic, with surveillance data indicating persistent high levels of HIV incidence. In South Africa, adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) account for a quarter of all new HIV infections. Determined, Resilient, Empowered, AIDS-free, Mentored and Safe (DREAMS) is a strategy introduced by the United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) aimed at reducing…
Voices from the Field features contributions from scholars and practitioners highlighting new research, thinking, and approaches to development challenges. This post is authored by Lanice C. Williams, advocacy and partnership manager, and Mark P. Lagon, chief policy officer, at Friends of the Global Fight Against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
In sub-Saharan Africa, adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) account for 74% of new HIV infections among people aged 15-24.1 This is roughly 360,000 AGYW a year – about 1,000 AGYW per day. AGYW experience converging social, cultural, economic, and political factors that undermine their sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), which makes them vulnerable to HIV infection. In South Africa alone, about 102,000 new HIV infections occur…