Journal of acquired immune deficiency syndromes (1999), 2014

The global HIV epidemic in adolescents is not controlled, and this group has not received sufficient attention in programming and research efforts addressing HIV prevention, treatment, and care. A global technical consultation on adolescents and HIV addressing services and research gaps was convened by United Nations Children's Fund and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in July 2013. Proceedings from this meeting are presented in this issue of the Supplement. Several reviews highlight poor levels of coverage of critical HIV prevention, treatment, and care interventions for adolescents, disparities in HIV prevalence among adolescent girls, and low-risk perceptions associated with risk behaviors among key risk groups. Others underscore the significance of clear national targets and strengthening data, government involvement, enhanced systems capacity and policy, engagement of community and adolescent social networks, and of mobile and internet technologies to the ...

Journal of AIDS & Clinical Research, 2017

Background: Globally, Young key populations (age 10-24) (YKPs) are more at risk to HIV infection and are disproportionately infected by HIV. There is a pressing need for evidence on how best to implement effective interventions for young key populations. Objective: The overall aim was to conduct a systematic review of interventions to summarize the data on effectiveness of interventions in low and middle income countries among young key populations. Method: We conducted a review of the evidence on interventions designed to increase adolescents and young people's access to services for reducing their HIV risk. We focused specifically on the young key populations from low to middle income countries. We searched PubMed, Medline and Cochrane databases using MesH terms to identify peer-reviewed articles. We included studies with designs such as randomized control trails (RCT), clustered randomized trails, quasi experimental, prospective observational and studies that measured outcomes pre and post an intervention. We identified a total of 10 studies that were included in the review based on certain inclusion and exclusion criteria. Results: Among the interventions designed for young people, community based interventions driven by peer led approach and mobile based interventions were effective in engaging with these hard to reach populations. Structural interventions focusing on stigma and psychosocial component can positively impact important HIV-related outcomes. HIV screening needs to be integrated in programs and policy with intimate partner violence. The evidence on PreP is mixed and needs more systematic investigation. Conclusion: Combinations of prevention packages that include behavioural, structural and biological interventions are needed for young key populations to prevent new HIV infections. These interventions with proven effectiveness should be included in all HIV prevention programming for young people.

AIDS, 2010

Background-HIV prevention among young people in southern Africa is a public health priority. There is little rigorous evidence of the effectiveness of different intervention approaches. We describe findings of a cluster randomised trial of a community-based, multi-component HIV and reproductive health intervention aimed at changing social norms for adolescents in rural Zimbabwe.

BMJ Open, 2023

et al. Scalability of mobile technology interventions in the prevention and management of HIV among adolescents in lowincome and middle-income countries: protocol for a systematic review. BMJ Open 2023;13:e069362.

medRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory), 2023

doi: medRxiv preprint NOTE: This preprint reports new research that has not been certified by peer review and should not be used to guide clinical practice.

Frontiers in public health, 2024

Current HIV/AIDS Reports, 2007

The Open AIDS Journal, 2018

The global commitment to ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 places HIV prevention at the centre of the response. With the disease continuing to disproportionately affect young populations in the Eastern and Southern African Region (ESAR), particularly adolescent girls and young women, reducing HIV infections in this group is integral to achieving this ambitious target. This paper examines epidemiological patterns of the HIV epidemic among adolescents and young people, indicating where HIV prevention efforts need to be focused (, adolescent girls and young women, adolescent boys and young men and young key populations). Key innovations in the science of HIV prevention and strategies for dealing with programme implementation are reviewed. The paper also discusses the value of processes to mitigate HIV vulnerability and recommends actions needed to sustain the HIV prevention response. Stemming the tide of new HIV infections among young people in the ESAR requires an amplification of efforts across all sectors, which will safeguard past achievements and advance actions towards eliminating AIDS as a public health threat.

Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, 2007

To address the 6-month efficacy of a human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention intervention targeted to youth and delivered with and without a parental monitoring intervention in a developing country (the Bahamas).

Objectives: To examine levels and patterns of HIV prevalence, knowledge, sexual behavior, and coverage of selected HIV services among adolescents aged 10–19 years and highlight data gaps and challenges. Methods: Data were reviewed from Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS HIV estimates, nationally representative household surveys, behavioral surveillance surveys, and published literature. Results: A number of gaps exist for adolescent-specific HIV-related data; however, important implications for programming can be drawn. Eighty-two percent of the estimated 2.1 million adolescents aged 10–19 years living with HIV in 2012 were in sub-Saharan Africa, and the majority of these (58%) were females. Comprehensive accurate knowledge about HIV, condom use, HIV testing, and antiretroviral treatment coverage remain low in most countries. Early sexual debut (sex before 15 years of age) is more common among adolescent girls than boys in low-and middle-income countries, consistent with early marriage and early childbirth in these countries. In low and concentrated epidemic countries, HIV prevalence is highest among key populations. Conclusions: Although the available HIV-related data on adolescents are limited, increased HIV vulnerability in the second decade of life is evident in the data. Improving data gathering, analysis, and reporting systems specific to adolescents is essential to monitoring progress and improving health outcomes for adolescents. More systematic and better quality disaggregated data are needed to understand differences by sex, age, geography, and socioeconomic factors and to address equity and human rights obligations, especially for key populations.