Synthesis Report: Identifying Drivers and Mitigators of Adolescent HIV and Sexual and Reproductive Health Risk
This synthesis report reflects a comprehensive review of the body of research undertaken through the Evidence-to-Action partnership.
This synthesis report reflects a comprehensive review of the body of research undertaken through the Evidence-to-Action partnership.
With support from the Joint UN 2gether 4SRHR programme, a research partnership with the University of Oxford and University of Cape Town was established with the aim to improve HIV, SRH, and the overall well-being of adolescents by providing sustainable and scalable services. The partnership, which was ongoing from 2018 to 2023, investigated drivers of HIV and SRH risk in adolescents, and was committed to generating and using the latest evidence to propose practical solutions, shape programmes and guide decision-making for adolescents.
The results of the partnership are being used in integrating evidence into programming for adolescents throughout the region. They are summarized in a synthesis report, along with the six evidence-to-action briefs featured here.
UNICEF's annual global and regional epidemiological and response snapshots of Eastern and Southern Africa, West and Central Africa, and the Middle East and North Africa, based on the UNAIDS 2023 HIV estimates.
The snapshots describe where we are in terms of vertical transmission, the treatment gap, and the impact on adolescents.
This brief, the first in UNICEF's new Leveraging the Learning series, sets out to leverage the learnings from holistic, integrated, multisectoral, and age- and gender-responsive approaches to respond to and reduce early and adolescent pregnancy, support young mothers, and improve health and well-being outcomes for adolescent girls and their children.
Highlighting promising practices for pregnant adolescents living with HIV, the report is relevant for efforts to support all pregnant adolescent girls, regardless of their HIV status.
In this viewpoint Getting back on track to ending AIDS in Children: It could just be easier than you think, published in the Journal of the International AIDS Society on World Children's Day, 20 November 2023, UNICEF reviews the global inequities faced by children and adolescents living with HIV and highlights three strategies to end AIDS in children by 2030.
For World AIDS Day 2023, UNICEF is releasing a set of new publications:
1. Global and Regional Snapshots on HIV and AIDS — global and regional statistical and response updates on children, adolescents and pregnant women.
2. Leveraging the Learning: Insights from HIV programming for pregnant and parenting adolescents — the first report in the new Leveraging the Learning series, which shares learning from HIV programmes to meet the needs of all pregnant and parenting adolescent girls, regardless of their HIV status.
This report presents the results of a study commissioned by UNICEF Tajikistan in collaboration with the Republican AIDS Centre and the NGO Guli Surkh to evaluate the impact of social allowances on the treatment outcomes of children living with HIV in Tajikistan. Of the 7,552 persons living with HIV in Tajikistan today, 10.2 per cent are children under the age of 18. As of December 2017, 90.5 per cent of these children were covered with antiretroviral therapy.
This article from the UNICEF Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office highlights the efforts of young advocates addressing stigma and misinformation about HIV.
The Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA) region is home to more than 60 per cent of young people worldwide living with HIV. Stigma is a major challenge for young people, hindering their ability access HIV services and continue treatment as needed. 2gether 4 SRHR, in partnership with Sida, aims to ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health rights across ESA.
The story features Ruele, a young advocate working with Y+ Kenya. He uses social media and advocacy to combat fake news about HIV and support young people to take medications without stigma by sharing his own experiences.
Young HIV advocates stand up to fake news and stigma
Too many people feel shame taking ART, especially young men. Ruele takes his ART in public to help normalise the idea of taking medication
By Fatima Shahryar
In 2022 an estimated 930,000 children (aged 0-14 years) were living with HIV in Eastern and Southern Africa. Nearly one-third of these children were not receiving lifesaving treatment. Children with HIV need both antiretroviral treatment and viral load suppression if they are to lead long and healthy lives.
UNICEF, in collaboration with governments and partners, supported an updated analysis of laboratory information management systems (LIMS) data in Malawi, Uganda and Zimbabwe from 2017-2020 to better understand viral suppression among children, especially in the context of WHO recommendations for newer, more efficacious drug regimens and the COVID-19 pandemic.
A previous analysis of 2016-2018 LIMS data found that one in every three children was not virally suppressed. The updated study found a steady increase since then in viral load testing, the use of more efficacious and palatable antiretroviral regimen options, and improved viral load suppression. However, children are still falling short of global targets to end AIDS by 2030. The full report describes the methodology, key findings, limitations, and proposes further prioritization and accelerated action to improve treatment outcomes for children with HIV.