HIV-Sensitive Social Protection

On this International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia (IDAHOBIT) 2023, we unveil the UNICEF Spotlight Report on the Youth Aware initiative in Brazil. Youth Aware is a partnership with the Brazilian Ministry of Health, to transform the approach to HIV and STI prevention and treatment for LGBTQI+ youth through peer education and community mobilization. Young people in Brazil are disproportionately impacted by the HIV epidemic, and key populations face heightened vulnerability.

Supported by M·A·C VIVA GLAM, this flagship UNICEF programme redefines health services for adolescents, addressing their needs and the shifting landscape of gender and sexuality. The report showcases the stories of courageous individuals countering prejudice and sheds light on their aspirations and challenges. Together, we can challenge stigma, discrimination, and marginalization, advocating for a future where every young person can thrive. Join us as we celebrate IDAHOBIT and champion a healthier, more inclusive future.

Ujana Salama leverages impacts of the PSSN with complementary interventions, including training and linkages to services.The aim of these interventions is to facilitate safe, healthy and productive transitions to adulthood while strengthening local government capacity and services related to adolescent health, livelihoods and social protection.

Provides findings from the impact evaluation of Ujana Salama. This impact evaluation is a 26-month, mixed-methods study aimed at providing evidence on the potential for an additional plus component targeted to youth layered on top of a government cash transfer programme to improve youths’ future economic opportunities and facilitate safe transitions to adulthood.

Tanzania’s pilot Cash Plus Model on Youth Well-being and Safe, Healthy Transitions, or “Ujana Salama” (‘Safe Youth’ in Swahili), aims to improve the lives of young people in rural areas.These adolescents are extremely poor and face multiple health and economic risks.

A model for safe transition to a healthy and productive adulthood.

A Model for Safe Transitions to a Healthy and Productive Adulthood

This report presents the results of a mapping of HIV-sensitive social protection programmes in 15 'fast track' countries in eastern and southern Africa. The exercise, commissioned by WFP and ILO, aimed at understanding how existing social assistance and social security programmes in the region are integrating the vulnerabilities exacerbated by HIV.

Social protection can be a critical enabler of efforts to reduce HIV risks, mitigate their impacts, and increase the capacity of households to cope and respond to the risks. Social protection can also be used as an entry point to address deeply rooted social vulnerabilities and structural factors faced by those who are vulnerable to HIV infection.

Ensuring that populations who are living with, at risk of or affected by HIV and/or TB can effectively access prevention, diagnosis and treatment services is crucial. Social protection systems have a pivotal role to play in the coverage of both direct medical and non-medical costs, as well as income loss incurred due to the disease. This paper provides examples of institutional practices that improve the inclusiveness of national social protection schemes for people living with HIV and/or TB and the responsiveness of such schemes to their needs.

For adolescent boys and girls, transitioning to adulthood means facing significant social, health and economic risks. These include a lack of economic opportunities, early marriage and pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections including HIV, violence, abuse and exploitation. To support a safe, healthy and productive passage to adulthood, the Tanzania Social Action Fund (TASAF), the Tanzania Commission for AIDS (TACAIDS), UNICEF and other key stakeholders have developed, implemented and evaluated an intervention where social protection and economic empowerment interventions are combined with sexual and reproductive health education and services as part of the Tanzanian government’s cash transfer programme, the Productive Social Safety Net (PSSN).

The resources available include a project brief with a summary of the programme components and impact evaluation, as well as research briefs and reports from the baseline, midline and third wave of data collection.