HIV/AIDS among Adolescent Girls and Young Women (AGYW) Policy Research

Context to Research

◆ In order to end AIDS by 2030, efforts are being made towards achieving various targets stated in commitments/policies and strategies, such as the SDGs, the UN Declaration to Ending AIDS in 2030, the Global Fund strategy for 2017-22, with specific commitments to scale up support programs for AGYW and advance sexual and reproductive health and rights. The Global Fund left with less than two years to conclude the existing strategy and renew for the next post 2022 phase/strategy, making a strong case for a focus on reducing the transmission among AGYW, scaling up successful and bolder initiatives, and strengthening collaboration among the players is a decisive input for the preparation. For this to be realized, region-wide consultations and a policy research based on review and analysis of policies, strategies ,programs as well as contexts were conducted.

◆ While new HIV infections have fallen in sub-Sahara Africa by 41% since 2000, the situation of HIV infections in AGYW still remains bleak. In Africa, 74% of new HIV infections are among adolescent girls aged 15-191. It is to be noted that the research referred to the UN definition of adolescent girls and women who are girls between the age of 10 and 19 years and young women are those between the ages of 20 and 24 years old.