To achieve HIV epidemic control, adolescent girls and young women at high risk of acquiring HIV must have access to comprehensive, youth-friendly sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services that can also address their contraceptive and family planning needs. The 2023 UNAIDS report confirmed the urgent need to address HIV prevention among adolescent girls, indicating a continued disproportionately high risk of acquiring HIV among young women 15–24 years old, with a total of 210,000 women in this age group acquiring HIV in 2022. Despite years of advocacy on this topic, integrated services to meet the needs of adolescent girls and young women remain limited.
Drawing on our work in five countries (Kenya, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe), Jhpiego adolescent health and HIV experts identified three key principles to follow to deliver a sustained, high-quality, integrated approach to HIV/SRH services for adolescents:
- Programs require practical guidance on how to apply principles of integration
- Governments must lead and prioritize integration of SRH/HIV prevention services for adolescent girls and young women
- A person-centered, rights-based approach is essential for ensuring equity as we move towards comprehensive, integrated services.
To learn more about developing integrated services for adolescent girls, read our thought leadership blog and access the technical briefers we prepared as part of the 2020 Global Fund Strategic Initiative on Adolescent Girls and Young Women.