Dindori, India –– Amrita Sahu stands before a group of adolescents and holds up a menstrual pad. It’s a bold move in a farming village in central India’s tribal belt where conversations about sexual and reproductive health among young people are taboo and adolescents have few opportunities to ask questions about their bodies. “Everybody knows
These words reflect the aspirations of young women and adolescent girls participating in the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Hayatna (“our lives” in Juba Arabic) project in South Sudan. The project continues the DREAMS (Determined, Resilient, Empowered, AIDS Free, Mentored and Safe) initiative begun in Juba County, South Sudan, in 2020. DREAMS, a public-private partnership of
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
