Identifying drivers and mitigators of adolescent HIV and sexual and reproductive health risk and the implications for practice
A synthesis of evidence-to-action research
About
The synthesis considered secondary data analysis from three longitudinal adolescent cohort studies in South Africa and four systematic reviews on adolescents’ adherence to treatment and retention in care, the effects of decentralizing antiretroviral therapy on health outcomes for adolescents, understanding adolescent mental health in the context of HIV and adolescent pregnancy, and the experiences of adolescent mothers and their children.
The research showed that specific risk factors and interventions – alone or in combination – affected multiple adolescent development outcomes. The findings make a strong case for consistently providing protective packages of multisector interventions that have a direct effect on improving outcomes for adolescents across health, education and violence prevention. When delivered in the right combination, these accelerators can have a synergistic value-added impact on adolescent well-being.
