Prioritising Pregnant and Parenting Adolescents in the HIV and SRHR Response
A critical moment for action as HIV financing shrinks and new prevention technologies emerge
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Pregnant and parenting adolescents remain an overlooked and uniquely vulnerable subgroup within the HIV and SRHR response, even as global gains have been made since 2010. This Lancet Child & Adolescent Health Comment argues that as donor and domestic resources shrink and new biomedical HIV prevention technologies — including long-acting injectables — come online, countries across eastern and southern Africa face urgent choices about who is reached and how.
Adolescent mothers face heightened risk of HIV acquisition, rapid repeat pregnancy, poorer engagement in care, and elevated risk of vertical transmission, compounded by stigma, violence, poor mental health, and limited support. Because their needs cut across adolescent, maternal, HIV, and SRHR services that are typically siloed, this population risks becoming invisible in policy, funding, and delivery decisions.
The authors set out four interconnected actions: explicit prioritisation in strategy and funding; differentiated, adolescent-responsive care; multisectoral linkages to education, livelihoods, and protection services; and nationally scalable, sustainable integration — arguing that this is both an equity imperative and a strategic investment in outcomes for adolescent girls, their children, and their communities.
