HIV in adolescence
With increased investments and promising new prevention tools, HIV prevention is experiencing a renaissance.
Despite increased investments and promising new prevention tools, the rate of decline in new HIV infections among adolescents remains insufficient to meet global targets. Between 2010 and 2020, there was a 34 per cent decline in new HIV infections among adolescents aged 10 – 19, a far cry from the target of a 75 per cent reduction for this period.
These new infections occur against the backdrop of a worrisome demographic dynamic: high fertility rates and increased child survival in many high burden countries has created a rising cohort of adolescents and young adults in the very geographies that need a strong prevention platform the most. Projections show that at the current rate of new infections, without acceleration of efforts and investment, a total of two million adolescents could become newly infected with HIV between 2018 and 2030.
This page contains resources useful to stakeholders working on adolescents and HIV.
Out-of-School comprehensive sexuality education
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Global accelerated action for the health of adolescents (AA-HA!)
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Adolescent girls and young women
In 2020, an estimated 4,200 young women aged 15 –24 years became infected with HIV each week. Adolescent girls aged 10-19 years accounted for the majority of these new cases. The gender disparities are most acutely felt by adolescent girls in sub-Saharan Africa, where six in seven new HIV infections among adolescents aged 15-19 years occur among girls.
Girls and young women in affected communities would benefit from the aggressive scale-up of user-powered prevention methods, alongside a transformation in community norms to enable their empowerment.
AGYW key resources
In 2020, an estimated 4,200 young women aged 15 –24 years became infected with HIV each week. Adolescent girls aged 10-19 years accounted for the majority of these new cases. The gender disparities are most acutely felt by adolescent girls in sub-Saharan Africa, where six in seven new HIV infections among adolescents aged 15-19 years occur among girls.
Girls and young women in affected communities would benefit from the aggressive scale-up of user-powered prevention methods, alongside a transformation in community norms to enable their empowerment.
HIV prevention among adolescent girls and young women
Putting HIV prevention among adolescent girls and young women on the Fast-Track and engaging men and boys.
Adolescent girls and young women learning collaborative
A platform for the generation and exchange of programme knowledge, tools and insights. It focuses on preventing HIV in adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) and promoting their overall health and well-being through a multi-sectoral approach.
Adolescents living with HIV
Globally, over 800,000 adolescents living with HIV are not on life-saving highly efficacious antiretroviral treatment. Many of the adolescents living with HIV today were infected with HIV as infants, and in the next decade, millions of children living with HIV will transition into adolescence.
The global HIV response must urgently prioritize and scale up adolescent transition readiness support to support optimal outcomes across the continuum of care.
Key adolescents living with HIV resources
All in to #EndAdolescentAIDS
The ALL IN agenda was introduced to drive social change for better results in adolescents, to improve strategic prioritization and programming for adolescents, and to foster innovation and advocacy to ensure that countries build stronger, more sustainable systems, engage adolescents in the response, and provide quality health care. It is a Fast-Track response for adolescents—linked to the Three Frees initiative ('Start Free', 'Stay Free', 'AIDS Free') to accelerate service delivery towards attaining both the 90–90–90 and adolescent specific targets.
Transforming vision into reality: The 2024 Global Alliance progress report on Ending AIDS in Children by 2030
This status report shows how far we have come—and how much further we must go—if we hope to meet the global commitments to end AIDS in children.
Ending HIV for every child, every adolescent: an investment opportunity for the public and private sectors
This document highlights opportunities for both public and private sectors to engage in the global HIV response for infants, children, and adolescents in partners.
Pregnant and breastfeeding adolescents
The highest adolescent fertility rates occur in sub-Saharan Africa, at over twice the global rate, coinciding with the disproportionate burden of HIV among adolescent girls and young women. In 2020, there were more than 350,000 new HIV infections among adolescent girls and young women 15–24 years of age in sub-Saharan Africa.
Adolescent mother-infant pairs are at elevated risk of poor outcomes across the PMTCT cascade, including an acute vulnerability to new HIV infections for pregnant adolescents not previously affected by HIV.
Key pregnant and breastfeeding resources
The highest adolescent fertility rates occur in sub-Saharan Africa, at over twice the global rate, coinciding with the disproportionate burden of HIV among adolescent girls and young women. In 2020, there were more than 350,000 new HIV infections among adolescent girls and young women 15–24 years of age in sub-Saharan Africa, where over 50 per cent of pregnancies occur in young women.
Adolescent mother-infant pairs are at elevated risk of poor outcomes across the PMTCT cascade, including an acute vulnerability to new HIV infections for pregnant adolescents not previously affected by HIV.
Key considerations for fast-tracking the elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV in lower-prevalence settings - Lessons from validated countries
Best practices and common bottlenecks in EMTCT in seven priority countries - This brief reviews existing resources and analyses potential bottlenecks for the processes in applying for EMTCT/Path to Elimination and to strengthen ongoing PMTCT programmes.
Leveraging the learning from HIV programming for pregnant and parenting adolescent girls - This brief, the first in UNICEF's new Leveraging the Learning series, sets out to leverage the learnings from holistic, integrated, multisectoral, and age- and gender-responsive approaches to respond to and reduce early and adolescent pregnancy, support young mothers, and improve health and well-being outcomes for adolescent girls and their children.