Document library
The latest knowledge and evidence on HIV/AIDS
Curbing HIV transmission among adolescents in Africa
Curbing HIV transmission among adolescents in Africa
There is overwhelming evidence that multiple social, economic, and structural factors perpetuate inequalities and increase human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) risk among adolescents, including poverty and other vulnerabilities addressed by social protection programmes.To better understand the role of social protection in addressing these complex and multidimensional determinants of HIV, UNICEF conducted a systematic review to examine the evidence on cash plus or ‘bundled’ multisectoral interventions and their impacts on new HIV infections, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and outcomes and risk factors to HIV/STIs among adolescents and young people in Africa.To date, this is the first review to examine bundled economic strengthening and health interventions — including but not limited to social protection — to draw lessons for developing and scaling up multi-sectoral programmes, including social protection, and making them HIV-sensitive.The newly released research brief summarizes a longer paper by Kate Rogers, Rikke Le Kirkegaard, Joyce Wamoyi, Kaley Grooms, Shaffiq Essajee and Tia Palermo, titled Systematic review of cash plus or bundled interventions targeting adolescents in Africa to reduce HIV risk, published on BMC Public Health in January 2024.
Knocking on every door - Spotlight Tanzania
Knocking on every door - Spotlight Tanzania
This report examines the structural barriers impeding equitable access to HIV testing, treatment initiation and long-term adherence – essential elements for sustaining health and well-being for children, adolescents and young women. Rooted in socio-cultural norms, gender disparities and systemic inequalities, these barriers obstruct progress by perpetuating stigma, limiting healthcare access and destabilizing treatment continuity, stalling efforts toward the 10-10-106 and 95-95-957 targets.A central theme emerging from the collected narratives is stigma, a pervasive barrier with entrenched biases impacting individuals, communities and health systems. Personal stories of children, adolescents and their caregivers within the report reveal how stigma manifests through fear of disclosure, social judgment and isolation, often deterring young mothers from seeking HIV testing for themselves and their children. In contrast, stories of resilience from community Treatment Advocates, or Wakili Tiba, offer a hopeful counterpoint. These advocates work to overcome the limited awareness and stigmatizing attitudes toward people living with HIV, promoting HIV testing for children and ensuring continuous treatment access.The report is driven by a guiding vision that “virtually all paediatric HIV infections are preventable, andno child should develop AIDS due to lack of access to testing and treatment.”8 It presents the Family- Centred Approach (FCA) to reaching children living with HIV who are unaware of their status in Tanzania as a promising model. The FCA is a community-based peer service delivery model that leverages the knowledge, communication expertise and deep understanding of the community and networks of people living with HIV to identify households with children and adolescents who may need HIV testing.The community voices and insights in this report underscore the need for an inclusive, community-based healthcare system that is child-centred, stigma-informed and equipped to reach the most marginalized and vulnerable children, thereby advancing a more equitable HIV response.
Global Alliance communications and advocacy toolkit
Global Alliance communications and advocacy toolkit
This toolkit is designed to assist you systematically in developing a communication and advocacy strategy ensuring the success of the Global Alliance Country Action plans. The best way to use this toolkit is to work through each stage, thinking through the questions and gathering input from communities, partners, other team members, and stakeholders. Created by UNICEF, UNAIDS, WHO
Spotlight on the Global HIVAIDS Thematic Fund
Spotlight on the Global HIVAIDS Thematic Fund
Through its systems-strengthening work, UNICEF addresses both the immediate challenges faced by children, adolescents and pregnant women living with HIV, and the structural factors such as poverty, lack of education and gender-based violence (GBV) that increase the risks of HIV infection for children, adolescents and young people.This means ensuring access to quality health services that are responsive to the unique needs of children and adolescents, including through strengthening primary health-care at community and facility levels so that services are closer to the people who need them. Working in this ‘big picture’ way is a more sustainable and cost-effective response to the HIV epidemic.
Evidence-based interventions for adolescents living with HIV
Evidence-based interventions for adolescents living with HIV
Implenting WHO's evidence-based interventions. Adolescents and young adults aged 10-24 remain underserved in the global response against HIV. Ongoing evidence generation has enabled us to continually adapt, update, and refine global guidance on HIV prevention, testing, treatment, and service delivery, including for priority populations. As scientific evidence on key interventions for HIV improves and evolves, bringing dramatic improvements in health outcomes and quality of life, it is critical to focus on remaining gaps. The gap in knowledge of HIV status is even greater among adolescents from key populations, and in high incidence settings such as southern Africa.This document is for policy-makers and decision- makers in ministries of health responsible for adolescent HIV and related health policies and programmes, international and national nongovernmental organizations, and international organizations that provide technical or financial support for adolescent HIV and related health work.
Pre-exposure prophylaxis and adolescent girls - Evidence update
Pre-exposure prophylaxis and adolescent girls - Evidence update
The PrEP landscape has evolved significantly in the three years since the original brief was released, both in scale and variety. Global PrEP provision has grown rapidly, from fewer than two million cumulative PrEP initiations to over 6.5 million5.In addition, in several countries across ESA, AGYW now have a choice of two or more PrEP options, including tenofovir disoproxil fumarate-based daily oral PrEP (TDF combined with either emtricitabine (FTC) or lamivudine), the monthly dapivirine vaginal ring (DVR), and two-month injectable cabotegravir (CAB) for PrEPAdditional options, including six-month injectable lenacapavir (LEN), the dual prevention pill (DPP) which combines oral PrEP and oral contraception, tenofovir alafenamide-based oral PrEP (FTC/TAF), and a three-month DVR, are also in late-stage development and may become available as early as 2025.Considering these developments, this updated brief summarises the most recent evidence on AGYW PrEP provision, serving as a supplement to the original 2021 implementation brief. Evidence was drawn from a review of over 40 resources published in 2022-2024, including academic literature as well as briefs and tools developed by implementers.
Eastern and Southern Africa regional snapshot 2024
Eastern and Southern Africa regional snapshot 2024
Highlights from Global Alliance action plan for Zimbabwe.
Transforming vision into reality
Transforming vision into reality
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. It offers a snapshot of global progress and permits an early assessment of the impact of the Global Alliance’s work. This report highlights the transformative work that is being undertaken in Global Alliance countries to accelerate gains towards ending AIDS in children, underscoring the urgent need to apply good practices, emerging innovations and critical lessons learned to overcome the barriers that slow progress.For additional information, consult the joint press release and the video created for the report launch at AIDS 2024.
Global snapshot on HIV and AIDS - 2024
Global snapshot on HIV and AIDS - 2024
Collective action across multiple sectors has brought the world closer than ever to ending AIDS as a public health threat. There were fewer new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths in 2023 than at any point since the mid-1990s. The progress is especially strong in sub-Saharan Africa, which is home to approximately 78% of children (0–14 years) and 83% of adolescents (15–19 years)iving with HIV.In 2023, an estimated 2.38 million children and adolescents (aged 0–19 years) were living with HIV—1.37 million children (aged 0–14 years) and 1.01 million adolescents (aged 15–19 years).There have been remarkable advances in recent years which have transformed the HIV response landscape. Innovations such as rapid and self-testing for HIV, simplified single-tablet regimens, and long-acting injectable medications like cabotegravir that prevent acquisition of HIV have redefined standards of care and prevention.Yet, nearly half of all children and adolescents living with HIV are not benefiting from life-saving treatment, leaving them vulnerable to illness and untimely death.Ending AIDS among children by eliminating vertical transmission of HIV and ensuring universal access to testing and treatment for children remains a critical, yet unfinished, piece of the global AIDS response. Closing the gaps in treatment and prevention is both feasible and a moral obligation to ensure that every child and adolescent has access to the care and dignity they deserve.
AIDS 2024: roadmaps and UNICEF resources
AIDS 2024: roadmaps and UNICEF resources
UNICEF's AIDS 2024 Roadmaps outline conference and pre-conference sessions related to vertical transmission, children, adolescents and HIV, which will take place in connection with the 25th International AIDS Conference in Munich, Germany, between 19-26 July, 2024. In collaboration with WHO and UNAIDS, UNICEF is organizing the satellite session Connecting Data, Programmes, and Communities: The Global Alliance Roadmap to Ending AIDS in Children by 2030 on Monday 22 July, 11:30-13:00 CET.For AIDS 2024, UNICEF has prepared a resource pack with a selection of UNICEF's global, regional and national knowledge products published since the last AIDS conference. A spreadsheet can be accessed below for an overview of all resources by topic, region and year of publication.
Toolkit for the implementation of baby showers in congregational settings
Toolkit for the implementation of baby showers in congregational settings
This toolkit — prepared by members of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Nigeria and Atlanta, the University of Nigeria, the Healthy Sunrise Foundation, and the National AIDS and STI Control Program of Nigeria — provides implementers with the background, procedures, and resources/tools to support the implementation of Baby Showers in Congregational Settings. In PEPFAR programmes, countries are moving toward elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (EMTCT). One gap in achieving EMTCT is reaching women and their infants who do not come to the facility for care. The Baby Showers approach in Nigeria is one way of reaching women and their families in the community through faith-based congregations, with a strong evidence base to support its positive impact.Baby Showers are celebratory gatherings for pregnant women and their partners with routine celebrations marked by prayers for the safe delivery of babies and to support parents-to-be as they prepare for their new arrival. Health screening, including HIV testing for pregnant women and their partners, is offered during the celebration that brings women, their partners, and their newborns together in a congregation. Other countries have expressed interest in learning from Nigeria’s experience. This resource has been adapted for implementation in additional settings and contexts and includes six accompanying tools in the appendix to aid in data collection and documentation.
Ending the AIDS epidemic among young people in MENA
Ending the AIDS epidemic among young people in MENA
This advocacy report discusses the HIV epidemic among young people in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, particularly among key populations. The report emphasizes the challenges faced in collecting HIV-related data and the need for comprehensive efforts to address the epidemic, including targeted prevention programmes, improved access to testing and treatment, and addressing social and structural factors. It also discusses the presence of punitive and obstructive laws that contribute to stigma and discrimination and calls for their removal or reform. The report advocates for increased investment in HIV programmes, improved access to sexual and reproductive health services, comprehensive sexuality education, and community engagement. It highlights the importance of community health systems, data collection, and involving young people in the development of HIV and other health programmes.