Best practice in HIV prevention for adolescent girls and young women (AGYW)

Each year, adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) continue to be disproportionately infected and affected by HIV in South Africa. Though some AGYW programmes show promise, the country’s vision for AGYW has not yet been realised and the AGYW targets articulated in the National Strategic Plan for HIV, TB and STIs (NSP) have been missed. While there is a huge emphasis on the HIV epidemic amongst AGYW and large investments in the response, evidence and experience have not been sufficiently synthesised into guidance that can inform future programming.

This assignment aimed to consolidate and synthesise research findings and review the implementation of best practices of AGYW HIV prevention programming in South Africa. This was done following the 8-step process shown in the diagram below:

Through this process we developed a situational tool which houses information on AGYW prevention projects today as well as information and evidence from studies on existing and previous projects. We summarised the current gaps and best practices from AGYW prevention programme design, implementation and management and coordination into three policy brief documents which provide insights and examples to implementers on practical steps for implementing these best practices.

For a summary of all three briefs, please click here.