Empowering Adolescents and Young People Living with HIV: Key Insights and Best Practices Shared at AIDS 2024.

The AIDS 2024 Conference, held in Munich, Germany from July 22-26 with pre-conferences on July 20-21, brought together more than 5,000 participants both in-person and virtually. As the largest international gathering dedicated to advancing knowledge and sharing the latest science on HIV/AIDS, the conference played a pivotal role in connecting communities affected by the virus and fostering collaboration.

Hope for Future Generations was prominently represented at the conference by Executive Director Madam Cecilia Senoo and two young individuals Priscilla Ama Addo and Abdul-Fatawu Salifu, empowered through the organization’s SRHR and HIV initiatives. We had the privilege of leading a workshop titled “Leaving No One Behind: Ensuring SRHR Services for Vulnerable Adolescents and Young People Living with HIV.” This session highlighted best practices and success stories from the UNFPA Out of School Project, an initiative spearheaded by HFFG. The project aims to provide comprehensive, accurate information on SRHR and HIV, supporting adolescents and young people living with HIV (AYPLHIV) in managing their positive status.

Over 100 conference delegates attended the session, demonstrating significant interest in our work and its impact on the HIV response. Delegates attending the workshop were both excited and intrigued, expressing that young people have long been excluded from HIV programs. They expressed their gratitude to HFFG and UNFPA for addressing this gap in Ghana. The delegates emphasized that young people, in all their diversities, should be included in the project to ensure no one is left behind. 

Delegates were interested about the retention rate and sustainability of the project. It was explained that young participants are highly engaged, often reluctant to leave the program. Sustainability is ensured by transitioning these young people to other HFFG programs and the youth network, Young Health Advocates Ghana. 

There was a call for integration, cross-generational learning, stakeholder and partner engagement, multi-sectoral approaches, and addressing legal barriers that prevent young people from accessing health services. Overall, delegates were inspired by the project and expressed their intent to incorporate the best practices and lessons learned into their own HIV programs in their respective countries. 

Given the current inadequacies in youth-targeted programs for adolescents and young people living with HIV (AYPLHIV), it is crucial to have supplementary initiatives like the UNFPA Out of School Project. These efforts complement existing youth interventions and bring us closer to achieving the goal of eradicating HIV as a public health threat by 2030. We are grateful to UNFPA, adolescents and young people and all other partners who continue to make this initiative a success.