Adolescent and Youth HIV Prevention and Care in Uganda: A Collaborative Initiative
Makerere University Joint AIDS Program (MJAP), in collaboration with Makerere University John Hopkins University Research Collaboration (MU-JHU), Baylor Uganda, Infectious Diseases Research Collaboration (IDRC), and University of California San Francisco (UCSF), has been awarded a prestigious 5-year grant (UG1HD113241) by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development. This project, running from September 2023 to August 2028, is titled “Implementation Science to Understand and Design Stakeholder-Informed Innovative Interventions to Improve Adolescent and Youth HIV Prevention and Care Continuums in Rural and Urban Uganda.”
The primary goal of this project is to use cutting-edge implementation science (ImS) to develop innovative, stakeholder-driven interventions aimed at improving HIV prevention, care, and treatment for adolescents and young people in both rural and urban Uganda.
Key Project Objectives:
- Explore the scale-up of long-acting cabotegravir as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for adolescents at high risk of acquiring HIV.
- Implement the SEARCH YOUTH intervention to enhance viral load suppression and retention for adolescents and young people in care.
- Build capacity in implementation science for the research consortium and stakeholders engaged in adolescent and youth HIV service delivery.
MJAP is spearheading the project in Kamuli District and is leading efforts to build capacity in implementation science. Training will be delivered at two levels:
- Consortium Capacity Building: Focusing on developing skills among the research team, including investigators and research staff.
- Stakeholder Training: Targeting key stakeholders involved in delivering HIV services to adolescents and young adults, ensuring they are equipped to support effective HIV prevention and care.
This groundbreaking initiative aims to create sustainable improvements in the HIV care continuum for Uganda’s young population.