Connecting Adolescent Girls and Young Women for HIV prevention!! 

My Age Zimbabwe and the Development Agenda for Girls and Women in Africa Network (DAWA) have joined forces to implement a project called “Connecting Adolescent Girls and Women for HIV Prevention.” With support from ViiV Healthcare, they have kicked off the project by jointly training 15 adolescent girls and women on HIV prevention in Mwenezi and Masvingo.

Through the ViiV project, both organizations aim to reduce new HIV infections among AGYW in Masvingo Urban and Mwenezi, as well as promote health-seeking behavior among these girls and young women. 

This will be achieved through innovative methods of information sharing, generating demand, and mobilizing the community to improve access, utilization, and retention of HIV combination prevention methods. 

Ultimately, the project seeks to contribute to decreased HIV infections  and increased HIV/AIDS knowledge among adolescent girls and young women. It builds on My Age Zimbabwe’s experience implementing youth-focused sexual and reproductive health programs in Masvingo Province. Meanwhile, DAWA brings expertise in advocacy and creating spaces for girls and young women on issues like HIV and SRHR.

This project will complement existing efforts to revitalize HIV prevention for adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) at the national level. Its aim is to showcase the feasibility of inclusive and comprehensive projects that are led by AGYW and focused on accelerating HIV prevention efforts. This project will harmonize with various ongoing initiatives, such as the Community-led Monitoring Program by UNAIDS, the DREAMS project, and the AGYW Prevention Self-Assessment tool by the South-to-South Learning Network, in support of the localized Global HIV Prevention roadmap. 

Its ultimate goal is to expand the impact of its innovations, particularly the mobile application, to a wider group of AGYW. Additionally, the project will work closely with UNAIDS and the Ministry of Health in Zimbabwe to enhance access to accurate HIV prevention information and services for AGYW.

With a primary objective of scaling up into districts with high HIV infections among AGYW in Zimbabwe, the project will then proceed to engage with community-based, youth-led, and women-led organizations to foster collaborations and pool resources.