Regional issues brief: Children, HIV and the law
This regional issues brief was prepared for the Africa Regional Dialogue of the Global Commission on HIV and the Law which took place on 4 August 2011 in Pretoria, South Africa.
This regional issues brief was prepared for the Africa Regional Dialogue of the Global Commission on HIV and the Law which took place on 4 August 2011 in Pretoria, South Africa.
This report systematizes existing knowledge of effective interventions in the area of juvenile sexual and reproductive health.
Background: Accessible sexual, reproductive, and mental healthcare services are crucial for adolescent health and wellbeing.
Nearly half of the world's population, some 3 billion people, is under the age of 25.
Objectives: To describe the sexual and reproductive behaviour of adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly 15- to 19-year-olds.
Despite decades of investment in HIV prevention, a large and vulnerable population—that of adolescent girls—remains invisible, underserved, and at disproportionate risk of HIV.
Providing sexual and reproductive health (SRH) education in schools is a cost-effective way of reaching young people because the majority of adolescents are enrolled in school.
Despite the commitment of many policymakers and advocates to addressing the ever-increasing sexual and reproductive health needs of youth, calls for appropriate programs, services, and funding have gone largely unanswered.
The lack of universal access to women's reproductive health services has contributed to the collective failure to be on target to achieve the MDGs by 2015.
The International HIV/AIDS Alliance have carried out a literature review of the sexual and reproductive health rights of adolescents living with HIV. The study found that adolescents living with HIV have largely been left out of the national responses to HIV/AIDS in low-income settings.