DREAMS Thina Abantu Abasha: A Youth-led Initiative Aimed at Reducing HIV Infection Rates

What are the health needs and challenges?

Girls and young women account for 74 percent of new HIV infections among adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa.  Ten countries (Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe) account for more than half of all the new HIV infections that occurred among adolescent girls and young women globally in 2015.  This must change.

Partnership activities and how they address needs and challenges

DREAMS Thina Abantu Abasha is a youth-led initiative aimed at reducing HIV infection rates among youth in one of the impacted countries – South Africa.  The program was launched in 2018 and is being implemented in two of SA’s provinces with high rates of HIV – KwaZulu Natal and Gauteng.

This program is a progression from DREAMS (Determined, Resilient, Empowered, AIDS-free, Mentored and Safe), an ambitious partnership led by the US  President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and supporting organizations, including Johnson & Johnson, to reduce HIV infections among adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) in 10 Sub-Saharan Africa countries.

As part of this initiative, Johnson & Johnson conducted workshops with AGYW in nine of these countries.  A key finding from the workshops was that AGYW need intervention in three areas – leadership, employability and Sexual & Reproductive Health (SRH) resources.

Based on this feedback we embarked on an amplification of the original DREAMS program to explore interventions in these areas and bring practical solutions to life.