Did you know that the youth make up 1.8 billion of the world’s population? Well this is according to the latest statistics from the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA).
The youth are the shapers and leaders of our global future and they matter because they have inherent human rights that must be fulfilled. Yet, in a world of adult concerns, young people are often overlooked.
It is in this light and context that Zambart, a research and development organisation housed at the University of Zambia School of Medicine, Ridgeway Campus in Lusaka, is currently undertaking a study (HPTN 071 or PopART Study) that will find out whether offering a combined package of HIV interventions to a community, especially to young people, will help to reduce HIV transmission better than the standard methods that are offered separately today.
PopART offers everyone in the community an opportunity to test for HIV, and to start ARVs as soon as possible to all people who test HIV positive. Those who test negative will be offered preventive measures such as counseling for condom use, Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision (VMMC), and screening and referrals for Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs).
According to Zambart, the fight against HIV cannot be won without the involvement of adolescents. HIV affects everybody regardless of age, and the most affected age group is from 15 years to 24 years. Hence under the PopART Study, adolescents between 15 years and 20 years are being included because targeting these youths directly in the community will increase awareness about HIV and other related issues.
Adolescents have special needs and such, under the study; they will be linked to youth friendly centres available within the community to help them remain in care other than for them to be going to health centres/clinics where they will be stigmatised. Remember that a healthy adolescent is a productive adolescent, hence they should remain healthy if they are to contribute to the development of their communities.
During the launch of Adolescents in PopART Study on January 14, 2016 at Zambart offices, Paedriatic ART Officer at the Ministry of Health Gloria Munthali, observed that adolescents in society were exposed to early and unprotected sex, unsafe abortions, sexual abuse, HIV/AIDS, early pregnancies, and many other ills.
Dr Munthali said the most worrying is early pregnancies which according to the Zambia Demography Health Survey (ZDHS), is going up. In 2010, this was at 28 per cent, in 2013/2014 this increased to 29 per cent while Adolescent HIV pregnancy is at 4.8 per cent for those between 15 years and 19 years.
She noted that maternal mortality is also high at 30 per cent most of which was from abortions. Dr Munthali said child marriage is equally high resulting in school drop outs but assured that the Ministry of Health, in collaboration with other partners, has come up with strategies to address the challenges facing adolescents among these the setting up of friendly health services nationally and welcomed the Zambart initiative.
Principal Investigator in the study Kwame Shanaube said the study is being carried out in Zambia and in South Africa running from 2014 to 2018.
Dr Shanaube noted that there is little information on adolescents on whether they can access health services. Under the study, 5,200 (target) adolescents will be reached. She said youth friendly corners in clinics are not doing well and that youth friendly centres in communities can be an alternative.
Dr Lloyd Mulenga, Head Adult Infections at the Centre of Excellence at the University Teaching Hospital, said adherence among adolescents is important.
He however noted with sadness that adolescents find themselves becoming resistant to drugs because of the weak second line regimen of drugs for the paedriatic population because they find that they had already taken a number of drugs while young. He said the Ministry of Health had just completed guidelines for adolescents on ART and this would be released within a few weeks.
During the same launch, Sylvia Chimpampwe from the Young Women Christian Association (YWCA), Natalie Jackson from the Population Council and Mukuka Mwaba and Peter Banda from Grassroots Soccer all discussed how they were assisting the youth in health matters especially HIV/AIDS.
And in a speech read on behalf of the Lusaka Provincial Medical Officer Kennedy Malama, Kon Mukomena, who is acting clinical care specialist observed that today many of our youths face increasing competition for jobs and other economic opportunities and that sadly the majority is also either affected or infected by HIV and AIDS.
Dr Mukomena said globally about five million young people aged 15 years to 24 years are estimated to be living with HIV (2010 statistics).  She welcomed the Zambart PopART Study which she said will evaluate the acceptability and uptake of a community – level combination HIV prevention approach for adolescents aged 15 years to 20 years in Zambia and South Africa, with targeted interventions that include universal test and treat (UTT).
She commended and encouraged Zambart and other partners involved in the Study to continue venturing in research in Zambia which is promoting Government’s vision of having a nation of healthy and productive people.
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