Introducing INSPIRE Open Access Resources

by Progress Agboola | Sep 22, 2026 | Engagement Core

By Progress Agboola

Making Adolescent and Youth HIV Resources Easier to Find and Use

We are pleased to introduce INSPIRE Open Access Resources, a repository created to make publications and other resources from across the PATC³H-IN network easier to find, access, share, and use.

Researchers, implementers, engagement teams, and community partners across PATC³H-IN are producing valuable knowledge to improve HIV prevention, treatment, and care for adolescents and young people. This includes academic publications, study protocols, intervention materials, implementation guides, training resources, data collection tools, and other practical materials.

However, these resources are often spread across journals, institutional websites, project folders, and reports. Some may also be difficult to locate after a study or project ends. This can limit opportunities for teams to learn from existing work, build on effective approaches, and avoid duplicating previous efforts.

INSPIRE Open Access Resources was established to provide a shared home for these outputs.

What is already in the repository?

The repository currently contains academic publications and study protocols from across PATC³H-IN, providing access to research findings and information on how studies were designed and conducted.

What could be added in the future?

The repository could expand to include intervention materials, implementation guides and manuals, practical toolkits, training materials, monitoring and evaluation resources, data collection tools, and youth engagement and knowledge-sharing materials. These resources could help researchers, implementers, engagement teams, and community partners understand how interventions were delivered and evaluated and inform future studies and activities. Resources developed in one setting may require adaptation based on local priorities, cultures, health systems, and community perspectives.

Why Zenodo?

Zenodo provides open access, stable links, and DOIs that make PATC³H-IN resources easy to access, cite, locate, and reference over time without an institutional subscription.

How does this complement the DASH-to-BRICS transition?

NICHD is migrating the Data and Specimen Hub (DASH) to the NIH Biomedical Research Informatics Computing System (BRICS) to strengthen data stewardship and improve functionality and efficiency. DASH will continue to serve as a controlled-access repository for NICHD-supported studies and provide access to the same types of data, including participant-level datasets.

INSPIRE Open Access Resources complements DASH by providing an openly accessible home for publications, study protocols, and other non-participant-level materials from across PATC³H-IN. Together, these repositories support access to both controlled study data and openly available research and implementation resources.

Explore and contribute

We invite PATC³H-IN researchers, implementers, engagement teams, community partners, and collaborators to explore INSPIRE Open Access Resources and consider how the available materials could support their work.

Members are also encouraged to contribute eligible publications and resources from their studies, interventions, and engagement activities. Each contribution can help others learn from existing work, strengthen collaboration across the network, and expand access to useful knowledge on adolescent and youth HIV research and programming.

Explore INSPIRE Open Access Resources: https://zenodo.org/communities/dandelion-project/records?q=&l=list&p=1&s=10&sort=newest

For questions or support: Progress Agboola, Progress_Agboola@med.unc.edu

From Youth Voice to Youth Leadership

by Emily Hickner | Sep 21, 2026 | Engagement Core, Youth Advisory Board

Written by Aishat Adedoyin Koledowo, Youth Advisory Board Co-chair (S-ITEST) and Nomujuni Neale Natukwatsa, Youth Advisory Board Co-chair Co-chair (MUJHU)

What happens when young people are not only invited into research conversations, but are equipped to shape the conversation, translate the evidence, and lead how research reaches their peers and communities? For the INSPIRE Cross-PATC³H-IN Youth Advisory Board (YAB), 2026 has been a year of beginning to answer that question.

This year has marked an important shift in the YAB’s journey from strengthening youth participation to creating opportunities for young people to take greater ownership of research communication and knowledge translation. Guided by the principle of “building with youth, not for youth,” the YAB has moved from learning and contributing to actively creating, communicating, and sharing research.

The centre of this evolution has been youth-led research dissemination: an approach that recognizes that research does not reach its full potential when it remains within academic spaces. Evidence needs to be understood, discussed, and made relevant to the people and communities it is intended to serve.

YAB members gather in person for the first time at the pre-meeting workshop in Lagos, Nigeria.

Building the Skills to Lead

The journey began with capacity building.

Throughout the year, YAB members strengthened their skills in research writing, storytelling, blogging, digital communication, and translating complex research findings into language and formats that young people can understand and connect with. These experiences were not simply about acquiring new skills; they created the foundation for members to participate more meaningfully in the research process.

As confidence grew, so did the opportunities to contribute.

For Pimer Clare, a YAB member from MUJHU, the experience has changed how she sees her place within research, “Being part of the YAB and youth-led dissemination has helped me see myself as an active partner in research, representing young people’s voices and ensuring findings reach and benefit our communities.”

That shift from being a recipient of research to seeing oneself as an active partner became an important thread throughout the YAB’s work in 2026.

From Learning to Co-Creating

With this foundation in place, the YAB began developing a Youth-Led Research Dissemination Framework, bringing greater structure to the question of how young people can work alongside researchers to communicate HIV implementation science.

The framework is rooted in collaboration, co-creation, accessibility, and youth leadership. Rather than positioning young people at the end of the research process, it creates space for them to contribute to decisions about how findings are translated, which messages are prioritized, what formats are most accessible, and how research can be communicated in ways that resonate with young audiences.

For Beene Chitempa of ZAIMARA, this experience reinforced the importance of closing the gap between research participation and access to research knowledge, “It (being a YAB member) has made me realize that beyond participating in research, we must intentionally share findings with participants and communities, ensuring research knowledge reaches those who contributed to it.”

YAB Members at the pre-meeting workshop meeting and Annual Meeting in Lagos.

Putting the Approach into Practice in Lagos

Ideas started to take shape in a new way during the PATC³H-IN Annual Meeting in Lagos, Nigeria, from May 4–7, 2026.

For the first time, YAB members came together in person for a dedicated pre-meeting workshop focused on youth-led research dissemination. The workshop provided space to test ideas, exchange perspectives, receive feedback, and think through how research findings could be transformed into engaging and accessible content for young people.

The conversation continued at the Annual Meeting, where the YAB Co-Chairs — Aishat Adedoyin Koledowo (S-ITEST, Nigeria) and Nomujuni Natukwatsa (MUJHU, Uganda) — presented “Youth Advisory Board: Reality Check & Translation.” The presentation highlighted the evolving contributions of YAB members across manuscripts, abstracts, social media, dissemination planning, and implementation science.

Lagos became more than a meeting point. It became a bridge between capacity building and application, giving YAB members an opportunity to move from discussing youth-led dissemination to actively putting it into practice.

Turning Evidence into Stories

Following the Annual Meeting, the YAB moved from planning to production. Members worked with researchers to translate complex research findings into short, accessible videos. They developed key messages and video scripts, produced the videos, and worked alongside researchers to ensure that scientific findings remained accurate while becoming easier for broader audiences to understand and engage with.

This was a significant moment in the YAB’s journey.

Young people were no longer simply advising on what researchers should consider. They were creating the content through which research could be understood and shared.

For Hannah Nancy Nkhoma of VS4A, Malawi, the experience has strengthened both her confidence and her understanding of what youth participation can look like: “Being part of YAB and youth-led dissemination has shown me that young people can shape research, and it has also strengthened my confidence that I can integrate youth voices into meaningful research practice.”

The videos became a practical expression of the belief that research should be translated with young people, rather than simply translated for them.

Looking Beyond Production to Reach

As the videos were shared, the YAB began looking beyond the question of whether content had been produced to a more important question: what difference might different dissemination approaches make to the visibility and reach of research?

Between May 26 and July 17, 2026, manuscripts with video promotion recorded 183 abstract views compared with 61 for manuscripts without video promotion. Promotion also led to 16 full-text downloads compared with 10. The difference was also visible in citation counts. Between May 26 and August 22, 2026, manuscripts with video promotion recorded 46 citations compared with 15 for manuscripts without video promotion.

These are observed differences between manuscripts with and without video promotion and do not, on their own, establish that video promotion caused the higher levels of engagement or citations. Nevertheless, the findings provide an important opportunity for the YAB and research teams to explore how creative, youth-led approaches can contribute to making research more visible and accessible.

For the YAB, measurement is becoming part of the dissemination process itself, helping the team understand what reaches audiences, how they engage, and what can be improved.

Taking Youth Leadership into Research Spaces

The YAB’s growing role has not been limited to digital dissemination. Engagement with the Scientific Leadership Committee (SLC) and External Research and Scientific Board (ERSB) provided opportunities for YAB members to share their progress, receive feedback, and demonstrate how youth-led dissemination can strengthen the relationship between research and the communities it seeks to serve.

The YAB also carried its voice beyond PATC³H-IN. At AIDS 2026 in Rio de Janeiro, YAB representation gave voice to youth perspectives on international conversations on HIV, health research, and meaningful youth engagement, including participation in youth co-creation spaces.

The YAB’s contribution to the WHO/TDR Practical Youth Co-Creation Guide launched in April, further reflected its commitment to meaningful participation. The guide reinforces the importance of involving young people from the beginning of research and programme processing not bringing them in only after the key decisions have already been made.

Together, these experiences are helping redefine what youth leadership can look like within research.

Mba Chinedu Ude of iCARE+ Nigeria reflected, “Being part of YAB has shifted my focus to amplifying youth voices in research. I am more intentional about inclusivity and impact now, and it has made me see research as a tool for youth empowerment, not just data collection. Now I focus on amplifying voices and driving change.”

From Youth Voice to Youth Leadership

The YAB’s journey in 2026 has ultimately been about more than dissemination. It has been about transformation. Transformation in how young people see themselves within research. Transformation in how researchers and young people collaborate. And transformation in how evidence can move from academic publications into conversations, platforms, and communities where it can be widely understood and utilized.

The next phase for YAB will build on this foundation by strengthening youth-led research products, expanding collaboration between YAB members and researchers, developing digital storytelling and communication skills, documenting lessons, and using engagement data to refine future dissemination approaches.

The goal is not simply to create more content. It is to continue creating the skills, structures, platforms, and opportunities that allow young people to meaningfully shape research and lead how knowledge is communicated.

Because significant youth engagement is not only about giving young people a seat at the table. It is about ensuring they have the skills to contribute, the space to co-create, the confidence to lead, and the opportunity to see their ideas move beyond the table and into action.

From youth voice to youth leadership, 2026 has been a year of putting that principle into practice and the journey is only beginning.

When Rio Came Together to Co-Create: Youth, Health, and Research at AIDS 2026 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

by Emily Hickner | Sep 2, 2026 | Engagement Core, Youth Advisory Board

Written by Nomujuni Neale Natukwatsa, INSPIRE Youth Advisory Board Co-Chair

What happens when young people, researchers, health practitioners and community stakeholders from different countries, institutions and lived experiences come together in one room not simply to talk about young people, but to co-create with them?

That was the spirit of the Youth Co-creation for Health Workshop held at the Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública Sergio Arouca at Fiocruz Manguinhos ahead of AIDS 2026 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The workshop brought together participants representing a diverse range of organisations and institutions, including CEDAPS, Baylor-Botswana, University of Washington, Wake Forest University, Rio Youth Force, Decola Cria/GOYN Rio de Janeiro, Fiocruz, RNAJVHA, ACS, SZNDIR, UNICEF, INT EVOLUX and UNC, among others. The diversity extended beyond institutional affiliations. With at least 70% of participants speaking Portuguese, the workshop created a valuable bridge between the local youth community in Rio and the international AIDS 2026 community.

This diversity was important. It meant that conversations about youth participation were not happening from a single perspective. Young people, researchers, community organisations, academic institutions and global health partners brought different experiences and ways of understanding the challenges facing young people in health.

Group photo during the Rio Youth Co-creation Workshop.

From participation to partnership

The workshop was built around the Youth Co-creation for Health: Practical Guide, developed by SESH in partnership with UNICEF and TDR. The guide approaches youth co-creation as an iterative process in which young people and researchers work together while deliberately recognising and addressing power imbalances.

The afternoon began with introductions to the practical guide, reflections celebrating Rio’s youth, an exploration of Fiocruz’s role in the local youth community, and a discussion on inclusion. The discussion included the question of what it takes to ensure that young people dealing with systematic stigma are not left behind. And a panel brought together perspectives from WHO, CEDAPS, Decola Cria, RNAJVHA, and Fiocruz, creating space for dialogue between local and international experiences.

But the heart of the workshop was the co-creation activity.

Participants worked in small groups of six to eight, bringing young people and adults together to explore two practical questions. The first question asked how we might imagine a future where young people facing systemic stigma — including those living with HIV, disabilities, and other conditions — are not discriminated against or excluded from work. The second question challenged participants to think creatively about how the Youth Co-creation Practical Guide could be disseminated in different settings with young people taking the lead.

Participants were encouraged to pay attention to power imbalances, create space for young people’s contributions, generate ideas together, and identify their strongest proposals before sharing them with the wider group. This was co-creation in practice. Not a presentation about youth participation, but a room where people had to listen, negotiate, create, and make decisions together.

When the conversation continued beyond Fiocruz

One of the most memorable aspects of the workshop was that the conversation did not end when the formal programme ended. Later that evening, participants gathered for dinner, creating an informal space to continue exchanging experiences, challenge ideas, build friendships, and explore opportunities for future collaboration. For a workshop centered on relationships and shared power, this informal continuation mattered. It allowed people to connect beyond their institutional roles and discover the experiences and motivations behind the work.

The group enjoying a post-workshop dinner.

Why this matters for INSPIRE

The Rio workshop demonstrated an important principle; meaningful youth engagement is not about simply creating opportunities for young people to participate. It is about creating processes where young people can influence the questions, contribute their knowledge and lived experiences, shape solutions, and help determine what success looks like.

It also demonstrated the value of bringing different communities together. Local youth organisations and community networks. Researchers and universities. Global health institutions and international partners. Young people and adults. Different perspectives, brought into the same space, can challenge assumptions and create possibilities that may not emerge when people work in isolation.

This workshop offered a practical example of what youth co-creation can look like when diversity is treated as an asset rather than a complication.

The lesson from Rio is simple. Young people should not simply be invited to the table. They should help shape what is on it.

And the co-creation continues.

My Summer as an INSPIRE Youth Health Intern

by Progress Agboola | Aug 6, 2026 | Engagement Core

Written by Diya Kosana

When I joined the INSPIRE Engagement Core this summer, I expected to learn about how communities are engaged in global health research prior to and during a study. What I did not initially realize was the extent of the work that continues after a study is completed.. While publishing research is often viewed as the finish line, I quickly learned that generating evidence is only part of the process. Ensuring that research reaches the people who can use it is just as important as the research itself.

Throughout the summer, I had the opportunity to support dissemination efforts alongside researchers and members of the INSPIRE Youth Advisory Board (YAB). Across the network, dissemination was approached as an essential part of implementation science rather than an afterthought.

Youth-Led Research Dissemination

One example of this work was the YAB’s video dissemination initiative. Each youth member (18-30 years old) developed a video focused on highlighting a research manuscript from their respective PATC³H-IN Clinical Research Center (CRC). By combining scientific evidence with accessible communication, the project demonstrated how youth perspectives can strengthen the way research is shared. During the dissemination period, the 15 YAB-promoted articles accounted for 69.1% of all research article views on the INSPIRE website. Rather than simply communicating findings, the videos encouraged conversations that make research more relevant to the communities it is intended to serve.

Aishat Adedoyin Koledowo, an INSPIRE researcher and co-chair of the YAB, described the experience: “One of the most rewarding parts of co-leading this initiative was seeing young people take ownership of research from their own clinical research centers. They didn’t just explain the findings; they brought them to life in ways that were authentic, relatable, and meaningful for their peers. That experience validated my belief that young people are not just the audience for research; they are powerful partners in sharing it.”

Aishat’s perspective captured what made the initiative different from simply sharing research findings. The youth members were not just receiving information and passing it along. They had an active role in deciding how the research could be communicated in a way that felt accessible and meaningful to others.

Developing a Dissemination Framework

Another part of my work as an intern involved helping develop a research dissemination framework that outlined practical strategies for communicating research across digital platforms such as LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. The framework grew out of the work I was doing with the YAB and the broader INSPIRE team, and it helped me think more intentionally about what makes research communication effective.

View the Dissemination Framework

Developing the framework reinforced that effective dissemination is intentional. It requires presenting evidence in ways that maintain scientific accuracy while also being engaging and accessible to the people who are receiving it. A research finding may be communicated differently in a LinkedIn post than in a short-form video, but the goal remains the same: to make evidence understandable and useful. The framework also highlighted open-access tools that YAB members can use to create graphics, videos, and other materials without needing specialized software.

Dissemination in Practice

The YAB videos provided a practical example of these ideas in action. By translating research manuscripts into short, accessible videos, youth members created another way for research findings to reach audiences beyond traditional academic publications. Below are a few examples of the videos developed through the video dissemination initiative.

Aishat Adedoyin Koledowo | S-ITEST

Hezekiah Samuel | iCARE PLUS

Anele Zulu | ATTUNE

As I continue working with INSPIRE during the academic year, I am excited to build on what I learned this summer and keep supporting dissemination and community engagement efforts. This experience changed how I think about the research process. Instead of seeing publication as the end of a project, I now view it as the start of a much larger journey where collaboration and communication help turn evidence into action.

Finding the Perfect Match: How Speed Dating Sparked Cross-PATC3H-IN Collaborations

by Emily Hickner | Jul 21, 2026 | Engagement Core, Learning Core, Methods Core

Written by Emily Hickner-Mantia, Operations Manager for INSPIRE

Speed dating for singles may have gone out of style with the rise of dating apps but INSPIRE still sees its value as a matchmaking process for research collaborations. As the implementation science coordinating center for PATC³H-IN, INSPIRE seeks to build synergy through cultivating and supporting collaboration across the network. To leverage shared knowledge and adapt evidence-based practices across new settings, we facilitated a “speed dating” activity for PATC³H-IN clinical research centers at the PATC³H-IN Annual Meeting in Lagos, Nigeria (held 5-7 May 2006).

Members from the eight clinical research centers were paired for three 20-minute rounds of “speed dates.” Instead of discussing hobbies or life goals, these speed daters shared innovative ideas for research collaboration. The ultimate goal was for CRCs to team up — with both early career researchers and more senior researchers represented — to develop new pilot research ideas. The following day, teams pitched their ideas for collaboration in front of the meeting attendees and a panel of judges. Each team had three minutes to present fresh, creative solutions that foster collaboration.

We concluded the annual meeting by announcing the Judge’s Choice and Audience’s Choice awards. As the football (or soccer for the Americans) anthem “Stand Up (For the Champions)” played, the audience erupted in celebration when Synergizing PrEP Delivery took home Judge’s Choice and BriDD won Audience’s Choice. Both winning teams received pilot funding to launch their projects over the next year, while the five remaining partnerships were awarded smaller seed grants to explore their concepts.

Attendees dance to “Stand Up (For the Champions)” as the winners are announced.

Since the PATC³H-IN Annual Meeting, teams have participated in INSPIRE’s Project Development Bootcamp to hone their research designs, develop community needs assessments, and prepare IRB submissions. Teams will continue to receive coaching and training over the course of the next year as they work to pilot their project ideas.

Read on to learn about each cross-PATC³H-IN team’s pitch.

About the Pitches

Please note that these are the ideas that were pitched at the annual meeting. Projects will be refined and adapted for cost and feasibility.

Synergizing PrEP Delivery | Judge’s Choice

Monica Getahun, Mackfallen Anasel , Asiphas Owaraganise

This strategic cross- CRC collaboration between MWOTAJI and MU-JHU synergizes HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) delivery models across East Africa. The initiative addresses key landscape divergence: while MWOTAJI excels in private-sector, pharmacy-based PrEP delivery models in Tanzania, MU-JHU has encountered reluctance toward pharmacy delivery from Uganda’s Ministry of Health and local stakeholders. Conversely, MU-JHU brings established expertise in community-based models and Long-Acting Injectable (LAI) PrEP. To bridge these gaps, the collaboration leverages MWOTAJI’s data to launch a proof-of-concept pilot in 2–3 Ugandan pharmacies, while MU-JHU facilitates learning workshops to prepare Tanzania for its national LAI-PrEP rollout scheduled for January 2027.

The overarching goal of this cross-pollination is to eliminate research silos, strengthen consortium unity, and provide evidence-based advocacy to inform national health strategies in both countries.

Team Synergizing PrEP Delivery poses after their pitch.

BriDD | Audience’s Choice

Benjamin Kule, Eric Aniekan, George Goji, Rodgers Katwesigye

Benjamin Kule presenting the pitch for Team BriDD.

Bridging Design and Delivery (BriDD) is a real-time, youth-centered HIV knowledge exchange initiative developed through a collaboration between iCARE Plus and MU-JHU. While peer navigation is a core component across HIV interventions, execution varies widely across clinical research centers without a shared framework for recruitment, outreach, trust-building, or retention. By combining MU-JHU’s expertise in implementation science with iCARE Plus’s scalable mHealth and peer-navigation systems, the project aims to establish a cross-CRC learning collaboration to standardize and scale effective peer navigation for diverse adolescent and young adult populations.

Through meetings across various communication platforms involving peer navigators, healthcare workers, and community leaders, the team will implement Plan–Do–Study–Act cycles to evaluate and refine practices. Ultimately, the project expects to produce a practical Peer Navigation Best Practices Toolkit for broader use.

RISE-UP

Abdulhammed Babatunde, Kelechi Chima, Abayomi Aka, Samuel Orok

RISE-UP is a collaborative project in Nigeria between S-ITEST and RISE aimed at bridging the gap between community-based and digital HIV prevention tools for adolescents and young adults (AYA). While S-ITEST brings a community-rooted model spanning 18 Community-Based Organizations (CBOs), and RISE offers digital mHealth expertise, RISE-UP combines both to create a digitally amplified, community-embedded model. The initiative seeks to adapt the RISE mobile app using co-design methods to include general and authorization-gated key population forums, non-health engaging content (such as skills and entertainment), and integrated mental health support into S-ITEST’s existing “nurturer-led” CBO structure.

The project will deploy the adapted app across six CBO sites in Lagos and Abuja, Nigeria. Trained CBO nurturers will act as digital navigators, providing tablet access during group sessions for youth without personal smartphones. Using a 12-week pilot, the study will measure primary outcomes including app feature engagement, HIV self-testing uptake, PrEP referrals, and mental health service utilization while evaluating community drivers and barriers to sustained digital engagement.

Team ZamTest

Aishat Adedoyin Koledowo, Godswill Nwoha, Lateef Akeem Blessing, Gift Adelaja, Stella Chiyonga

Team ZamTest’s proposes to integrate mental health services into existing HIV/STI care through a collaborative mother-daughter dyadic model between S-ITEST (Nigeria) and ZAIMARA (Zambia). The initiative combines S-ITEST’s extensive network of community-based organizations and peer support infrastructure across Nigeria with ZAIMARA’s proven intergenerational dyad framework and mental health-embedded curriculum. By combining these strengths, the teams seek to test a novel, two-country approach that delivers mental health screening, brief counseling, and referrals alongside HIV/STI information and PrEP discussions.

The project timeline spans initial protocol development and tool adaptation, pilot implementation, and data analysis with reporting. Key primary endpoints focus on measuring the feasibility, acceptability, screening coverage, service linkage, and mental health symptom reduction within each dyad delivery channel, alongside evaluating HIV/STI testing and PrEP uptake among adolescent girls and young women.

The Influencers

Anele Zulu, Raine Renatus, Jackie Colonery, Yolanda Mayman, Charné Petinger

The Influencers is a collaborative, youth-led activations campaign between the ATTUNE and MWOTAJI CRCs to transform youth culture into an interactive HIV engagement platform. Aimed at young people aged 15 to 24, the initiative combines peer navigation, music culture, and digital storytelling to boost HIV awareness, prevention literacy, stigma reduction, and treatment engagement. The campaign centers on launching live cultural/music events led by youth ambassadors and peer navigators, which then seed a youth-designed TikTok challenge where participants create short-form content around key HIV health modules.

By leveraging social media and live events, the project seeks to move CRCs out of isolated silos to share ideas, identify commonalities, and foster a deeper understanding of youth attitudes toward accessing HIV care.

IMARA-HMP

Beene Chitempa, Olawole Ayorinde, Tukiya Kanguya, Collins Obi, Oluwatayo Damilola

IMARA-HMP is a digital platform designed to bridge communication between adolescents and caregivers while combining sexual and reproductive health, mental health, substance use support, and emotional wellbeing. Addressing the gap in existing digital interventions—which often silo youth groups and exclude caregivers—IMARA-HMP provides an inclusive, adaptive ecosystem. Grounded in collaboration between ZAIMARA and RISE, the initiative utilizes an AI-Guided Conversation Coach, personalized pathways, mood tracking, depression screenings, and dual-user caregiver-adolescent profile syncing to facilitate open, non-judgmental dialogue around sensitive topics.

The project employs the ADAPT-ITT framework to adapt the platform across diverse youth demographics and aims to evaluate its feasibility, acceptability, and impact on family communication skills in Zambia and Nigeria. IMARA-HMP delivers a cost-effective, culturally relevant solution that strengthens family dynamics and adolescent health outcomes.

VIDA

Mwamba Mwenge, Hannah Nancy Nkhoma, Asima U. Kapalepale

Video Intervention for Daughters’ Adherence & prevention (VIDA) is a joint initiative between VS4A and ZAIMARA designed to leverage family support for adolescent girls across the HIV care continuum. Answering the World Health Organization’s 2024 call for combined prevention, treatment, and care programming, VIDA provides a single, HIV-status neutral framework that adapts to both HIV-negative and HIV-positive adolescent girls. The project brings together complementary strengths by combining ZAIMARA’s rigorous communication demonstrations with VS4A’s scalable, engaging video delivery into one efficient, cost-effective model.

The initiative involves co-creation workshops that produce a unified video library and training curriculum, branching into two distinct tracks following HIV testing: a Prevention Track focusing on healthy relationships, condom use, HIV testing, and mental health screening/referral and an Adherence Track focusing on family pill reminders, clinic visits, adherence barrier management, and mental health support.

Strengthening HIV Prevention and Care for Adolescents and Young Adults Across Africa: The PATC³H-IN Network

by Progress Agboola | May 19, 2026 | Engagement Core

Written by Progress Agboola

Over the past few decades, the world has made major progress in the fight against HIV. Advances in prevention, testing, and treatment have transformed HIV from a life-threatening disease into a condition that can be managed with the right care and support.

Yet, many adolescents and young adults are still not benefiting equally from these advances, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, where the burden of HIV remains high.

Young people between the ages of 15 and 24 continue to face challenges when it comes to HIV prevention, testing, treatment, and long-term care. Many are less likely to get tested, remain in care, or consistently take medication. In some communities, stigma, limited access to youth friendly services, and lack of support continue to create barriers to care.

A recent study titled “Strengthening implementation science research to improve adolescent and young adult HIV prevention and care in Sub-Saharan Africa: PATC³H-IN” explores how researchers and health partners across Africa are working to address these challenges in more practical and community focused ways.

At its core, implementation science focuses on understanding how proven health solutions can work better in real-world settings and communities.

Turning Research into Real World Impact

At the center of this effort is the PATC³H-IN network, a collaboration involving eight Clinical Research Centers across six African countries (figure 1). The network was created to improve how HIV prevention and care services are delivered to adolescents and young adults living in resource constrained settings.

Screenshot_13-5-2026_13340_www.patc3h-in.org

Figure 1. Screenshot of the PATC³H-IN Network homepage. Source: PATC³H-IN Website Homepage

What makes this initiative important is its focus not only on discovering solutions, but also on understanding how to make existing interventions more effective in everyday life. A healthcare program may work well in research settings but still struggle in communities facing stigma, limited healthcare access, or economic challenges.

The PATC³H-IN network aims to close this gap by studying how HIV services can be adapted and delivered more effectively across different communities.

Testing New Approaches Across Africa

The network includes projects in Nigeria, Uganda, Malawi, South Africa, Zambia, and Tanzania. Each research center focuses on specific challenges affecting young people in their communities.

Some projects focus on improving HIV prevention among adolescent girls and young women, while others support young people already living with HIV to improve treatment adherence and long-term care. Several projects also focus on key populations, including sexual and gender minority youth, who often face additional barriers to healthcare access.

Across the network, researchers are testing a variety of approaches designed to improve health outcomes for young people. Some projects use peer support systems, where young people help guide others through HIV testing and treatment services. Others use digital tools such as mobile platforms and video-based counseling interventions to improve engagement and access to care

There are also efforts to make healthcare spaces more welcoming and youth friendly. In some settings, projects are working directly with healthcare workers, pharmacies, and local communities to reduce stigma and improve trust between young people and healthcare providers.

Putting Young People at the Center

One of the most important parts of the PATC³H-IN network is its focus on involving young people directly in the research process. Instead of treating adolescents and young adults only as participants, many of the projects actively engage them in shaping the design and direction of the work.

Young people are helping researchers understand what barriers exist in their communities, what kinds of services feel accessible and supportive, and what changes are needed to improve care. The network also established a youth advisory board with representatives from different research centers to guide activities across the program.

This level of engagement matters because programs designed with young people are more likely to reflect real needs and gain community acceptance.

Why Collaboration Matters

Another major strength of the network is collaboration. By working across multiple countries and research centers, teams are able to learn from one another and share ideas in real time. Researchers can compare strategies across different settings and identify what works best under different circumstances.

The study also highlights the importance of adapting health interventions to local contexts. A strategy that works well in one setting may need adjustments before it can succeed somewhere else. Cultural differences, health systems, and community attitudes all influence how healthcare programs are received and implemented.

Beyond improving HIV care, the network is also helping strengthen research capacity across Africa by supporting collaboration between researchers, healthcare providers, policymakers, and young people.

Moving Closer to Ending the HIV Epidemic

The work being done through PATC³H-IN reflects a broader shift in global health thinking. More attention is now being given to community engagement, local leadership, and practical solutions that fit the realities of people’s lives.

The study makes one thing clear. Scientific discoveries alone are not enough to end the HIV epidemic. Success also depends on how well those discoveries are delivered, adapted, and sustained within communities.

The tools to prevent and treat HIV already exist. The challenge now is making sure they reach adolescents and young adults in ways that are accessible, effective, and responsive to their needs.

Efforts like the PATC³H-IN network are helping move the world closer to that goal. For millions of young people across Africa, initiatives like this could help turn scientific progress into real and lasting impact.

Learn More

This blog post is based on the study “Strengthening implementation science research to improve adolescent and young adult HIV prevention and care in Sub-Saharan Africa: PATC³H-IN” published in BMC Public Health. Readers interested in the full research can access the original publication here: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-025-24995-0

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