Undetectable and Untransmittable: Reducing HIV Transmission Among Young Women Living with HIV, Their Partners and Children in South Africa
The following grant was awarded by, is supported by, is administered by or is in partnership with the Fogarty International Center at the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Funding Fogarty Program
Emerging Global Leader
Project Information in NIH RePORTER
Undetectable and Untransmittable: Reducing HIV Transmission Among Young Women Living with HIV, Their Partners and Children in South Africa
Principal Institution
University of Cape Town
Principal Investigator(s) (PI)
Toska, Elona
Project Contact Information
Email: elona.toska@uct.ac.za
Year(s) Awarded
2019–2024
Country
South Africa
Collaborators
Brown University
NIH Partners
NIMH
Project Description
Global HIV prevention efforts are at a crossroads: a growing cohort of young women living with HIV is struggling to adhere to HIV treatment consistently and prevent unintended pregnancies, and are at a growing risk of passing on HIV to their partners and children. To support young women living with HIV to realize the goals of Undetectable=Untransmittable (U=U), we need a radical shift in how U=U is operationalized for this vulnerable population, including a strong understanding of how they engage in relationships with adults and their partners, and how these relationships shape their health practices and centering interventions on long-term resilience- building, rather than short-term risk reduction.
This study addresses a critical gap in HIV prevention by laying the necessary scientific groundwork to develop effective and relevant interventions to reduce onward HIV transmission, through:
- exploring factors associated with onward HIV transmission in the ‘relationship clusters’ that young women have,
- conceptualizing and measuring sexual and reproductive resilience, and
- mapping the causal pathways between predictors, resilience, and onward HIV transmission among young women living with HIV.
Related World Regions / Countries
Related Global Health Research Topics