Art-based reflections from 12 years of adolescent health and development-related research in South Africa.

This paper presents empirical and methodological findings from an art-based, participatory process with a group (n = 16) of adolescent and young advisors in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. In a weekend workshop, participants reflected on their participation in 12 years of health and development-related research through theatre, song, visual methodologies and semi-structured interviews. Empirical findings suggest that participants interpreted the group research encounter as a site of empowerment, social support and as a socio-political endeavour.

Building capacity to facilitate policy implementation: A short course in adolescent and youth health in South Africa.

In order to respond more effectively to the health of young people in South Africa, in 2017 the National Department of Health of South Africa released the National Adolescent & Youth Health Policy. The Policy focused on a range of health problems and recommended interventions for delivery through multiple settings and government departments. It also included specific recommendations to empower and involve young people in policy and programme implementation.

Multiple Impacts of Ethiopia's Health Extension Program on Adolescent Health and Well-Being: A Quasi-Experimental Study 2002-2013.

Purpose: Ethiopia has registered remarkable achievements in reaching global development goals, including reducing child marriage. Policymakers are keen to understand which investments have contributed to this. We evaluated the association between Ethiopia's Health Extension Program (HEP) and 12 adolescent health and wellbeing outcomes.

Choice models in Nordic long-term care: care managers' experiences of privilege and disadvantage among older adults.

Consumer choice models have been introduced in eldercare services in several Western welfare societies. Choice models in eldercare emphasise the importance of individuals' abilities to make informed choices and therefore entail a risk for increased inequalities among older adults with care needs. In the Nordic countries, such inequality risks are in stark contrast to universal policy ambitions of equal access to care services.

Enhancing a peer supporter intervention for young mothers living with HIV in Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia: Adaptation and co-development of a psychosocial component.

Young mothers living with HIV (YMHIV) experience heightened risks to their mental health, as their transition to adulthood is marked by social stigma, health and socioeconomic challenges. Targeted psychosocial interventions may improve the mental health of YMHIV; however, no evidence-based interventions have been developed for this group. Peer support models, more common for youth living with HIV, show promise as a design to reach YMHIV in a non-stigmatising way.

How Do Psychosocial Interventions for Adolescents and Young People Living With HIV Improve Adherence and Viral Load? A Realist Review.

Purpose: Psychosocial interventions have the potential to support adolescents and young people living with HIV (AYPLHIV) to achieve better HIV outcomes. However, more evidence is needed to understand which interventions are most effective, and the mechanisms driving how they work in practice.

Methods: We used realist methodologies to generate statements based on evidence from intervention studies and linked evidence included in a systematic review of psychosocial interventions for AYPLHIV.

Predictors and consequences of HIV status disclosure to adolescents living with HIV in Eastern Cape, South Africa: a prospective cohort study.

Introduction: The World Health Organization recommends full disclosure of HIV-positive status to adolescents who acquired HIV perinatally (APHIV) by age 12. However, even among adolescents (aged 10-19) already on antiretroviral therapy (ART), disclosure rates are low. Caregivers often report the child being too young and fear of disclosure worsening adolescents' mental health as reasons for non-disclosure.

Two years after lockdown: reviewing the effects of COVID-19 on health services and support for adolescents living with HIV in South Africa.

Introduction: South Africa's progress towards the 95-95-95 goals has been significantly slower among adolescents living with HIV (ALHIV), among whom antiretroviral therapy (ART) adherence, retention in care and viral suppression remain a concern. After 2 years of living with COVID-19, it is important to examine the direct and indirect effects of the pandemic on healthcare resources, access to HIV services and availability of support structures, to assess their impact on HIV care for ALHIV.

Discussion: The COVID-19 response in South Africa has shifted healthcare resources towards combatting COVID-19, affecting the quality and availability of HIV services-especially for vulnerable populations, such as ALHIV.

Perspectives on the use of modelling and economic analysis to guide HIV programmes in sub-Saharan Africa.

HIV modelling and economic analyses have had a prominent role in guiding programmatic responses to HIV in sub-Saharan Africa. However, there has been little reflection on how the HIV modelling field might develop in future. HIV modelling should more routinely align with national government and ministry of health priorities, recognising their legitimate mandates and stewardship responsibilities, for HIV and other wider health programmes.

Past and current status of adolescents living with HIV in South Africa, 2005-2017.

Objectives: This paper reports HIV prevalence, incidence, progress towards the UNAIDS (90-90-90) targets, and HIV drug resistance among adolescents living with HIV in South Africa. We conducted secondary analyses using data extracted from the South African national HIV prevalence surveys (2005-2017). Analyses were stratified by sex and age (10-14 and 15-19-years), presenting weighted descriptive statistics, and realised totals.

Who goes back to school after birth? Factors associated with postpartum school return among adolescent mothers in the Eastern Cape, South Africa.

Early motherhood can negatively impact health, educational, and socio-economic outcomes for adolescent mothers and their children. Supporting adolescent mothers' educational attainment, and timely return to school, may be key to interrupting intergenerational cycles of adversity. Yet, there remains a paucity of evidence on the factors that are associated with mothers' postpartum return to school and the mediators of this process, particularly across sub-Saharan Africa where adolescent pregnancy rates remain high .

Associations of Sustainable Development Goals Accelerators With Adolescents' Well-Being According to Head-of-Household's Disability Status-A Cross-Sectional Study From Zambia.

We examined associations between accelerators (interventions impacting ≥2 SDG targets) and SDG-aligned well-being indicators among adolescents 16-24 years old in Zambia. We surveyed adults from 1,800 randomly sampled households receiving social cash transfers. We examined associations between accelerators (social cash transfers, life-long learning, mobile phone access) and seven well-being indicators among adolescents using multivariate logistic regressions.

Community engagement for malaria elimination in the Greater Mekong Sub-region: a qualitative study among malaria researchers and policymakers.

Background: Community engagement has increasingly received attention in malaria research and programme interventions, particularly as countries aim for malaria elimination. Although community engagement strategies and activities are constantly developing, little is known about how those who implement research or programmes view community engagement. This article explores the perspectives of researchers and policy makers in the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) on community engagement for malaria control and elimination.

Forest malaria and prospects for anti-malarial chemoprophylaxis among forest goers: findings from a qualitative study in Thailand.

Background: Across the Greater Mekong Subregion, malaria remains a dangerous infectious disease, particularly for people who visit forested areas where residual transmission continues. Because vector control measures offer incomplete protection to forest goers, chemoprophylaxis has been suggested as a potential supplementary measure for malaria prevention and control. To implement prophylaxis effectively, additional information is needed to understand forest goers' activities and their willingness to use malaria prevention measures, including prophylaxis, and how it could be delivered in communities.

Experiential knowledge in mental health services: Analysing the enactment of expertise in peer support.

The shift towards recovery-oriented mental health care has led to the extensive growth of peer support in contemporary service delivery. When enacting peer support, peer workers (PWs) use their lived experiences of mental illness to provide support to individuals experiencing mental health difficulties. While PWs are increasingly an integrated part of mental health services, the way in which peer support unfolds in everyday practices remains understudied.

The FACAM study: protocol for a randomized controlled study of an early interdisciplinary intervention to support women in vulnerable positions through pregnancy and the first 5 years of motherhood.

Background: Inequality in health can have profound short- and long-term effects on a child's life. Infants develop in a responsive environment, and the relationship between mother and infant begins to develop during pregnancy. The mother's ability to bond with the fetus and newborn child may be challenged by mental health issues which can cause impaired functioning and poorer health outcomes.

Women's Economic Contribution, Relationship Status and Risky Sexual Behaviours: A Cross-Sectional Analysis from a Microfinance-Plus Programme in Rural South Africa.

In sub-Saharan Africa, women bear a disproportionate burden of HIV/AIDS while also facing economic and gender inequalities. To explore the association of women's economic contribution and relationship status with risky sexual behaviour, this study analysed cross-sectional data from 626 women aged 22 to 84 in rural South Africa. All women were enrolled in a microfinance plus gender training programme (Intervention with Microfinance for AIDS and Gender Equity (IMAGE)).

Blood and Blood: Anti-retroviral Therapy, Masculinity, and Redemption among Adolescent Boys in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa.

Adolescents living with perinatally acquired HIV are among the first generation in South Africa to grow up with anti-retroviral therapy and democratic freedoms. In this article, we explore the biosocial lives of adolescent boys and young men living with HIV in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. We conducted qualitative research with 36 adolescent boys and young men in 2016-2018, including life history narratives, semi-structured interviews, and analysis of health facility files.

Forest malaria and prospects for anti-malarial chemoprophylaxis among forest goers: findings from a qualitative study in Lao PDR.

Background: Despite significant decline in malarial incidence and mortality in countries across the Greater Mekong Subregion, the disease remains a public health challenge in the region; transmission continues mainly among people who visit forests in remote areas, often along international borders, where access to primary healthcare is limited. In the absence of effective vector-control measures and limited exposure periods, malaria chemoprophylaxis has been proposed as a strategy to protect forest goers. As a rarely used approach for indigenous populations, questions remain about its feasibility and acceptability.

Parenting interventions to support parent/child attachment and psychosocial adjustment in foster and adoptive parents and children: A systematic review.

Background: Adopted children and children placed in foster care are at increased risk of developing a range of mental health, behavioural, and psychosocial adjustment problems. Previous studies suggest that due to early experiences of separation and loss some children may have difficulties forming a secure attachment relationship with the adoptive/foster parents.

Objectives: The objectives of the present review were: (1) to assess the efficacy of attachment-based interventions on measures of favourable parent/child outcomes (attachment security, dyadic interaction, parent/child psychosocial adjustment, behavioural and mental health problems, and placement breakdown) within foster and adoptive families with children aged between 0 and 17 years.

Decade of research into the acceptability of interventions aimed at improving adolescent and youth health and social outcomes in Africa: a systematic review and evidence map.

Objective: Interventions aimed at improving adolescent health and social outcomes are more likely to be successful if the young people they target find them acceptable. However, no standard definitions or indicators exist to assess acceptability. A This paper maps and qualitatively synthesises the scope, characteristics and findings of these studies, including definitions of acceptability, methods used, the type and objectives of interventions assessed, and overall findings on adolescent acceptability.

Trends in the use of biologicals and their treatment outcomes among patients with inflammatory bowel diseases - a Danish nationwide cohort study.

Background: Therapeutic management of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) is rapidly evolving, with an expanding armoury of biological drugs at our disposal. However, real-world findings about treatment persistence and the impact of biologicals on surgery remain inconsistent.

Aims: This study aimed to investigate trends in biological use and surgery rates in a nationwide cohort of biological-naïve IBD patients.

What do parents think of using informational videos to support recruitment for parenting trials? A qualitative study.

Background: Lower than expected recruitment and retention rates are common challenges in parenting trials-particularly for community-based trials targeting parents of young children that rely on face-to-face recruitment by frontline workers. Recruitment requires parental informed consent, yet information sheets have been criticized for being lengthy and complex, and particularly challenging for parents with low literacy. Recent innovations include 'talking head' information videos.

Acceptability and feasibility of malaria prophylaxis for forest goers: findings from a qualitative study in Cambodia.

Background: In the Greater Mekong Subregion, adults are at highest risk for malaria, particularly those who visit forests. The absence of effective vector control strategies and limited periods of exposure during forest visits suggest that chemoprophylaxis could be an appropriate strategy to protect forest goers against malaria.

Methods: Alongside a clinical trial of anti-malarial chemoprophylaxis in northern Cambodia, qualitative research was conducted, including in-depth interviews and observation, to explore the acceptability of malaria prophylaxis for forest goers, the implementation opportunities, and challenges of this strategy.

Socioeconomic and gendered inequities in travel behaviour in Africa: Mixed-method systematic review and meta-ethnography.

Travel has individual, societal and planetary health implications. We explored socioeconomic and gendered differences in travel behaviour in Africa, to develop an understanding of travel-related inequity. We conducted a mixed-methods systematic review (PROSPERO CRD42019124802).