Archives: Events

The VOICE (HIV YOuth Informed Consent & Ethics in Research) project aims to improve consent processes for adolescents and young adults (AYA; age 10 to 24 years old) participating in HIV research in low- and middle-income countries. There are many social, ethical, and legal challenges with obtaining consent for AYA to participate in HIV research, which can often make it difficult to include AYA in studies. Practical solutions to improve consent processes, and guidance to implement those solutions, are needed to increase AYA participation in research. This is particularly important in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where AYA face a high burden of HIV morbidity and mortality.

The purpose of the VOICE summit is to convene a diverse group of stakeholders in order to finalize a consensus statement on informed consent of adolescents and young adults (age 10-24) in HIV research studies in low- and middle-income countries. This summit extends the work of our prior project, the VOICE open call (HIV Open Call on Informed Consent and Ethics in Research).

4YBY designathon is an interactive, engaging, and fun-filled sprint-contest focused on problem-solving, idea-generation and enhancing creativity through a design-thinking process.

4YBY Innovation bootcamp is an accelerated training program focused on activating and fostering entrepreneurship and leadership mindsets of young people for sustainable change, while applying research principles.

4YBY open challenge contests utilize crowdsourcing to generate ideas to create more effective, innovative and sustainable health solutions.

4YBY Music4Health Contest is a call for bold, trendy, and innovative Nigerian music aimed at improving health amongst Nigerians.

Since 2018, we have engaged over 8,000 youths in Nigeria through four crowdsourcing contests, three designathon, two innovation bootcamps in Nigeria, one pilot trial, and one clinical trial that followed over 1,500 youth for 24 months. While the data is being finalized, our interim analysis, includes a high retention of these youth participants (>80%) and a high uptake of HIV self-testing (>x%) at 24 months. Through this process, we demonstrated the scale of untapped impact of youth engagement in developing youth-friendly HIV self-testing services.

Youths (aged 14-24 years) in Nigeria have an increased risk of new HIV infection but do not receive necessary HIV prevention services. In Nigeria, essential services to reduce HIV and STIs, such as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), HIV self-testing, sexually transmitted infection (STI) testing, and linkage to youth-friendly clinical services are not widely used and accessible. We can change this!

Younger adolescents and young adults (AYA) aged 14 – 17 years face several health issues that affect more than their physical wellbeing, which means their mental, social, behavioral health is at risk.

Get ready to make a difference! We’re excited to announce a new contest that puts (YOU)th at the front and center in
the response to HIV to lead their own solutions. As we approach World AIDS Day 2024 on the 1st of December, we
invite you to help us create lasting change using the assets within youth groups and community-based
organizations (CBOs).