Transitions: novel study methods to understand early HIV risk among adolescent girls and young women in Mombasa, Kenya, and Dnipro, Ukraine
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Transitions aims to understand the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) risk at critical transition points in the sexual life course of adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) who engage in casual sex, transactional sex, and sex work. In this article, we present the Transitions study methods. The Transitions study has the following objectives: (1) to describe how the characteristics and length of the transition period and access gap vary across two epidemiological contexts (Mombasa, Kenya, and Dnipro, Ukraine); (2) to understand how the risk of HIV varies by length and characteristics of the transition period and access gap across epidemiologic contexts; and (3) to assess the extent to which HIV infections acquired during the transition period and access gap could mitigate the population-level impact of focused interventions for female sex workers and explore the potential marginal benefit of expanding programs to reach AGYW during the transition period and access gap. Cross-sectional biobehavioral data were collected from young women aged 14 to 24 years who were recruited from locations in Mombasa County, Kenya, and Dnipro, Ukraine, where sex work took place. Data are available for 1,299 Kenyan and 1,818 Ukrainian participants. The survey addressed the following areas: timing of transition events (first sex, first exchange of sex for money or other resources, self-identification as sex workers, entry into formal sex work, access to prevention program services); sexual behaviors (condom use, anal sex, sex under the influence of drugs or alcohol); partnerships (regular and first-time clients, regular and first-time transactional sex partners, and husbands and boyfriends); alcohol use; injection and non-injection illicit drug use; experience of violence; access to HIV prevention and treatment program; testing for sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections and HIV; and reproductive health (pregnancies, abortions, contraceptives). HIV and hepatitis C virus prevalence data were based on rapid test results. Mathematical modeling will be used to generate projections of onward HIV transmission at specific transition points in the sexual life course of AGYW. Taken together, these data form a novel data resource providing comprehensive behavioral, structural, and biological data on a high-risk group of AGYW in two distinct sociocultural and epidemiologic contexts.
Date Issued
2020-09-10
Date Acceptance
2020-07-30
Citation
Frontiers in Reproductive Health, 2020, 2
ISSN
2673-3153
Publisher
Frontiers Media S.A.
Journal / Book Title
Frontiers in Reproductive Health
Volume
2
Copyright Statement
Copyright © 2020 Cheuk, Mishra, Balakireva, Musyoki, Isac, Pavlova, Bhattacharjee, Lorway, Pickles, Ma, Gichangi, Sandstrom, McKinnon, Lazarus, Moses, Blanchard and Becker. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
License URL
Identifier
https://www.webofscience.com/api/gateway?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:001011471100001&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=a2bf6146997ec60c407a63945d4e92bb
Subjects
ACQUISITION
adolescent girls and young women
female sex workers
FEMALE SEX WORKERS
HIV
HIV/AIDS
INFECTION
Kenya
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
METAANALYSIS
POPULATIONS
prevention
PREVENTION
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Reproductive Biology
Science & Technology
SIZE
Ukraine
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
ARTN 7
Date Publish Online
2020-09-10