Understanding why and how adolescent friendly conditions of health services affect the health outcomes of Nigerian adolescents living with HIV

Adolescents are an increasingly important population in global efforts to eliminate HIV. Over the years, as the prevalence of HIV in adolescents has increased, their outcomes along the HIV care continuum have worsened. To address these issues, attempts have been made to engage adolescents better in care through adolescents (youth) friendly healthcare services (AYFS). Studies on the different approaches to AYFS highlight some promising practices, but the studies have several weaknesses that limits their usefulness to inform the adoption and scale-up of these promising AYFS practices. This study will address these limitations by answering the research question on how and why different forms of AYFS conditions or implementation approaches contribute to observed health outcomes(retention in care, virological suppression) among adolescents living with HIV in Nigeria. By adopting a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods, including the qualitative comparative analysis approach (QCA), this study will identify minimum combination of AYFS conditions or implementation approaches associated with better retention in care and virological suppression among adolescents living with HIV in Nigeria. Extracting the key combination of AYFS conditions or implementation approaches associated with HIV outcomes will open up opportunities for improving the health outcomes among adolescents living with HIV in Nigeria and other settings, and contribute significantly to efforts toward epidemic control and elimination of HIV.

Trefwoorden:B680-volksgezondheid