S.A.S.H.A. Project

South African Studies on HIV in Adolescents Project
The HIV epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa is being driven largely by new infections in adolescents. As a result, there is concern that any effective HIV vaccine would need to be administered to youth. Would youth sign up for a study? Are adolescents ready to talk about sex? Will South African youth take action to protect their health? The Desmond Tutu HIV Centre, along with six other sites throughout South Africa, sought to answer some of these questions with a project called the South African Studies on HIV in Adolescents, or SASHA.

The SASHA project was developed with the aim of identifying clinical, community, ethical, legal and socio-behavioural obstacles to conducting HIV vaccine trials with adolescents. While creating a vaccine involves science, any efficient implementation would also require a firm grasp of the broader social and cultural issues relating to participation. SASHA explored social attitudes, confidentiality, and other factors impacting on adolescents participating in medical research.

More than 800 youth across South Africa enrolled in SASHA, providing valuable information on adolescent attitudes and behaviours. All participants underwent HIV and pregnancy testing, received risk reduction counseling, and completed questionnaires to help researchers gain insight into some of the factors playing a role in adolescent participation. Similarly, community attitudes and those of parents or guardians were also measured to shed light on issues like parental willingness to consent for their child to participate in medical research.

By the end of this project all seven sites will be prepared to conduct adolescent HIV vaccine trials. The sites were equipped to provide adolescent-friendly health care services and were prepared for adolescent recruitment and retention. All in all SASHA was a huge success, allowing researchers to gain an understanding of adolescent, parent, and community attitudes, motivations and concerns.

Projectleader: Dr. Melissa Wallace

 

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