HIV Care Transition Strategies for Adolescents
Summary
Adolescents living with HIV face unique developmental, psychosocial and health system challenges as they move from paediatric to adult services. Effective transition strategies are structured around five core components: assessment of transition readiness, tailored health education, coordinated multidisciplinary care, continuity of psychosocial support and post-transfer monitoring. Readiness assessment tools gauge maturity, self-management skills and social circumstances to inform individualised plans. Health education programmes reinforce medication adherence, sexual and reproductive health knowledge and risk-reduction behaviours. Collaborative care teams, comprising paediatric and adult clinicians, counsellors, social workers and peer mentors, facilitate seamless handovers and maintain a youth-friendly environment. In parallel, dedicated transition clinics or joint paediatric–adult appointments can bridge gaps, while digital platforms and reminder systems support ongoing engagement. Post-transfer monitoring encompasses regular review of clinical and laboratory indicators, as well as structured opportunities for feedback from young people. Globally, successful programmes have been adapted to resource-limited and high-income settings alike, highlighting the importance of local context, stakeholder consultation and sustainable funding. Pragmatic evaluations demonstrate that cohesive transition pathways bolster retention in care, improve virological outcomes and empower adolescents to navigate adult health systems with confidence.
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HIV Care Transition Strategies for Adolescents publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in hiv care transition strategies for adolescents across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Transition readiness: A measure of an adolescent’s preparedness to move from paediatric to adult health services, encompassing self-management capacity, emotional maturity and social support.
Multidisciplinary care: Collaborative management involving professionals from various disciplines—medical, nursing, social work and psychology—to address holistic needs.
Continuity of care: The degree to which healthcare services are connected and consistent over time, ensuring no lapses in treatment during transitions.
Virological suppression: The achievement and maintenance of HIV viral load below the threshold of detection, indicating effective antiretroviral therapy.
References
- Gen Z and HIV—Strategies for Optimizing the Care of the Next Generation of Adolescents Living with HIV. Viruses (2023).
- Achieving 90–90–90 in paediatric HIV: adolescence as the touchstone for transition success. Journal of the International AIDS Society (2015).
- Healthcare retention and clinical outcomes among adolescents living with HIV after transition from pediatric to adult care: a systematic review. BMC Public Health (2020).
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