In Zambia, adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) are disproportionately affected by human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), social, cultural and economic factors making them particularly vulnerable. This study was designed to understand the context in which AGYW are at risk and to identify perceived drivers of the epidemic and potential strategies to reduce HIV risk. Focus group discussions were conducted with AGYW in Zambian districts with the highest HIV prevalence from February through August 2016. The focus group guide addressed HIV risk factors and strategies for HIV prevention in AGYW. Focus group discussions were recorded, translated and transcribed, themes identified and responses coded. Results suggest that gender inequality undermined potentially protective factors against HIV among AGYW. Poverty and stigmatization were major barriers to accessing available HIV prevention services as well as primary risk factors for HIV infection. Sponsorship to support AGYW school attendance, programs for boys and girls to foster gender equality and financial assistance from the government of Zambia to support AGYW most in need were proposed as strategies to reduce HIV risk. Results highlight the utility of using community-based research to guide potential interventions for the affected population. Future research should explore the use of multilevel interventions to combat HIV among AGYW.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 14. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 10 June 2025.
All research outputs
#3,289,042
of 33,738,238 outputs
Outputs from International Journal of Women's Health
#185
of 1,114 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#45,616
of 352,485 outputs
Outputs of similar age from International Journal of Women's Health
#4
of 24 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 33,738,238 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 90th percentile: it's in the top 10% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 1,114 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 15.0. This one has done well, scoring higher than 83% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 352,485 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done well, scoring higher than 87% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 24 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done well, scoring higher than 83% of its contemporaries.
