For millions of adolescent girls, early pregnancy and childbearing are accompanied by severe complications, altering their life-course opportunities. Globally, over 20,000 adolescent girls under 18 years give birth every day. Many of these girls and their infants experience birth, neonatal, and postnatal complications. HIV acquisition in this period poses an additional risk to the health of young mothers and their children, to which a coherent global response is urgently needed.

Though awareness of the unique needs of this cohort is growing, the ways in which programme response can be organized to most effectively address these needs remains poorly understood.

All program implementers and civil society networks addressing the unique needs of adolescent and young mothers are invited to participate in a global survey to share contextual experiences and, in turn, further understanding of the investments needed to support the scale-up and coverage of responsive programming.

The Collaborative seeks a diverse array of respondents working at all levels of the system to actively deliver targeted programs for adolescent and young mothers. Implementers whose work spans the education, social welfare and financial systems are also welcome.

The findings and key insights from the survey will be shared in a global report and will inform the development of open-access tools to support the implementation of innovative and effective practices at scale.

For more information, also in French and Portuguese:

The Children and AIDS Learning Collaborative connects stakeholders around the world on HIV and AIDS topics related to children, adolescents and pregnant women. Led by UNICEF, the community shares the latest research, publications, webinars and learning activities through email updates and on their website: