Abstract:
Adolescent girls and young women’s exceptionalism with HIV interventions has left adolescent boys and young men
(ABYM) trailing behind, thus becoming a marginalized and underserved population. The scoping review aimed to provide
an overview of interventions that have targeted sexual risk behaviors in ABYM in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) over the previous 21 years with critical insights on ‘what works’ in preventing the sexual transmission of HIV. A scoping review guided
by Arksey and O’Malley’s (in Int J Soc Res Methodol 8(1):19–32, 16) framework and the 2015 Johanna Briggs Institute’s
guidelines was conducted. A search of literature published between 2000 and 2020 was reviewed and twenty nine interventions from nine Sub Saharan African countries that met the eligibility criteria were reviewed. The review provides evidence
on the successes and the limitations of sexual risk behavior interventions for ABYM in SSA. There is clear and consistent
evidence that interventions reduce sexual risk behaviors in adolescent boys and young men. Their efciency seems to grow
with the length and intensity of the intervention. Positive efects were generally observed in condom use and on measures of
HIV knowledge, attitudes and sexual behaviors as well as uptake of HIV tests and voluntary male circumcision. This review
shows that sexual-risk interventions engaging men and boys in SSA are promising and warrant further rigorous development
in terms of conceptualization, design and evaluation.
