HIV focused sexual risk‑reduction interventions targeting adolescent boys and young men in Sub‑Saharan Africa : a scoping review

DATA AVAILABILITY: All data relevant to the study are included in the article or uploaded as supplementary information. Any further data required are available on request from the corresponding author.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.The National Research Foundation (NRF) of South Africa and Swedish International Development Agency. Open access funding provided by University of KwaZulu Natal.http://link.springer.com/journal/10461Nursing Scienc