I was awarded the UKRI FLF (round 2) to conduct the study POWER "Protecting women from economic shocks to fight HIV in Africa".

The aim of my UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship is to identify a new approach to prevent HIV among young African women, a group disproportionally affected by HIV/AIDS globally. POWER is based on the assumption that financial needs, alongside biological susceptibility, are the main cause of HIV acquisition among young women in Africa. POWER is the first randomised controlled trial that aims to test the effectiveness and value for money of the prevention of economic shocks as a way to prevent risky sexual practices of young women in Africa. POWER will recruit 1,500 adolescent girls and young women in urban Cameroon and will follow them over 12 months in order (1) to understand the role of economic shocks on HIV and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) incidence and (2) to measure the cost-effectiveness of a formal shock-coping strategy to prevent STIs and HIV in Africa.

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