Adapting a social network-based concurrency reduction intervention for Kenyan youth

Issues: Kenya's Luo ethnic group has an estimated HIV prevalence of 20%, which is three times the national prevalence of 6.3%. Luo youth are at particularly high risk of infection, and there is a critical need for youth-friendly interventions that address the unique drivers of the concentrated epidemic among the Luo, which include: concurrent sexual partnerships, lack of male circumcision, and widow inheritance. Our research focuses on Luo adolescents, their families, and community leaders in the adaptation of a concurrency-reduction intervention, Know Your Network (KYN). Description: KYN uses interactive activities and media to raise awareness of the effect of concurrent sexual partnerships on HIV transmission in the community. It was pre-tested and piloted with adult Luo men and women who found the intervention practical and important. In all nine focus groups convened to evaluate KYN, participants advocated for the inclusion of adolescents in intervention sessions or discussed mechanisms for delivering the intervention's message to adolescents. Our team will combine the results of a systematic review of the literature on African adolescents' sexual behavior with a secondary analysis of sexual behavior and biological data collected from Luo men and women aged 13-34 to understand Luo adolescents' sexual partnership patterns and determine the implications for adapting KYN for use with adolescents. Lessons Learned & Recommendations: This abstract represents a doctoral candidate's work in progress. The systematic literature review is underway and the secondary data analysis will begin in March. Lessons learned and recommendations are forthcoming.