Why DREAMS?
Despite substantial declines in new HIV infections globally, the HIV/AIDS epidemic continues to disproportionately impact adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) in many countries. In Sub-Saharan Africa, 67 percent – or an estimated 280,000 – of annual new HIV infections in young people occur in AGYW. Data show that AGYW are up to 14 times more likely to become HIV-infected than their male counterparts.
What is DREAMS?
PEPFAR announced the flagship DREAMS [546 KB] [546 KB] (Determined, Resilient, Empowered, AIDS-free, Mentored, and Safe) public private partnership on World AIDS Day 2014 with private sector partners: the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Girl Effect, Gilead Sciences, Johnson & Johnson, and ViiV Healthcare.
DREAMS is implemented across 15 countries and conducted in close collaboration with partners, experts, advocates, and adolescent girls and young women (AGYW). To date, PEPFAR has invested nearly one billion dollars through DREAMS, reaching millions of girls and lifting up their families and communities.
DREAMS Approach
DREAMS provides a comprehensive, multi-sectoral package of core interventions to address key factors that make girls and young women particularly vulnerable to HIV. These include structural factors, such as gender-based violence, exclusion from economic opportunities, and a lack of access to secondary school. DREAMS layers multiple interventions at once so that AGYW are surrounded with critical support to keep them safe from HIV and other risks.
DREAMS Impact
Data released on World AIDS Day 2020, showed that new HIV diagnoses among adolescent girls and young women have declined in all geographic areas implementing DREAMS, 96 percent of which have had a decline of greater than 25 percent, and nearly two-thirds (62 percent) of which have declined by greater than 40 percent.
DREAMS has driven a greater global focus on the unique risks and opportunities experienced by AGYW. It has pushed partner governments to renew their commitments on gender equality and its impact on adolescent health and development. It has enabled multilateral organizations and non-governmental organizations to advocate more successfully for greater attention on and investment in AGYW. Critically, AGYW are meaningfully engaged at every step of DREAMS for their unique insights and leadership.