DREAMS Celebrates Tenth Anniversary on World AIDS Day

Determined, Resilient, Empowered, AIDS-free, Mentored, and Safe (DREAMS) initiative was launched on World AIDS Day, December 1, 2014. This ambitious global partnership aims to reduce HIV infections among adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) in sub-Saharan Africa, who bear a disproportionate burden of the HIV epidemic.

The program was launched under PEPFAR in collaboration with other partners, including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Girl Effect, Johnson & Johnson, Gilead Sciences, and ViiV Healthcare. These organizations have joined forces to provide a combined package of services that can tackle the interconnected drivers of HIV risk for AGYW, which include poverty, gender inequities, lack of education, and limited access to health care.

DREAMS was designed to build resilience, promote education, encourage healthy relationships, and ensure access to key health services among AGYW. In so doing, the program seeks to enable AGYW to become AIDS-free and empowered to live healthy lives.

Over the last 10 years, DREAMS has made great strides in lowering HIV incidence among AGYW in high-burden countries through its innovative, community-focused approach. 

Ciheb Zambia, working with CDC, has developed a video and gathered voices from the DREAMS beneficiaries. Please see here: https://youtu.be/0W_YZZ9S2C4.