World AIDS Day

Young people in Africa engage with HIV information within a landscape shaped by digital innovation, persistent inequalities, and varying degrees of social openness. While digital platforms have expanded opportunities for youth to access and discuss sexual health information, this access is uneven, mediated by factors such as connectivity, affordability, education levels, gender norms, and community expectations. As a result, the ways young people encounter, interpret, and share HIV-related information differ significantly across contexts.

Digital spaces, whether social media platforms, messaging apps, or online forums, are increasingly important sources of information for many young people, particularly in urban and peri-urban settings. Yet this engagement is not universal. Many youths, especially in rural areas, rely on shared devices, limited data bundles, or offline interactions, which shape both the quantity and quality of information available to them. Those who do participate actively in digital spaces often blend formal health messages with peer experiences, personal narratives, and culturally rooted perspectives. This mix can make information more relatable but may also obscure scientific accuracy when anecdotal knowledge substitutes for evidence-based guidance.

Importantly, youth are not a homogeneous group. Young women, young men, LGBTQ+ youth, adolescents in school, out-of-school youth, and those navigating restrictive cultural or religious norms each interact with information differently. For some, digital platforms offer rare private spaces to ask questions or seek support; for others, community values and household dynamics limit both access and expression. HIV communication, therefore, needs to recognise that youth agency is not evenly distributed and that behaviour is shaped by external constraints as much as personal choice.

Where digital engagement is stronger, young people often play active roles in shaping narratives, discussing testing, PrEP use, relationships, and mental health with a level of openness that marks a generational shift. This shift does not necessarily mean that all youth feel empowered to act on this information. Gender-based power imbalances, stigma, fear of disclosure, and inconsistent youth-friendly services continue to influence whether information translates into behaviour change. These structural and social factors remain as important as digital communication in determining health outcomes.

The risk of misinformation persists, but it is one part of a broader ecosystem in which youth must navigate incomplete information, conflicting advice, and the pressure of multiple daily concerns, from employment and schooling to family responsibilities and mental well-being. For many, HIV knowledge competes with numerous priorities. Furthermore, attention to health information is shaped by immediate needs rather than algorithmic exposure alone.

A youth-responsive HIV programme must therefore go beyond assuming digital culture is an automatic enabler. It should acknowledge differences in access, recognise the influence of social norms, and strengthen trusted offline spaces, such as clinics, schools, youth groups, and peer networks, where information can be clarified, contextualised, and validated. By combining accurate, relatable digital content with supportive community and health system environments, programmes can better meet young people where they are, while addressing the broader social and structural factors that shape their decisions and opportunities.