Teenage girls have plenty of difficulties, but for young women living with HIV in Ukraine, those troubles are magnified many times over. AHF Ukraine’s Girls Act program jumped in to help by holding a month-long initiative that hosted workshops for 19 teenagers to help them stay on treatment and provide mental health support.

Girls still in Ukraine joined in-person group settings, and evacuees met in online meetings from Germany, Poland, and Slovakia. Each group focused on introducing psychological therapies to manage stress, maintain health, and build support systems.

Girls Act Ukraine member, Polina, shares that her dream for the future is to help people resolve their challenges. International Day of the Girl Child 2021.

“Learning how to self-regulate stress and manage emotions is the most important tool for these girls to adapt to their new daily lives and build a loving support system,” said Dr. Yaroslava Lopatina, Country Program Director for AHF Ukraine. “The struggle of being a teenager is universal, but the experiences these girls are undergoing is not – making the extra assistance Girls Act provides so important right now.”

The workshops also included education on post-traumatic stress disorder since its symptoms like anxiety and depression can threaten treatment adherence.

Teenage girls in Ukraine get essential skills for coping with stress and remaining on treatment – April 2022.

Ukraine has the highest HIV burden in Europe. Since the crisis began in February, AHF Ukraine has continued providing care to its more than 53,700 patients across nearly 30 clinics. Along with testing and treatment, the AHF Hotline answered 220 calls in May alone, helping Ukrainians find access to ART and HIV testing.