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Background Contextual factors including poverty and inequitable gender norms harm refugee adolescent and youths’ wellbeing. Our study focused on Bidi Bidi refugee settlement that hosts more than 230,000 of Uganda’s 1.4 million refugees. We explored contextual factors associated with wellbeing among refugee adolescents and youth aged 16–24 in Bidi Bidi refugee settlement. Methods We conducted 6 focus groups ( n  = 3: women, n  = 3: men) and 10 individual interviews with young refugees aged 16–24 living in Bidi Bidi. We used physical distancing practices in a private outdoor space. Focus groups and individual interviews explored socio-environmental factors associated with refugee youth wellbeing. Focus groups were digitally recorded, transcribed verbatim, and coded by two investigators using thematic analysis. Analysis was informed by a social contextual theoretical approach that considers the interplay between material (resource access), symbolic (cultural norms and values), and relational (social relationships) contextual factors that can enable or constrain health promotion. Results Participants included 58 youth (29 men; 29 women), mean age was 20.9 (range 16–24). Most participants (82.8%, n  = 48) were from South Sudan and the remaining from the Democratic Republic of Congo (17.2% [ n  = 10]). Participant narratives revealed the complex interrelationships between material, symbolic and relational contexts that shaped wellbeing. Resource constraints of poverty, food insecurity, and unemployment (material contexts) produced stress and increased sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) targeting adolescent girls and women. These economic insecurities exacerbated inequitable gender norms (symbolic contexts) to increase early marriage and transactional sex (relational context) among adolescent girls and young women. Gendered tasks such as collecting water and firewood also increased SGBV exposure among girls and young women, and this was exacerbated by deforestation. Participants reported negative community impacts (relational context) of COVID-19 that were associated with fear and panic, alongside increased social isolation due to business, school and church closures. Conclusions Resource scarcity produced pervasive stressors among refugee adolescents and youth. Findings signal the importance of gender transformative approaches to SGBV prevention that integrate attention to resource scarcity. These may be particularly relevant in the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings signal the importance of developing health enabling social contexts with and for refugee adolescents and youth.

Sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) is a persistent concern in humanitarian contexts, yet there is a dearth of SGBV prevention and post-rape clinical care interventions tailored for refugee youth. Graphic medicine, the use of images and text such as in comic books, has been employed to depict lived experiences to promote health, wellbeing, and education. Comic books provide a low-cost, youth-friendly approach to health promotion that is accessible to varying literacy levels. Limited research, however, has described the process of developing graphic medicine approaches for SGBV prevention and sexual violence stigma reduction with and for refugee youth in humanitarian settings. To address this knowledge gap, this paper shares a Qualitative Comic Book Mapping approach, whereby qualitative data alongside theoretical and empirical SGBV literature informed the development of comic book scenarios with refugee youth aged 16-24 in Bidi Bidi refugee settlement, Uganda. Steps included conducting focus groups and in-depth individual interviews with 78 community members (youth, elders, service providers) in Bidi Bidi to explore SGBV lived experiences among refugee youth in Bidi Bidi and ideas for solutions to reduce SGBV and related stigma, in addition to improving post-rape care experiences and engagement. The Qualitative Comic Book Mapping approach involved: a) thematic analysis of qualitative data and identification of overarching themes; b) aligning qualitative themes with theories of change for SGBV prevention and stigma reduction; and c) co-developing comic book scenarios with refugee youth peer navigators and community experts to integrate SGBV prevention and stigma reduction theory with refugee youth lived experiences. The final comic book involved five youth-focused scenarios and was integrated in an intervention with refugee youth, including providing youth with a blank version of the comic book to complete themselves. We share how theoretically-informed comic books can be developed from qualitative data with refugee youth in a humanitarian setting.

IntroductionRefugees experience HIV vulnerabilities due to the confluence of displacement, violence and poverty. HIV self-testing, understudied with refugees, is a promising method to increase testing uptake, yet challenges remain with linkages to confirmatory testing following a positive HIV self-test. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of HIV self-testing kits and ‘edutainment’ comics in increasing HIV testing and HIV status knowledge among refugee youth aged 16–24 years in Bidi Bidi Refugee Settlement, Uganda.Methods and analysisThis study will be conducted in Bidi Bidi. We conducted a qualitative formative phase with focus groups (n=40) to generate knowledge of barriers and facilitators of HIV prevention, testing and care among refugee youth (aged 16–24) in Bidi Bidi. These findings were used to create comic scenarios aligning with edutainment approaches to health promotion and inform a four-arm cluster randomised controlled trial in Bidi Bidi using a 2×2 factorial design: (1) HIV self-testing alongside edutainment comics, (2) HIV self-testing alone, (3) edutainment comic alone and (4) standard of care. The target sample size will be 120 youth (30 per arm), who will be enrolled in the trial and followed for 3 months. Data will be collected at baseline and 3 months after enrolment. The primary outcomes (HIV testing frequency, HIV status knowledge) and secondary outcomes (linkage to confirmatory HIV testing, HIV care linkage, HIV self-test kit use, HIV-related stigma, HIV knowledge, safer sex efficacy, condom use, adolescent sexual and reproductive health (SRH) stigma, sexual relationship power, access to SRH services) will be evaluated using descriptive statistics and regression analyses.Ethics and disseminationThis study was approved by the University of Toronto Research Ethics Board, Mildmay Uganda Research Ethics Committee and the Uganda National Council for Science and Technology. Results will be shared in peer-reviewed publications and community knowledge sharing.Trial registration numberNCT05213689.

Refugee settlements globally experience increased exposure to extreme weather events (EWE) compared with host national settings; however, refugee youth climate-related health experiences in humanitarian settings are understudied. We explored the lived experiences of climate change and EWE related to physical health among refugee youth aged 16-24 in a Ugandan refugee settlement. We conducted a community-based, multi-method study. We purposively sampled refugee youth living in a Northern Ugandan refugee settlement reporting recent (past 14-day) EWE and/or resource insecurity. We conducted 32 refugee youth walk-along interviews to elicit a rich understanding of lived experiences in a target environment. During each interview, the youth brought the research assistant to places where they obtained resources (i.e. food, water, sanitation), took photos of their chosen places on a tablet, and described the photo and the place. We also conducted 12 in-depth interviews with key informants, comprising adults with experience working in this refugee settlement on refugee well-being, food security, water and sanitation hygiene (WASH), and/or climate change. We analysed the findings using template thematic analysis informed by the resource scarcity framework, which examines ecologic, social, and socioeconomic factors associated with resource insecurities. Participants (  = 44) included refugee youth (  = 32; mean age: 20.0, standard deviation [SD]: 2.4; 50% men, 50% women) and key informants (  = 12; mean age: 37.0, SD: 5.8; 75% men, 25% women). Participant narratives identified how flooding, heavy rain, and drought contributed to youth experiencing resource insecurities (food, water, sanitation), in turn increasing malnutrition risks, water-borne diseases, and risks of bodily harm. Flooding and heavy rains also contributed to vector-borne diseases, and drought to dehydration and hygiene-related infections. The findings highlight the need for better WASH infrastructure and increased food aid in Ugandan humanitarian settings, along with refugee youth-led initiatives to address the impacts of climate change on refugee well-being.

Characteristics of enabling healthcare environments to support brief sexuality-related communication (BSC) are understudied in humanitarian settings. We implemented a qualitative study with refugee youth aged 16–24 living in Bidi Bidi Refugee Settlement to understand the feasibility of implementing BSC in a humanitarian context. We examined feelings toward doctor’s visits in general, including types of conversations youth engage in with healthcare providers, as well as comfort, safety, and willingness to talk with healthcare providers about sexual health. We implemented four focus groups with refugee youth in Bidi Bidi, two with young women and two with young men, and applied thematic analysis informed by a social contextual theoretical framework that explores enabling environments for sexual health promotion. Participants (n = 40; mean age: 20 years, standard deviation: 2.2; women: n = 20; men: n = 20) reported relational, symbolic, and material dimensions of context considered important when discussing sexual health. Relational contexts included a) trusting relationship with local healthcare practitioners, including practices that foster comfort and confidentiality, and b) family, friends, and mentors as additional sources of health information. Symbolic contexts refer to values, norms, and beliefs that reflect what is perceived as valuable and worthy, and in turn, what is devalued and stigmatized. Specific to sexual health, participants discussed stigma toward STIs and HIV, devaluation of women in healthcare settings, and generalized fear of doctors and disease as barriers to engaging in dialogue about sexual health with healthcare providers. Material contexts include agency linked with resource access and experiences. Youth narratives revealed that positive experiences accessing medication to manage pain and infections increased their willingness to engage in healthcare discussions, whereby clinic layouts and dynamics that compromised confidentiality and privacy reduced the likelihood of sexual health dialogue. Language barriers and healthcare provider time constraints were additional factors that reduced healthcare engagement. Taken together, findings can inform BSC implementation strategies that consider the inner and outer settings that shape sexual health dialogue and sexual health and wellbeing among refugee youth living in humanitarian settings.

Background There remain key knowledge gaps regarding HIV testing needs and priorities among refugee youth in low and middle-income country (LMIC) humanitarian settings. The HIV prevention cascade framework focuses on three domains (motivation, access, effective use) central to prevention uptake, yet is understudied in relationship to HIV testing, particularly among refugee youth. Uganda is an exemplar context to explore refugee youth HIV testing needs and priorities as it hosts 1.5 million refugees and is Africa’s largest refugee hosting nation. In this study, we explored perceptions and experiences regarding HIV testing among refugee youth living in Bidi Bidi refugee settlement, Uganda. Methods We conducted a community-based research study in Bidi Bidi Refugee Settlement, one of the world’s largest refugee settlements with over 195,000 residents. This qualitative study involved four focus groups (2 with young women, 2 with young men) with refugee youth aged 16–24 living in Bidi Bidi refugee settlement. We applied thematic analysis informed by the HIV prevention cascade to understand domains of motivation, access, and effective use that emerged as salient for HIV testing engagement. Results Participants ( n  = 40; mean age: 20 years, standard deviation: 2.2) included refugee young women ( n  = 20) and young men ( n  = 20), of whom 88% had a lifetime HIV test and 58% had ever heard of HIV self-testing. Participant discussions described HIV testing motivation was influenced by dimensions of: HIV treatment and testing knowledge; risk perception; positive and negative consequences of use; and social norms regarding gender and age. Access to HIV testing was shaped by: limited availability; distance and language barriers; confidentiality concerns; and affordability. Effective use of and engagement with HIV testing was related to HIV serostatus knowledge self-efficacy and in/equitable partner dynamics. Conclusions Complex, multi-level factors shape motivation for, access to, and effective use of HIV testing among refugee youth in Bidi Bidi. Findings align with the HIV prevention cascade framework that helps to identify gaps to inform intervention development with youth in humanitarian settings. HIV testing approaches tailored for refugee youth in contexts such as Bidi Bidi can foster HIV prevention and treatment literacy, gender equity, gender-based violence prevention, and intersectional stigma reduction.

Background There is growing evidence of associations between extreme weather events (EWE) and HIV vulnerabilities, yet this is understudied in humanitarian settings. We examined associations between EWE and HIV vulnerabilities among refugee youth in Bidi Bidi Refugee Settlement, Uganda. Methods We collected baseline (February to March 2024) cohort data with refugee youth aged 16-24years in Bidi Bidi. We conducted linear and logistic regression to assess associations between (a) number of past-year EWE types (e.g. extreme rain/flooding, changes in expected rain patterns, drought, extreme heat, fire, changes in expected temperature), and (b) frequency of past-year EWE, with HIV vulnerabilities (sexual relationship power, reproductive autonomy, condom use self-efficacy, transactional sex, intimate partner violence, multiple sex partners), adjusted for age, gender, education and employment. Results Among 400 participants (50% women; mean age: 19 years, standard deviation: 2.3), a higher number of past-year EWE types (vs 1) was significantly associated with reduced sexual relationship power (2-4 EWE: adjusted beta [aβ] = -2.96, P =0.009; ≥5 EWE: aβ = -4.92, P P =0.006; ≥5 EWE: aβ = -0.42, P =0.001) and condom use self-efficacy (2-4 EWE: aβ = -3.02, P P P =0.040), intimate partner violence (≥5 EWE: aOR 3.13, P =0.007) and multiple sex partners (≥5 EWE: aOR 4.70, P =0.002). Increased EWE frequency was significantly associated with lower sexual relationship power, reproductive autonomy and condom use self-efficacy. Conclusions EWE experiences were associated with multiple HIV vulnerabilities among refugee youth. Climate-informed, youth-tailored HIV prevention strategies are urgently needed.

Refugee youth disproportionately experience sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) and water insecurity, yet their SGBV experiences in the context of water insecurity are understudied. In this qualitative study, we conducted six focus groups (n = 48) and in-depth individual interviews (IDI) (n = 12) with refugee youth aged 16–24, and IDI with refugee elders (n = 8) in Bidi Bidi Refugee Settlement, Uganda. We applied thematic analysis informed by a social contextual framework and found that (1) SGBV is gendered, whereby adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) were targets for violence (symbolic context), and is intertwined with gender norms linked to AGYW's water collection roles (relational context); (2) water scarcity and off-site access to water infrastructure, combined with limited lighting, provide insecure environments that exacerbate AGYW's SGBV risks (material context); (3) participant generated solutions to water insecurity-related SGBV included engaging men and communities in dialogue and water collection (relational context), technology (e.g., solar lighting), improved security, and additional water points (material context). Findings signal the need to integrate water and sanitation hygiene development with SGBV prevention and sexual health (e.g., post-rape care) interventions. Refugee youth and communities should be meaningfully engaged in developing contextually relevant, gender transformative services to mitigate SGBV risks and advance health and rights.

With over 1.4 million refugees, Uganda is Sub-Saharan Africa's largest refugee-hosting nation. Bidi Bidi, Uganda's largest refugee settlement, hosts over 230,000 residents. There is a dearth of evidence-based sexual violence prevention and post-rape clinical care interventions in low- and middle-income humanitarian contexts tailored for refugee youth. Graphic medicine refers to juxtaposing images and narratives, often through using comics, to convey health promotion messaging. Comics can offer youth-friendly, low-cost, scalable approaches for sexual violence prevention and care. Yet there is limited empirical evaluation of comic interventions for sexual violence prevention and post-rape clinical care. This paper details the study design used to develop and pilot test a participatory comic intervention focused on sexual violence prevention through increasing bystander practices, reducing sexual violence stigma, and increasing post exposure prophylaxis (PEP) knowledge with youth aged 16-24 and healthcare providers in Bidi Bidi. Participants took part in a single-session peer-facilitated workshop that explored social, sexual, and psychological dimensions of sexual violence, bystander interventions, and post-rape clinical care. In the workshop, participants completed a participatory comic book based on narratives from qualitative data conducted with refugee youth sexual violence survivors. This pilot study employed a one-group pre-test/post-test design to assess feasibility outcomes and preliminary evidence of the intervention's efficacy. Challenges included community lockdowns due to COVID-19 which resulted in study implementation delays, political instability, and attrition of participants during follow-up surveys. Lessons learned included the important role of youth facilitation in youth-centred interventions and the promise of participatory comics for youth and healthcare provider engagement for developing solutions and reducing stigma regarding SGBV. The Ngutulu Kagwero (Agents of change) project produced a contextually and age-tailored comic intervention that can be implemented in future fully powered randomized controlled trials to determine effectiveness in advancing sexual violence prevention and care with youth in humanitarian contexts.

Introduction Humanitarian settings are underserved by HIV self-testing (HIV-ST). Methods We conducted a randomized controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness of HIV-ST (Arm 1), HIV-ST alongside edutainment comics (Arm 2), and edutainment comics (Arm 3), compared with the standard of care (SOC), in increasing HIV testing with refugee youth aged 16–24 in the Bidi Bidi Refugee Settlement, Uganda. Intervention effects on HIV testing at 3-month follow-up (T2) were assessed using generalized estimating equation models alongside open-ended questions. Results Retention was 98% (n = 117/120) at T2. In adjusted analyses compared with the SOC, HIV testing changes from baseline to T2 were highest in Arm 2 (adjusted odds ratio [aOR]: 8.46; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.87–24.97), followed by Arm 3 (aOR: 4.14; 95% CI: 1.58–10.87), with no significant differences in Arm 1. Conclusion HIV self-testing is feasible for refugee youth in Uganda and can be supplemented with edutainment comics to advance HIV prevention efforts. Plain Language Summary: Findings from an HIV self-testing and comic intervention with refugee youth in a humanitarian setting in Uganda.