Fourth, there is a need to ensure that health providers are specifically trained on adolescent health. Unlike in most western countries, adolescent health is not a training specialty in sub-Saharan Africa.However, competency-based training of health providers on adolescent health has been shown to be effective in Botswana.In Uganda, the Ministry of Health has successfully improved adolescent counselling skills of HIV counsellors through a similar competency-based training programme. The hallmark of this initiative, which was implemented in partnership with non-governmental organizations, was the meaningful involvement of primary beneficiaries in identifying their counselling needs, which informed the development of a prototype curriculum and strengthened the ability of service providers to handle adolescent issues. In Zimbabwe, training of health providers involved adolescents themselves, who explained their experiences of living with HIV and their psychosocial needs.