Community engagement and investment in biomedical HIV prevention research for youth: rationale, challenges, and approaches.

There has been a growing awareness of the importance of engaging communities in the development, testing, and eventual dissemination of biomedical strategies. Community engagement offers many benefits but comes with many challenges. This article will discuss these benefits and challenges and describe two examples of community engagement, Connect to Protect in the United States, and the South African Studies on HIV in Adolescents Project in South Africa, that represent investment in community engagement as preparation for biomedical HIV prevention clinical trials for youth.