RIATT-ESA and all its members welcome the Global Alliance because it is widely recognized that the global HIV response is failing to meet the needs of children
Beyond the ratifications of international and regional child rights instruments, as well as promulgation of impeccable laws, realization of children’s rights will not be actualized until adequate public resources are availed.
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Investment Framework on AIDS: Questions and answers
This document provides a series of frequently asked questions and answers relating to the New Investment Framework for the global HIV response.
Date:
November 2011
Author(s):
UNAIDS
Publisher:
UNAIDS
Thematic areas:
Increasing effectiveness of services and funding
Categories:
Regions:
YPISA
This Flipchart forms part of SAfAIDS’ Young People’s Sexual and Reproductive Health Information and Services Advocacy (YPISA) resource kit. YPISA is a set of initiatives designed to train and empower young people on sexual and reproductive health and rights and HIV services and to become champions, for adolescent sexual and reproductive health rights in their communities.
The YPISA Resource Kit consists of a Training Manual for training young people, caregivers and service providers and a Flipchart for use by the sexual and reproductive health and rights champions to train their peers.
SRHR champions are also provided with an identity badge, a notebook and pen, and a referral slip book, so that they can refer young people to the relevant service providers for further assistance.
Note for SRHR Champion - not all young people are alike. It is important to think about the individuals you are speaking to and consider their key health information needs. You need to consider the range of issues they may have about their sexual and reproductive health and select which sections of the Flipchart to spend more time on.
Working paper: Strengthening child protection system in sub-Saharan Africa
The inter-agency working paper consolidates current thinking, examples and lessons learned about child protection system strengthening in sub-Saharan Africa and suggest a way forward. The focus is on concrete actions that reflect country narratives and is followed by recommendations for continuing and sustaining the work.
There is a growing interest in applying the systems approach to strengthening child protection efforts. Guided by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the systems approach shifts attention to a larger systemic framework that includes legal and policy contexts, institutional capacity, community contexts, planning, budgeting and monitoring and evaluation subsystems.
This approach differs from child protection efforts that focus on single thematic issues, such as HIV/AIDS, disability, child trafficking, street children, child labour, emergencies and institutionalization. These single-issue approaches often result in a fragmented and unsustainable child protection response.
New Investment Framework for the global HIV response Lancet article
Related resource:
New Investment Framework for the global AIDS response - UNAIDS Brief
Community mobilisation and the New Investment Framework
UNAIDS Investment Framework for AIDS: Questions and answers
Substantial changes are needed to achieve a more targeted and strategic approach to investment in the response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic that will yield long-term dividends. Until now, advocacy for resources has been done on the basis of a commodity approach that encouraged scaling up of numerous strategies in parallel, irrespective of their relative eff ects.
We propose a strategic investment framework that is intended to support better management of national and international HIV/AIDS responses than exists with the present system. Our framework incorporates major efficiency gains through community mobilisation, synergies between programme elements, and benefi ts of the extension of antiretroviral therapy for prevention of HIV transmission.
It proposes three categories of investment, consisting of six basic programmatic activities, interventions that create an enabling environment to achieve maximum eff ectiveness, and programmatic efforts in other health and development sectors related to HIV/AIDS. The yearly cost of achievement of universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care, and support by 2015 is estimated at no less than US$22 billion.
Implementation of the new investment framework would avert 12·2 million new HIV infections and 7·4 million deaths from AIDS between 2011 and 2020 compared with continuation of present approaches, and result in 29·4 million life-years gained. The framework is cost eff ective at $1060 per life-year gained, and the additional investment proposed would be largely off set from savings in treatment costs alone
KMCC_FINAL_Fishing_policy_brief.pdf
This Policy Brief is based on the findings of the Fishing Communities Synthesis Report. It contains policy recommendations on what can be done to help curb HIV rates among Ugandan fishing villages.
Fishing in Uganda provides jobs and income for over one million people. Fishing landing sites are hubs of dense local and regional sexual networks which can accelerate the spread of HIV into the wider population.
The following policy considerations need to be instituted:
A well-coordinated targeted government response
standardised research methodologies and implementation models
fora to share best practices and/or lessons learned
Family first: prioritising support to kinship carers
This paper demonstrates how recognising the value of kinship care, and addressing the challenges faced by children and carers, is likely to lead to a range of positive outcomes, including improved education and child protection, and better physical health and psychosocial well-being for older persons.
In some countries in sub-Saharan Africa, 90% of children who have lost one or both parents are looked after by relatives, in many countries, the effects of HIV & AIDS have left older relatives caring for children, and in countries such as Malawi, where large numbers of adults migrate for work, children are being cared for by their grandparents or other relatives.
Most of these arrangements are informal and therefore children and their carers may be missing out on social protection and benefits. Older carers may find it difficult to support children financially. While many kinship carers do their best, children, especially girls, may be exposed to discrimination and abuse.
The prevalence of kinship care means that this issue is not just of concern for those with a narrow alternative care or child protection remit, but also requires commitments from agencies working in health, social protection, justice and education to ensure that the needs of children in kinship care and their carers are met.
For more information on this initiative, please contact: policy@everychild.org.uk
Since the adoption of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989, Article 12 – the provision that children have a right to express their views and have them taken seriously in accordance with their age and maturity – has proved one of the most challenging to implement.
This resource guide provides practical help on implementating article 12 by providing examples of legislation and policy, guidelines for practitioners, evidence from research, and examples of meaningful participation in practice. It draws together experiences from around the world to enable governments to learn from each other, build on existing developments, and broaden understanding of the scope and meaning of Article 12.
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Policies for orphans and vulnerable children: A Framework for moving ahead.pdf
This paper aims to present a summary of the global OVC situation and current policy responses; to outline existing policy frameworks for responding to OVC; to identify policy-level gaps in national responses to the growing crisis of OVC; and to propose a country-level “OVC policy package” and recommendations for future policy dialogue and action
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This Paediatric HIV Treatment Advocacy Toolkit was developed by members of the UNICEF Interagency Task Team on Children and AIDS (IATT-CABA) paediatric working group to support efforts in advocating for increased commitment to, and resources for, paediatric HIV diagnosis, care and treatment in high HIV prevalence countries and regions.
The use of this toolkit is aimed at generating a commitment among Ministries of Health (MOH) and relevant policymakers and partners to prioritize paediatric HIV treatment, and for these policymakers to take measureable actions to increase access to and quality of paediatric HIV treatment coverage.
Series title:
Updates for the East African region
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Mapping of Health Services Along Major Transport Corridors in East Africa.pdf
Related resource:
HIV and AIDS/STI and TB Multisectoral Strategic Plan and Implementation Framework 2015 - 2020
Evidence suggests that migrants such as long-distance truck drivers and female sex workers (FSWs) and other key and vulnerable populations associated with major transport hubs are highly vulnerable to HIV, tuberculosis (TB) and malaria.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM), FHI 360 and North Star Alliance, on behalf of the East African Community (EAC) Member States, conducted a systematic mapping of existing health facilities, HIV and AIDS service providers and actors along major transport corridors in Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. It is hoped that the findings from this mapping exercise will serve as a guide for the EAC in the development of an integrated health and HIV and AIDS strategy and programming along transport corridors in the region.
Meeting report from the RIATT-ESA regional conference that took place from 29 September-2 October 2008, in Dar es Salaam.
As a step towards building a regional strategy on children and AIDS, the RIATT identified the need to hold a regional conference and provide a platform for multi country, interagency and intergenerational exchange around key evidence-based findings and recommendations on universal access to prevention, treatment, care and support for children in the context of HIV and AIDS.
Approximately 300 delegates from 19 countries in East and Southern Africa, including 23 children and 12 older carers, convened in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania for the “Getting it Right For Children: Moving Towards Universal Access for Prevention, Care and Treatment for Children Affected by HIV and AIDS” Conference. In addition to the children and older carers, delegates were made up of senior level government representatives, UN agencies, civil society organizations, international cooperating partners, and research and academia.
Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for more than two thirds of the global number of people living with HIV, and continues to account for the large majority of global AIDS deaths and new global HIV infections. HIV and AIDS further impacts on the health, education, protection and survival of millions of children. The epidemic substantially contributes to increasing child mortality rates and orphanhood across the region. Accordingly, the Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Inter Agency Task Team (RIATT) on Children and HIV and AIDS was formed to accelerate the fulfillment of commitments for children affected by HIV and AIDS as laid out in the United Nations 2001 General Assembly Declaration of Commitments on HIV/AIDS and the Millennium Development Goals.
This paper was developed on behalf of the Regional OVC Reference Group for west and central Africa, which includes Plan International, Save the Children International, and UNICEF. The paper presents the findings and insights generated through the mapping and assessment of national child protection systems in five West African countries: Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Niger, Senegal and Sierra Leone. The goal of the country research was to provide national actors with a profile of their existing system and an initial assessment of its contextual appropriateness and relevance to the populations being served.
Community-based early childhood development (ECD) centers can be an important focal point for delivering comprehensive services to young children while enhancing the capacity of caregivers, families, and communities to support young children's development. When done well, these programs can be sustainable because of their emphasis on fostering community ownership. This issue paper is intended to provide OVC program managers with examples of best practices in community-based ECD center programming to best meet the children they serve. Please click on the link provided to access the issue paper.
4-Community-Mobilization-and-the-IF.pdf
Analysis of how the New Investment Framework for the global AIDS response can support community programming.
The Journal of the International AIDS Society, under the leadership of guest editor Linda Richter, is proud to introduce a supplement on ‘Community action to end paediatric HIV infections’.
This supplement highlights that meeting the ambitious targets of the Global Plan (“Countdown to Zero: Global Plan Towards the Elimination of New HIV Infections Among Children by 2015 and Keeping their Mothers Alive”) cannot solely be reached through actions by the health services, but requires the engagement of affected women, their partners and families, the community and the wider society.
The articles provide an overview of the current knowledge and good practice in community action related to prevention of vertical transmission, including expanding access, improving care, reaching men and creating an enabling environment.
You are invited to contemplate the diverse aspects of this area and to engage with the editors and the authors on this important and timely issue, by using the ‘comment’ option available in the "Reading Tools" for each individual article. You are also encouraged to promote and disseminate the supplement within your organisation and networks.
