30 May 2006 - CRINMAIL 784
Special Edition on HIV and AIDS
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- NEW YORK: World Leaders Gather for Major Review of Global Commitments on HIV and AIDS [event]
- PARTICIPATION: Young People Report on Governments’ Progress on Targets for Youth [reports]
- ORPHANS AND VULNERABLE CHILDREN: Recommendations by the UK Working Group [recommendations]
- UNAIDS: Launch of the 2006 Global Report on the AIDS Epidemic [publication]
- GLOBAL MOVEMENT FOR CHILDREN: Children’s Right to HIV and AIDS Treatment [publication]
- BUSINESS: Corporations Urged to Do More in War on AIDS [news]
- CANADA: XIV International AIDS Conference [event]
- RESOURCES: Useful Publications
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Your submissions are welcome if you are working in the area of child rights. To contribute, email us at [email protected]. Adobe Acrobat is required for viewing some of the documents, and if required can be downloaded from http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep.html If you do not receive this email in html format, you will not be able to see some hyperlinks in the text. At the end of each item we have therefore provided a full URL linking to a web page where further information is available.
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NEW YORK: World Leaders Gather for Major Review of Global Commitments on HIV and AIDS [event]
[NEW YORK, 30 May 2006] – World leaders will gather at the United Nations Headquarters in New York from 31 May – 2 June for a major review of progress made on global agreements to reach Millennium Development Goal 6 - to halt and begin to reverse the spread of HIV and AIDS by 2015.
Participants will include more than a dozen Heads of State, over 100 Ministers, and more than a thousand representatives of civil society and the private sector. And, for the first time, a person living with HIV will address the General Assembly, which only United Nations Member States and UN officials usually have the opportunity to do.
The purpose of the meeting is to review progress and constraints in implementing international commitments on HIV and AIDS, principally the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS (DoC) which was adopted at the twenty-sixth special session of the UN General Assembly in 2001 as a guide for national and international efforts to fight the pandemic. This year, the Secretary-General presented the report to the General Assembly on progress made until the end of 2005, a year when targets in the Declaration are due.
Participants will also discuss recommendations on how targets can be reached, including the implementation of a package for HIV prevention, treatment and care, as set out in the 2005 World Summit outcomes with the aim of coming as close as possible to the goal of universal access to treatment by 2010 and reducing vulnerability of those affected, particularly orphans and vulnerable children and older people.
There will be unprecedented opportunities for civil society to participate at the meeting and exchange views with Member States through a civil society hearing which representatives from some 800 civil society organisations are expected to attend.
A political declaration will be adopted on 2 June following discussions on critical issues including measures to overcome discrimination and the financing of a scaled-up response to AIDS.
[Sources: UN, UNAIDS]
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PARTICIPATION: Young People Report on Governments’ Progress on Targets for Youth [reports]
This week world leaders will meet to evaluate progress made on achieving the 2001 Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS (DoC). The DoC contained specific targets that recognise the vulnerability of young people to HIV infection and established time-bound targets to be achieved by 2005 and 2010.
Young leaders in HIV and AIDS from Ghana, Kenya, Pakistan, India, Japan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo researched and evaluated their governments’ progress in achieving the youth targets and authored National Youth Shadow Reports. The Global Youth Coalition on HIV/AIDS South and North Secretariats provided input into the report writing process, structured by a research guide.
Specifically, the DoC called to reduce, by 2005, the number of new HIV infections among young people aged 15-24 by 25 per cent. Currently over 6,000 young people are infected with HIV daily, and this number is increasing in most countries. Harmful policies driven by ethnocentrism and religious ideology create insurmountable barriers to evidence-based information, education and services, leaving young people not only vulnerable to infection, but also unable to access necessary care and support. Despite a mountain of evidence to the contrary, many decision-makers refuse to recognise that HIV and AIDS is spread amongst youth primarily through unprotected sexual intercourse, and that abstinence-only until marriage policies ignore the realities faced by most youth worldwide. Such policies ignore the debilitating effects of poverty, lack of education, gender inequality, war and conflict, and sexual coercion that constitute the day to day realities to the largest generation of young people - one billion - in history.
The DoC sought to ensure that by 2005, at least 90 per cent, and by 2010, at least 95 per cent of young men and women have access to information, education, including peer education and youth-specific HIV and AIDS education and services necessary to develop the life skills required to reduce their vulnerability to HIV infection, in full partnership with young people. UNICEF estimates that currently only approximately one in three young people have accurate knowledge on how HIV is transmitted and how to protect themselves from infection. Full partnerships with young people are few and far between, in both developed and developing countries.
Finally, the DoC sought to ensure, by 2003, the development and implementation of multi-sectoral national strategies and financing plans for combating HIV and AIDS that involve partnerships with civil society and the business sector and the full participation of people living with HIV and AIDS, those in vulnerable groups and people most at risk, particularly women and young people.
The authors of the National Youth Shadow Reports found that instead of halting or reversing the spread of HIV and AIDS, the lack of political will, financial commitment, access to information and services, and the lack of youth participation contribute greatly to the continuing rise of infections amongst young people. Though some countries are making progress in achieving these targets, the authors recommend the following concrete steps:
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Include young people, especially youth living with HIV and AIDS, in the design, implementation and evaluation of programmes and polices that are evidence-based, link sexual and reproductive health and rights with HIV and AIDS, and include full access to condoms;
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Ensure that young people are prioritised in national AIDS policies and commissions, or create a separate youth HIV and AIDS policy, or include HIV and AIDS in the national youth policy;
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Eliminate barriers to cooperation between government ministries and with civil society;
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Create opportunities to build the capacity of young leaders and recognise them as legitimate actors in the fight against the spread of HIV and AIDS.
GYCA encourages government delegations and decision-makers to incorporate the findings of the National Youth Shadow Reports into their deliberations at the UNGASS AIDS 2006 Five Year Review Meeting, and to implement its recommendations upon return to home countries. GYCA has been lobbying country missions to ensure youth issues are taken into account, and has young leaders on the government delegations to UNGASS of Ghana, DRC, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, and Zambia.
The Global Youth Coalition on HIV/AIDS is a youth-led, UNAIDS and UNFPA-supported alliance of 1,600 youth leaders and adult allies working on HIV and AIDS worldwide. The Coalition, based at a North Secretariat in New York City and a South Secretariat in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, prioritises capacity building and technical assistance, networking and sharing of best practices, advocacy training, and preparation for international conferences. GYCA aims to empower youth with the skills, knowledge, resources, opportunities, and credibility they need to scale up HIV and AIDS interventions for young people, who make up over 50 per cent of the five million people infected with HIV each year.
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infodetail.asp?id=8435
For more information, contact:
Joya Banerjee, [email protected]
Azubike Nwokoye, [email protected]
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://ww.youthaidscoalition.org
Youth Summit
A youth summit is being held in New York from 29 – 30 May to prepare young people’s contribution to the 2006 UNGASS Review Meeting on AIDS. The summit, which is coordinated by Advocates for Youth and the Global Youth Coalition on HIV/AIDS (GYCA) in collaboration with UNFPA, aims to elevate the issue of youth and HIV and AIDS through the voices of young people themselves.
The Youth Summit will serve as a platform for approximately 40 young HIV, AIDS and sexual and reproductive rights activists from around the world. The Summit will provide a space for participants to discuss and identify key issues related to HIV and AIDS in different regions of the world and how they relate to young people’s sexual and reproductive health.
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ORPHANS AND VULNERABLE CHILDREN: Recommendations by the UK Working Group [recommendations]
In preparation for this week's UN meeting, the UK Working Group on Orphans and Vulnerable Children has prepared recommendations for implementing the articles of the 2001 Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS which relate to special assistance for children orphaned and affected by HIV and AIDS.
More than 14 million children under the age of 15 have lost their mother or father or both parents to AIDS, and that number is projected to reach 25 million by 2010. Articles 65-67 of the 2001 Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS are meant to ensure special protection to children who are orphaned and made vulnerable by HIV and AIDS and provide a means by which world leaders can be held accountable to a clear timetable of action.
UN Member States will be evaluated on their performance on the DoC according to the 2005 UNAIDS Guidelines on Construction of Core Indicators, which provide technical assistance on core indicators to monitor the implementation on the DoC. The UK Working Group on Orphans and Vulnerable Children also draws the attention of Member States to the recommendations of the Global Partners Forum for Children Affected by HIV and AIDS on addressing the blockages to universal access to prevention, treatment, care and support for children affected by AIDS.
The recommendations of the Working Group for the draft political declaration are as follows:
27. Commit ourselves to intensify our efforts to deliver a multi-sectoral response to protect the rights to care, prevention and treatment for children orphaned and made vulnerable by HIV and AIDS by promoting national child-oriented policies and plans; including developing social protection systems to support orphans and vulnerable children their families and carers;
28. Commit ourselves to providing free health care for children, providing cotrimoxazole to all those children known to be living with HIV and eliminating school fees and associated costs of school attendance;
29. Pledge to support research and development on simple and affordable diagnostics and paediatric ART formulations and ensure that children are included in national and international treatment targets;
30. Ensure the full enjoyment of human rights for children orphaned and made vulnerable by HIV and AIDS; intensifying efforts to register all births, providing legal frameworks for children to access services and to protect their inheritance rights and encouraging children’s participation in the design of child-focused programmes.
The UK Working Group on Orphans and Vulnerable Children comprises: AMREF, British Red Cross, CAFOD, Christian Aid, European Forum on HIV/AIDS, Children, Young People and Families, Healthlink Worldwide, HelpAge International, Hope HIV, International HIV/AIDS Alliance, Mildmay International, Plan International, Save the Children UK, Tearfund, UNICEF UK, USPG, UWESO, Uganda AIDS Action, VSO, World Conference of Religions for Peace, and World Vision UK.
For more information, contact:
UK Consortium on AIDS and International Development - Working Group on Orphans and Vulnerable Children
Grayston Centre, 28 Charles Square, London N1 6HT, United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0)20 7324 4780
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.aidsconsortium.org.uk/OVCWorkingGroup/OVCIntro.htm
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=8341&flag=report
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UNAIDS: Launch of the 2006 Global Report on the AIDS Epidemic [publication]
[NEW YORK, 30 May 2006] – According to new data in the UNAIDS 2006 Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic the AIDS epidemic appears to be slowing down globally, but new infections are continuing to increase in certain regions and countries. The report also shows that important progress has been made in country AIDS responses, including increases in funding and access to treatment, and decreases in HIV prevalence among young people in some countries over the past five years.
However AIDS remains an exceptional threat. The response is diverse with some countries doing well on treatment but poorly on HIV prevention efforts and vice-versa. The report indicates that a number of significant challenges remain. Among these are the need for improved planning, sustained leadership and reliable long-term funding for the AIDS response.
- An estimated 38.6 million [33.4 million – 46.0 million] living with HIV worldwide
- 4.1 million [3.4 million – 6.2 million] newly infected in 2005
- 2.8 million [2.4 million to 3.3 million] died of AIDS in 2005
An estimated 38.6 million people are living with HIV worldwide. Approximately 4.1 million people became newly infected with HIV, while approximately 2.8 million people died of AIDS-related illnesses in 2005. While the epidemic’s toll remains massive, experts find reasons for optimism, as well as guidance for how to improve the AIDS response, in today’s report.
“Encouraging results in HIV prevention and treatment indicate a growing return on investments made in the AIDS response,” said UNAIDS Executive Director Dr. Peter Piot. “We are reaching a critical mass in terms of improvements in funding, political leadership and results on the ground, from which global action against AIDS can and must be greatly accelerated. The actions we take from here are particularly important, as we know with increasing certainty where and how HIV is moving, as well as how to slow the epidemic and reduce its impact.”
The report cites significant improvements in several elements of the global AIDS response. In the key area of financial resources, the US $8.3 billion available for the AIDS response in 2005 is more than five times the funding available in 2001, and is well within the Declaration of Commitment target range. The report also cites significant increases in global political leadership, which is key to maintaining the AIDS response at the centre of national and international development planning.
Dr. Piot was joined at the report launch by UNICEF Executive Director Ann Veneman, by United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Executive Director Thoraya Obaid representing the ten cosponsoring agencies of UNAIDS.
The report shows that young people and children are increasingly affected by the epidemic, and efforts to protect these and other vulnerable groups are not keeping pace with the epidemic’s impact.
“For too long, children have often been the missing face of the AIDS pandemic,” said UNICEF Executive Director Ann Veneman. “It is critical that the impact of HIV/AIDS on children be addressed through programs to prevent mother to child transmission and to treat cases of paediatric AIDS.”
On HIV prevention, the report documents behaviour changes including delays in first sexual experience, increasing use of condoms by young people, and resulting decreases in HIV prevalence in young people in some sub-Saharan countries.
"Prevention remains our first and most effective line of defence," noted UNFPA Executive Director, Thoraya Ahmed Obaid. "In countries where HIV prevalence is declining among young people, there is behaviour change and comprehensive condom programming. This is encouraging proof that prevention works and saves lives. But women still remain disproportionately vulnerable and greater efforts must be made to give them methods of prevention they can control."
The report also makes clear that on many issues and in most regions of the world greater action against the epidemic is required now, and will be required long into the future.
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infodetail.asp?id=8456
For more information, contact:
UNAIDS
20 Avenue Appia, CH-1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland
Tel: + 41 22 791 4461
Email: [email protected]
Website: http:/www.unaids.org/
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GLOBAL MOVEMENT FOR CHILDREN: Children’s Right to HIV and AIDS Treatment [publication]
[NEW YORK/LONDON, 26 May 2006] – Only one child in twenty who needs HIV treatment receives it, according to a report launched on Friday by seven of the world’s leading child advocacy organisations. In Saving Lives: Children’s Right to HIV and AIDS Treatment, the Global Movement for Children (GMC) issued an urgent appeal for the international community to recognise that children with HIV and AIDS have a right to treatment that must be addressed to save their lives and beat the epidemic.
“The lack of treatment amounts to a death sentence for millions of children,” said Dean Hirsch, chairman of the Global Movement for Children and president of World Vision International. “Without treatment, most children with HIV will die before their fifth birthday. These children are missing out on treatment because they are missing from the global AIDS agenda.”
The report reveals that despite an urgent need for paediatric treatment, alarmingly few drugs are available in formulations that are affordable and able to be administered to children while the development of new drugs continues to focus mainly on adults.
“Children are the missing face of HIV and AIDS. Millions have watched their worlds shatter around them because of this disease, losing parents, teachers, a sense of security and hope for the future. Children affected by HIV and AIDS are often discriminated against and face enormous odds,” said Ann M. Veneman, Executive Director of UNICEF. “Through strengthened partnerships among governments, donors, international agencies and the private sector, we must do everything possible to ensure that drugs, diagnostic equipment and resources are available to treat children.”
Although the majority of people living with HIV are adults, HIV-positive children represent a disproportionate number of those needing immediate treatment. More than 90 per cent of children with HIV live in sub-Saharan Africa. These children also have the least access to any treatment. But in the current profit-driven climate of drug development, they offer little financial incentive to the pharmaceutical industry, the report states. As a result, despite an urgent need for paediatric formulations of anti retroviral therapy (ART) in developing countries, child appropriate treatment is practically non-existent.
As of June 2005, an estimated four million children were in need of cotrimoxazole, a readily available antibiotic costing only $.03 per day per child. Cotrimoxazole prevents life-threatening infections in HIV infected children and infants born to HIV-positive mothers whose status might be unknown. It can also delay the onset of AIDS and the need for anti-retroviral therapy.
The GMC report calls for specific steps, including:
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Develop and make available simple and affordable diagnostic tests.
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Increase research and development for child specific treatment.
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Improve health care systems of developing countries to improve drug delivery systems.
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Establish child-specific treatment targets.
While ensuring that all HIV-positive children have access to treatment will save lives, prevention of infection is crucial. According to the report, 90 per cent of HIV– positive children are infected by a failure to prevent mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) in the first place.
“We know how to dramatically reduce transmission of HIV from mother to child at a modest cost, " said Charles MacCormack, president and CEO of Save the Children USA. “But more global resources are needed to expand these programs to make them more available and accessible to women in need.”
The report cites evidence showing that providing a mother with a full range of MTCT services can reduce the risk of transmission to less than two per cent. Currently, less than ten per cent of HIV-positive pregnant women receive drug therapies to prevent transmission of the virus to their infants.
Significant progress has been made in treating HIV and AIDS since the virus was first identified 25 years ago, but along the way children have been overlooked. Children affected by HIV and AIDS have a right to equal access to treatment and care; without any significant increases in funding these rights will not be met.
Speaking from London, Thomas Miller, Chief Executive Officer of Plan International said, “Unless the world takes urgent account of the specific impact AIDS has on children we will fail to meet Millennium Development Goal (MGD) 6 - to halt and begin to reverse the spread of the disease by 2015.
Paediatric AIDS treatment is one of the key components of ‘Unite for Children, Unite Against AIDS,’ a global partnership to limit the impact of HIV on children and help halt the spread of the disease.
The Global Movement for Children is a worldwide movement of organisations uniting efforts to build a world fit for children. It was commissioned by the following organisations: ENDA Tiers Monde, the Latin America and Caribbean Network for Children (Redlamyc), Oxfam, Plan, Save the Children, UNICEF and World Vision.
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=8409&flag=report
For more information, contact:
Global Movement for Children
c/o Intermon-Oxfam, Roger de Llúria, 15, 08010 Barcelona, Spain
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://gmfc.org
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BUSINESS: Corporations Urged to Do More in War on AIDS [news]
[LONDON, May 22 2006] - Four leading companies pledged to do more in the fight against AIDS in Africa last Monday, in a move designed to spur other corporations into action.
The initiatives come on the heels of rock star Bono's "Red" scheme, under which companies with global brands - from credit cards to clothing - agree to channel a portion of profits to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
Former US ambassador Richard Holbroke, who heads the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS (GBC), said attitudes were starting to change but more businesses needed to get involved, with Japanese firms notable by their absence.
Executives and policymakers attended a meeting at Reuters Group Plc headquarters in London to discuss ways to tackle the pandemic, which has already killed 25 million people.
Companies are seen as pivotal in the fight, since prevention and treatment schemes are often most practical in the workplace.
"Corporations can do more. They have the skills, networks and resources to make a difference," Standard Chartered Plc Chief Executive Mervyn Davies said. A key objective is finding new ways to mobilise resources for the Global Fund, which has already committed $5 billion to providing life-saving medicines and money for disease prevention programmes to poor countries. Standard Chartered, which has extensive banking operations in Africa, said it was offering to second staff to help countries manage HIV/AIDS projects more efficiently.
International consultancy Accenture is also providing management expertise, while Nike Foundation and Becton Dickinson Co. are each giving $200,000 for support programmes.
Companies around the world are becoming increasingly concerned about the impact of AIDS, according to a survey in January by the World Economic Forum, which found 46 percent expected it to affect their operations in the next five years.
The GBC has seen its membership grow to 220 from just 15 in the past five years and its members now employ over 11 million people in every country of the world.
With an estimated 40.3 million people living with HIV/AIDS worldwide and a record 4.9 million new infections last year, the disease has the potential to cripple economies and decimate workforces, hitting the bottom line of many businesses.
Mark Moody-Stuart, chairman of mining giant Anglo American Plc , said offering testing and treatment for workers in its South African mines was "a good business opportunity", as well as the right thing to do, since it had an enormous impact on productivity and industrial relations.
Standard Chartered calculates that more than 10 percent of its Kenyan employees are off work every day as a result of AIDS, either because they are sick, are caring for relatives or are attending a funeral.
[Source: AlertNet]
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=8390&flag=news
More information about business and HIV and AIDS
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CANADA: XIV International AIDS Conference [event]
Date: 13 – 18 August 2006
Location: Toronto, Canada
The world’s largest HIV and AIDS conference, which is organised by the International AIDS Society and the Local Toronto Host, provides an international, open and independent forum for the exchange of ideas, knowledge and research which will inform HIV and AIDS programmes and strengthen prevention, treatment and care efforts worldwide.
An estimated 20,000 participants including scientists, health care providers, political, community and business leaders, journalists, government, non-governmental and intergovernmental representatives, and people living with HIV and AIDS are expected to attend.
The AIDS 2006 Conference theme, Time to Deliver, underscores the continued urgency in bringing effective HIV prevention and treatment strategies to communities the world over. Twenty-five years after the first reports of what was later to be known as AIDS appeared in the CDC’s Mortality and Morbidity Weekly Report, the magnitude of this epidemic demands increased accountability from all stakeholders to fulfill their commitments, be they financial, programmatic or political.
While additional resources and continued scientific research are critical to an effective global response, the theme recognises that the scientific knowledge and tools to prevent new infections and prolong life among those living with HIV and AIDS already exist, even in the poorest settings. The challenge at hand is to garner the resources and the collective will to translate that knowledge and experience into broadly available HIV treatment and prevention programs.
The International AIDS Conference exists for exactly these reasons. It is one of the most important gatherings for the release and discussion of key scientific developments in the fight against HIV and AIDS.
AIDS 2006 will bring together the movement of people responding to the HIV and AIDS epidemic to share their lessons and together stake out the road ahead. In doing this, the Conference directly affects the lives of those living with and affected by HIV and AIDS.
Young people are urged to participate by submitting an abstract. The deadline for submitting an abstract, non-abstract session proposal, cultural programme, Global Village activity or skills building proposal has passed, however, the organisers of the conference, the International AIDS Society (IAS), are accepting late abstracts from May 29, 2006 – June 12, 2006.
The five co-organisers of AIDS 2006 are:
Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS)
Global Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS (GNP+)
International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS (ICW)
International Council of AIDS Service Organizations (ICASO)
Canadian AIDS Society (CAS)
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=8433&flag=event
For more information, contact:
AIDS 2006 Registration Department
C/O K.I.T. Association and Conference Management
Tel: +49 (0)30 24 603 350; Fax: +49 (0)30 24 603 310
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.aids2006.org/start.aspx
More information
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Information about young people’s participation in the event and submitting an abstract
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RESOURCES: Useful Publications
Save the Children: Small Also Have Something to Say – report on research into the effects of HIV/AIDS on children in six Asian countries (May 2006)
http://www.crin.org/resources/infodetail.asp?id=8333
Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance: “Keep the Promise” Teaching Resource on HIV/AIDS (March 2006)
http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=7744&flag=report
Save the Children UK: Missing Mothers – Meeting the Needs of Children Affected by AIDS (March 2006)
http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=7710&flag=report
The International Treatment Preparedness Coalition: HIV and AIDS – Missing the Target
http://www.crin.org/resources/infodetail.asp?id=8413
Bernard Van Leer Foundation: HIV Positive – A Book for Caregivers to Help Children Cope Emotionally with HIV/AIDS
http://www.crin.org/resources/infodetail.asp?id=8434
Bernard Van Leer Foundation: The Way the Money Goes – An investigation of flows of funding and resources for young children affected by HIV/AIDS (August 2005)
http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=6051&flag=report
Business and Human Rights Resource Centre: HIV/AIDS page
http://www.business-humanrights.org/Categories/Issues/Discrimination/HIVAIDSdiscrimination
CRIN: Reader on HIV/AIDS
http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=5931&flag=report
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