HIV and AIDS: Home Truths: Facing the Facts on Children, AIDS, and Poverty

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The global response to HIV and AIDS must be significantly reoriented to address the unmet needs of millions of children and their families in the worst affected countries, according to a new report by the independent Joint Learning Initiative on Children and HIV/AIDS (JLICA).

The report, “Home Truths: Facing the Facts on Children, AIDS, and Poverty” summarises two years of research and analysis of AIDS- related policies, programmes and funding and their effectiveness in addressing the needs of children. It calls for change in global, regional and national responses to the epidemic, including greater emphasis on strengthening families and communities to enable them to give children the care and support they are uniquely suited to provide.

The report also recommends new approaches to address the simultaneous impacts of HIV, poverty, food insecurity and social inequality that many countries confront today. “JLICA has focused on children, but the release of this report is an opportunity to refocus and greatly strengthen the entire AIDS response,” noted Jim Yong Kim, Director of the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University and Co-Chair of the JLICA Learning Group on Expanding Access to Services and Protecting Human Rights.

“AIDS prevention and treatment programmes have pioneered a revolution in health care in low- and middle-income countries. Orienting the AIDS response to better serve families and communities can be the motor that now drives improved health services and social protection for the poorest and most vulnerable.” "Families are at the heart of the AIDS response,” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS.

“Policies, programmes and funding must focus on providing universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support for the family as a unit to ensure that both children and the adults who care for them get the essential services they need.”

In its two-year programme of research and analysis, JLICA - an independent alliance of researchers, implementers, policy-makers, activists and people living with HIV - reviewed global policies and programmes in four key areas: Strengthening Families; Community Action; Expanding Access to Services and Protecting Human Rights; and Social and Economic Policies. “JLICA found that there is a lack of good data on children and HIV/AIDS and the information that is available is often not used. As a result, many well-intentioned efforts do not take account of key realities that must help shape an effective response to the impact of HIV children and their families.

Extreme poverty in many of the regions most seriously affected by AIDS, for example, severely limits the uptake of HIV programmes and services. If we do not confront this reality, large-scale AIDS programmes in hard-hit countries cannot succeed,” said Agnes Binagwaho, Permanent Secretary, Rwandan Minister of Health and JLICA Co-Chair.

Further information

     

    pdf: http://www.crin.org/docs/FinalJLICAReport-final-1.pdf

    Organisation: 
    Joint Learning Initiative on Children and HIV/AIDS
    Attachment Link: 
    http://www.crin.org/docs/FinalJLICAReport-final-1.pdf

    Countries

      Please note that these reports are hosted by CRIN as a resource for Child Rights campaigners, researchers and other interested parties. Unless otherwise stated, they are not the work of CRIN and their inclusion in our database does not necessarily signify endorsement or agreement with their content by CRIN.