Summarizing the evidence: the case for linking HIV and child protection

There is an increasing focus within the children and AIDS community on the need to ensure that child protection contributes to HIV prevention, treatment and mitigation targets.

The 2014 Call to Action for Protection, Care and Support for an AIDS-Free Generation emphasizes that global targets to reduce vertical HIV transmission, increase HIV treatment and prevent new HIV infections cannot be achieved without addressing underlying factors of child abuse, violence, exploitation and neglect, along with other social and economic factors that increase HIV vulnerability. The Call to Action comes at a time of increasing focus, by children and AIDS actors, on the need to ensure that care and support do not drop off the larger HIV agenda. This is in response to a largely bio-medical approach in UNAIDS’ Investment Framework and a trend in the US government’s global AIDS response from care and support for children to a focus on treatment and HIV prevention in adolescent girls and young women. Whilst both treatment and prevention are essential, there is a risk that these are being accomplished at the expense of addressing the economic and psychosocial barriers to HIV treatment and prevention.

To support this increased attention on sustainable integration between HIV and CP programming responses, this series of learning events aims to highlight those key entry points (either within different systems or at different parts/levels of a system) where linkages between HIV/Health and CP can be successfully fostered.

The first session, “Summarizing the evidence: the case for linking HIV and child protection”, was presented by Kelley Bunkers (4Children) and Sian Long (Maestral) on September 17th, 2015.

• To download the PowerPoint presentation click here
• To download the document “Protection and resilience: A simple checklist for why, where and how to coordinate HIV and child protection policy and
  programming”, click here