About > Children and the Global HIV/AIDS Crisis
The response to HIV/AIDS cannot be effective in the long-term if it does not respond squarely to the impact on children. Otherwise, we are allowing future cycles of vulnerability to this terrible epidemic to continue and grow.
— Peter Bell, JLICA Co-Chair
Children Affected by AIDS: Where have we gone wrong?
Within every child lies the opportunity for a better world. Yet, HIV/AIDS has dramatically limited the lives and futures of tens of millions of children and adolescents and places millions more young people at risk.
This crisis also severely disrupts families, communities, schools, health services, livelihoods and economies. While the global response to HIV/AIDS has accelerated, too little is being done to protect and fulfil the rights of children impacted by the combined effects of AIDS and poverty.
- Poor families support affected children with minimal outside assistance
- Community responses are poorly understood and supported
- Implementation of key services falls short of needs
- Global political commitment and resources are insufficient
Quick Facts
- Only a small portion of children living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa receive antiretrovirals – significantly fewer than adults.
- Only 1 in 3 pregnant women with HIV in low- and middle-income countries receive ARVs to prevent vertical transmission.
- Fewer than 4% of children exposed to HIV in gestation and childbirth receive co-trimoxazole prophylaxis by two months of age.
- Neglect of children is not limited to those living with HIV – although the multiple impacts of the epidemic may make children’s situation worse. Already, only 30% of children in sub-Saharan Africa are expected to enrol in secondary school, and 60% of children in southern Africa live in poverty.
Find more information on how the HIV/AIDS pandemic affects children.
Reframing the Response
Current efforts to address the needs of young people affected by HIV/AIDS are often hindered by uncertainty about what policies and interventions work best, and poor coordination among institutions and groups working on young people's behalf. Policies and interventions rarely address the needs of children within the context of the families and communities in which they live.
The Joint Learning Initiative on Children and HIV/AIDS (JLICA) worked to increase global responses to the needs of children affected by HIV, their families and communities. JLICA maintains that there are practical and achievable solutions to the neglect of children affected by HIV/AIDS. The JLICA final report identifies four major pillars along which a renewed response to children must be based:
- Support children through families
- Strengthen community action that backstops families
- Address family poverty through national social protection
- Deliver integrated, family-centred services to meet children’s needed
