Joint Learning Initiative On Children and HIV/AIDS

Learning Groups > Expanding Access to Services & Human Rights

Human Rights and the HIV/AIDS Pandemic

All children must have access to basic health, education, and social protection services—not just as a humanitarian imperative, but as a basic human right. Yet, providing these services can be extremely challenging in areas heavily burdened by HIV/AIDS and poverty. As a result, large numbers of children and youth living in the developing world do not have access to the care, support, and education they need to "survive and thrive."

Research Objectives of the Expanding Access to Services and Protecting Human Rights Learning Group

Expanding Access to Services and Protecting Human Rights Learning Group focuses on protecting the human rights of children affected by HIV/AIDS and develops strategies to increase their physical and psychosocial well-being. Some of the key research questions of this learning group include:

What services are currently available to support children affected by HIV/AIDS, their families and communities? What obstacles slow the effective implementation of services, and how can they be overcome?
How should prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT+) services be linked with early child development interventions?
How can services be effectively integrated to address children's needs, while also strengthening the primary response role of families and communities?

The Expanding Access to Services and Protecting Human Rights Learning Group is also supporting a practitioner-focused Learning Collaborative on strengthening child survival at rural health centers in three districts in Rwanda. This programme tests innovative service delivery strategies that may reduce HIV infections in children while improving other aspects of children's and families' health.

Learning Group Leadership

The Expanding Access to Services and Protecting Human Rights Learning Group is led by two Co-Chairs:

Jim Kim, based in Boston, United States, holds appointments as François Xavier Bagnoud Professor of Health and Human Rights at the Harvard School of Public Health and Professor of Medicine and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Kim is also chief of the Division of Social Medicine and Health Inequalities at Brigham and Women's Hospital, director of the François Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights, and chair of the Department of Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School.
Lydia Mungherera, based in Kampala, Uganda, has worked in the field of HIV/AIDS and TB for more than 10 years as a clinician, health educator and patient advocate. Dr. Mungherera currently works with The AIDS Support Organization (TASO) and Mamas's Club in a variety of clinical and advocacy-related capacities.

Research Findings

The Learning Group has commissioned 8 papers examining access to essential health care and social services for children in low-income, high disease burden communities. These papers will inform policy recommendations that will be released in late 2008.

Find out more about JLICA's other Learning Groups.

View Co-Chairs

Jim Yong Kim

Jim Yong Kim holds appointments as François Xavier Bagnoud Professor of Health and Human Rights at the Harvard School of Public Health and Professor of Medicine and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He is chief of the Division of Social Medicine and Health Inequalities at Brigham and Women's Hospital, a major Harvard teaching hospital; director of the François Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights; and chair of the Department of Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Kim returned to Harvard in December 2005 after a three-year leave of absence at the World Health Organization (WHO), during which he served notably as director of WHO's HIV/AIDS department. In this post, Dr. Kim oversaw all of WHO's work related to HIV/AIDS, focusing on initiatives to help developing countries scale up their treatment, prevention, and care programs, including the "3x5" initiative designed to put three million people in developing countries on AIDS treatment by the end of 2005.

Dr. Kim has 20 years of experience in improving health in developing countries. He is a founding trustee and the former executive director of Partners In Health, a not-for-profit organization that supports a range of health programs in poor communities in Haiti, Peru, Russia, Rwanda, Lesotho, and the United States. An expert in tuberculosis, Dr. Kim has chaired or served on a number of committees on international TB policy. Dr. Kim trained dually as a physician and medical anthropologist. He received his M.D. and Ph.D. from Harvard University. Dr. Kim has been recognized on numerous occasions as a global leader and distinguished professional, including being awarded a MacArthur "Genius" Fellowship in 2003; being named one of America's 25 best leaders by US News & World Report in 2005; and being named as one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine in 2006. He was a contributing editor to the 2003 and 2004 World Health Reports, and his edited volume Dying for Growth: Global Inequity and the Health of the Poor analyzes the effects of economic and political change on health outcomes in developing countries.

Lydia Mungherera

Dr. Mungherera has worked in the field of HIV/AIDS and TB for over ten years as a clinician, health educator and patient advocate. Since 1999, Dr. Mungherera has worked with The AIDS Support Organization (TASO) in a variety of clinical and advocacy-related capacities. She works closely on empowering communities affected by HIV/AIDS and TB through various advocacy and educational initiatives and has developed a range of programs that focus on TB/HIV co-infection, human rights, and strengthening policy for both HIV and TB. She worked closely with the Ugandan Ministry of Health to develop policies for the distribution and use of antiretroviral therapy for patients co-infected with TB/HIV.

In 2005, Dr. Mungherera participated in the development of a staff training curriculum, and is currently leading a series of workshops for TASO staff members and field volunteers on issues related to TB-HIV co-infection. Dr. Mungherera's many accomplishments include founding Uganda Cares, the first treatment centre to give free antiretroviral drugs in the Masaka District. This clinic, in partnership with the Ministry of Health and AIDSHealthCare Foundation, now gives free ARVs and testing to 5,000 patients, including children. She also recently founded The Mamas Club, a psychosocial support group for HIV-positive mothers and their children. These mothers are clients of TASO and the support group has grown to become a peer group to support other mothers. From 1986-1997, Dr. Mungherera worked as a physician at the Masvingo Hospital in Zimbabwe, and in several district hospitals in South Africa. She received her medical degree from Makerere University in 1985. In 1992, Dr. Mungherera lost her husband to TB after a two-year battle against the disease. She has been living with HIV since 1997 and overcame an episode of pulmonary TB in 1996.