Maternal, newborn and children health

The strategic plan focuses on preventing new HIV infections in order to maintain a low HIV prevalence in the next six years. The NSP aims to reduce new HIV infections by 50% by 2020; intensify the provision of quality and accessible HIV prevention information and services for key populations; and also accelerate actions to eliminate mother-to-child transmission of HIV by 2020, including placing positive mothers on lifelong antiretroviral therapy (Option B+) as the preferred regime of treatment for HIV positive pregnant women.

The first WHO guidelines on HIV and Infant Feeding in 2010 recommended the use of antiretroviral drugs to prevent postnatal transmission of HIV through breastfeeding. Since then, almost all countries prioritised in the UNAIDS ‘Global Plan towards the elimination of new HIV infections among children by 2015 and keeping their mothers alive’ have adopted the approach of promoting and supporting breastfeeding and the provision of lifelong antiretroviral treatment as the strategy to optimise HIV-free survival among HIV-exposed, uninfected infants and children. The 2016 guidelines provide two recommendations and two guiding practice statements and they comment on the implications for: (1) routine monitoring and evaluation, and (2) conflict and emergency settings.

PMTCT & Paediatric HIV/TB Lessons & Results from Using New WHO-UNICEF HIV-Adapted Community Materials

This document discusses the following: general messages about early childhood development, programming messages, nutrition, protection,  early & lifelong learning,  health, parenting, advocacy messages, and key facts about the developing brain. The messages presented in this note were generated from a Neuroscience Symposium organized by UNICEF on April 16, 2014, where 16 leading international scientists from different fields of neuroscience presented their latest evidence on the influences of experience and environment on child brain development.

The new consolidated guidelines provide standardized, simplified and less toxic drug combinations harmonized for the management of Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT), children, adolescents and adults with HIV/AIDS, TB and other common opportunistic infections. It will provide guidance for clinicians, managers and trainers on the use of available regimens within the context of continuum of HIV comprehensive care for prevention, treatment and support for all age groups in private and public sector to realize our vision of a long and healthy life for all citizens. This approach will also ensure that people living with HIV are started on the right regimen at the right time.

The life course through childhood, adolescence, adulthood and old age affects health, wellbeing and earnings.