UNICEF HIV: Investment opportunities for the private sector
The four investment cases above highlight opportunities for the private sector to engage in the global HIV response for infants, children and adolescents in partnership with UNICEF.
The four investment cases above highlight opportunities for the private sector to engage in the global HIV response for infants, children and adolescents in partnership with UNICEF.
The 'Last Mile' road map draws on the latest scientific research and programmatic evidence to describe and recommend strategies to achieve the elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (EMTCT). It includes a synthesis of evidence and country experiences for reaching EMTCT and recommends clear strategies that can improve the coverage, effectiveness and quality of national programmes for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT). The goal of this document is to provide guidelines for coordinated action so that national programmes address local priority areas to achieve EMTCT in an effective, people-centred, efficient and directed manner.
This document was conceptualized by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and partners including the Start Free working group, the Joint United Nations Programme for HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the World Health Organization (WHO), and it was validated by ministries of health of Botswana, Malawi, Seychelles, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Regular monitoring of POC EID implementation sites is crucial for ensuring the quality and efficacy of site-level operations throughout the project. Site monitoring visits will provide essential insights into site-level issues related to human resources, patient flow, platform functioning, end user performance, specimen transport, data, data quality, and capacity building needs of site level staff.
Author: EGPAF
Year: 2017
Post-market surveillance aims to ensure that IVDs continue to meet the same quality, safety and performance requirements as when they were initially placed on the market. WHO has developed normative guidance on post-market surveillance of in vitro diagnostics, emphasizing the importance of both reactive post-market surveillance and proactive post-market surveillance activities.
Reactive post-market surveillance refers to activities undertaken after an issue has occurred related to the IVD test (e.g., complaint reporting/monitoring; end user quality control programs, etc.), whereas proactive post-market surveillance refers to scans for potential issues related to the IVD (e.g., pre- and/or post-distribution lot testing). Lot testing involves testing samples from a manufacturing lot to ensure performance meets an acceptable standard.
For additional information on post-market surveillance, including sample reporting forms, see http://www.who.int/diagnostics_laboratory/postmarket/en/
Regular assessments of the competency of POC EID device operators are crucial for ensuring the quality of the testing procedure at an individual level, and can also serve as a key component of a POC EID quality assurance (QA) scheme.
Author: EGPAF
Year: 2019
At a high-level meeting in Dakar, Senegal in January 2019, UNAIDS, UNICEF and WHO urged countries in Western and Central Africa to strengthen their commitments towards EMTCT and universal coverage for paediatric testing and treatment for HIV.
Countries and partners renewed their commitment to the 2015 Dakar Call to Action for Accelerating the Elimination of New HIV Infections in Children and Access to Treatment for Children and Adolescents Living with HIV by 2020.
This document outlines evidence-based practices for retention in care of mother-infant pairs in the context of elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (EMTCT) in Eastern and Southern Africa.
Developed by the UNICEF Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office (ESARO) with support from HIV colleagues and partners, the report provides a review of the evidence-base on improving care for women living with HIV and their infants. It builds on the conceptual framework outlined in UNICEF’s Community-Facility Linkages report through an extensive literature review, stakeholder consultations and country visits.
Ten evidence-based practices were identified in the areas of service quality, human resources, use of health information and demand generation. The report describes these practices, including key considerations for implementation, helpful tools and resources. As countries take these evidence-based practices to scale, even greater numbers of vulnerable women and children will be given the opportunity not only to survive, but also to thrive, and the world will move closer to ending AIDS among children.
Led by UNICEF and WHO, the Global Breastfeeding Collective is a partnership of more than 20 prominent international agencies calling on donors, policymakers, philanthropists and civil society to increase investment in breastfeeding worldwide. The Collective’s vision is a world in which all mothers have the technical, financial, emotional and public support they need to breastfeed. The Collective advocates for smart investments in breastfeeding programmes, assists policymakers and NGOs in implementing solutions, and galvanizes support to get real results to increase rates of breastfeeding, thereby benefiting mothers, children and nations.
Download the advocacy brief on breastfeeding and HIV above. Learn more at unicef.org/breastfeeding.
Innovative Approaches for Eliminating Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV: Experiences from Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi, and Uganda
This report documents several promising practices focused on community engagement for PMTCT implemented under the Optimizing HIV Treatment Access for Pregnant and Breastfeeding Women (OHTA) Initiative. OHTA, a UNICEF-supported initiative with funding from the Governments of Norway and Sweden, aimed to accelerate access to Option B+ for the elimination of mother-to-child transmission in Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi, and Uganda.
Find out more here.