Strategy

The Republic of Uganda Ministry of Health has released its National Pediatric and Adolescent HIV Advocacy Strategy And Road Map 2022-2026, disseminated in Kampala during October 2022. 

The overall objective of this strategy is to complement and catalyze the ongoing national programs targeted at improving pediatric and adolescents HIV outcomes by addressing the policy and resource allocation gaps. This will be through putting in place a uniform and harmonized technical approach to advocacy across the national response stakeholders. The strategy provides standardized practical approaches to guide stakeholders in planning, designing, implementing and evaluating advocacy initiatives in support of pediatric and adolescents HIV. The strategy will institute systems to keep truck of ongoing and new advocacy initiatives to ensure they are aligned to the advocacy issues highlighted in the strategy for continuous process quality improvement and mitigate risks associated with uncoordinated advocacy initiatives. 

L’éducation complète à la sexualité (ECS)1 est primordiale pour préparer les jeunes à une vie sûre, productive et épanouissante dans un monde où le VIH et le SIDA, les infections sexuellement transmissibles (IST), les grossesses non désirées, la violence basée sur le genre et les inégalités entre les sexes continuent de présenter des risques graves pour leur bien-être. Cependant, bien que les bienfaits d’une ECS de qualité fondée sur le programme scolaire aient été montrés de manière claire et irréfutable, peu d’enfants et de jeunes sont dotés des moyens de prendre le contrôle de leur vie et de faire, librement et de façon responsable, des choix éclairés concernant leur sexualité et leurs relations interpersonnelles.

Nombreux sont ceux qui, entrant dans l’âge adulte, ont entendu des messages contradictoires, négatifs et déroutants sur la sexualité, messages bien souvent exacerbés par la gêne et le silence des adultes, notamment des parents et des enseignants. Dans bien des sociétés, les attitudes et les lois découragent le débat public sur la sexualité et le comportement sexuel, et les normes sociales peuvent perpétuer des situations préjudiciables, telles que l’inégalité des genres dans le contexte des relations sexuelles, de la planification familiale et de l’utilisation de contraceptifs modernes.

Comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) plays a central role in the preparation of young people for a safe, productive, fulfilling life in a world where HIV and AIDS, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), unintended pregnancies, gender-based violence (GBV) and gender inequality still pose serious risks to their well-being. However, despite clear and compelling evidence for the benefits of high-quality, curriculum-based CSE, few children and young people receive preparation for their lives that empowers them to take control and make informed decisions about their sexuality and relationships freely and responsibly.

Countries are increasingly acknowledging the importance of equipping young people with the knowledge and skills to make responsible choices in their lives, particularly in a context where they have greater exposure to sexually explicit material through the Internet and other media.

Guidance for PEPFAR country teams on the DREAMS Partnership

The Start Free Stay Free AIDS Free framework promotes a set of human rights-based interventions to end AIDS as a public health threat among children and adolescents. It focuses on enhancing actions in 23 countries with high numbers of children, adolescents and young women living with HIV.

International technical and programmatic guidance on out of school comprehensive sexuality education evidence-informed approach for non-formal, out-of-school programmes.

HIV testing and treatment remains low among children in West and Central Africa. Various barriers prevent the scale-up of services and improved coverage for children, including limited coverage of early infant diagnostic capacity, limited decentralization of pediatric treatment including task-shifting/sharing from paediatricians to nurses and community actors, as well as prevalent HIV stigma at individual, family and community levels. Family-based HIV index testing has been identified as a game changer that can deliver quick gains for the paediatric HIV response in both high- and low prevalence settings. By using an individual family member living with HIV as an entry point to reaching the entire family unit, several underlying factors can be addressed, which limit access to HIV testing services especially for children.

This operational guidance is meant for use by national programme managers, implementers, advocates and health care providers in collaboration with partners, supported by national, regional and global experts. The guidance draws off the experience in family testing from within and outside West and Central Africa. It combines recommendations from the Dakar Expert consultation, which took place in June 2018, as well as lessons learned from the pilot of the Family Testing Operational Guidance in Liberia in June 2018. It is a living document that will be enriched as evidence on family Testing in the region grows. The use of this guidance will be complemented by a toolkit and a community of practice. It is a regional document drafted for the countries in West and Central Africa to guide country teams to design country-contextualized family HIV testing roll-out.