2018

Building on the collaborative effort that resulted in tremendous progress in scaling up lifesaving anti-retroviral treatment and preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV in Eastern and Southern Africa region (ESAR), UNAIDS and UNICEF launched a campaign titled All In to End Adolescent AIDS (All In) in 2015 in Nairobi, Kenya.

This report highlights how All In mobilized partners, engaged adolescents and young people and influenced policies and programmes in the 14 high-burden HIV countries in ESAR. The report documents the progress made in a few short years on adolescent HIV, and offers suggestions and recommendations on how to strengthen strategic information, apply evidence-based programming and mobilize resources for adolescents in the HIV response. 

This publication shares the perspectives of women from all over the world, including policymakers and researchers, doctors and campaigners who are helping lead the HIV response for women and children. Their testimonies illuminate and personalize the data and the narrative in the rest of the report.

The Kingdom of Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) released its National Strategic Plan for Ending AIDS and Syphilis in Children (2018 – 2022). This strategy aligns with the ‘Three Frees’ Framework and aims to make a final push towards the elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis as well as an end to paediatric AIDS.

This Plan has been designed to ensure that every child is born and remains HIV and syphillis free, and that every pregnant woman or mother living with HIV have access to lifelong HIV treatment. In addition, every child and adolescent living with HIV should be linked to quality HIV treatment, care and support to realize their full potential without stigma and discrimination.

Many millions of people around the world are affected by emergencies, the majority of whom are women and children. Among them are many who are known to be living with HIV and others who may not know their HIV status.

The purpose of this document is to provide operational guidance on HIV and infant feeding in emergencies. It is intended to be used to complement emergency and sectoral guidelines on health, nutrition and HIV, including specifically infant feeding, prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and paediatric antiretroviral treatment.

The envisaged target audience consists of decision makers, policymakers, national and subnational government managers and planners, managers of refugee camps and similar settlements for displaced persons, and managers and planners in United Nations agencies, nongovernmental organizations and other groups responding to humanitarian situations.

This operational guidance is based on a consultation convened by the WHO, UNICEF and the Emergency Nutrition Network in Geneva in September 2016, which brought together a cross-section of senior-level participants from United Nations agencies, government, nongovernmental organizations, academia, and other agencies working in nutrition and HIV in emergencies. This document sets out basic principles related to HIV and infant feeding in emergency settings, and the actions that government and other stakeholders can take to prepare for emergencies.

The West and Central Africa Catch-up Plan provides a framework for political advocacy and accelerated action for countries to adapt and scale up effective approaches and innovations that will reduce inequity in access to HIV treatment. Twelve countries have adapted this regional initiative to their national contexts and developed country catch-up plans, with the support of the World Health Organization (WHO), UNAIDS and UNICEF.

At the 19th International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa (ICASA), country representatives and partners took part in a meeting convened by UNICEF and UNAIDS to reflect on the shortfalls within West and Central Africa country catch-up plans and to agree on ways to sharpen acceleration strategies and interventions that will increase access to paediatric ART.

The meeting at ICASA had three high-level strategic objectives:

1. Call greater attention to the gap in paediatric HIV testing, including EID, and paediatric treatment within the West and Central African country catch-up plans
2. Define the priority actions for children in country catch-up plans in 2018, with a focus on: (a) expanding access to paediatric HIV testing through improved EID and rapid testing at other entry points; (b) improving immediate linkages to care and treatment; and (c) task-shifting to enable nurses within maternal, neonatal and child health facilities to treat children
3. Galvanize partnerships in support of country catch-up plans

More information can be found in this meeting report.