Knocking on every door: The Family-Centred Approach to reaching every child living with HIV

UNICEF’s latest Spotlight Report, Knocking on Every Door, showcases Tanzania's Family-Centred Approach, where dedicated community health workers, known as Wakili Tiba, embody compassion and unwavering commitment. They go above and beyond to locate and link children and adolescents to life-saving treatment, breaking barriers and ensuring no child is left behind.

Discover their inspiring journey and transformative impact by downloading the document below. 

World AIDS Day: Global Snapshot on HIV and AIDS 2024

UNICEF’s 2024 Global Snapshot, released for World AIDS Day, offers a concise yet critical overview of the global HIV and AIDS landscape, focusing on children, adolescents, and pregnant women. This year’s report highlights key data and insights, emphasizing the urgent need to eliminate vertical transmission of HIV and ensure universal access to testing and treatment for children and adolescents. Ending AIDS by 2030 is not just an achievable goal—it is a moral imperative to uphold the rights and dignity of every child and adolescent.

Toolkit for the Implementation of Baby Showers in Congregational Settings for the Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV

This toolkit — prepared by members of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Nigeria and Atlanta, the University of Nigeria, the Healthy Sunrise Foundation, and the National AIDS and STI Control Program of Nigeria — provides implementers with the background, procedures, and resources/tools to support the implementation of Baby Showers in Congregational Settings. In PEPFAR programmes, countries are moving toward elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (EMTCT). One gap in achieving EMTCT is reaching women and their infants who do not come to the facility for care. The Baby Showers approach in Nigeria is one way of reaching women and their families in the community through faith-based congregations, with a strong evidence base to support its positive impact.

Baby Showers are celebratory gatherings for pregnant women and their partners with routine celebrations marked by prayers for the safe delivery of babies and to support parents-to-be as they prepare for their new arrival. Health screening, including HIV testing for pregnant women and their partners, is offered during the celebration that brings women, their partners, and their newborns together in a congregation. Other countries have expressed interest in learning from Nigeria’s experience. This resource has been adapted for implementation in additional settings and contexts and includes six accompanying tools in the appendix to aid in data collection and documentation.

Transforming Vision Into Reality: The 2024 Global Alliance Progress Report on Ending AIDS in Children by 2030

This status report shows how far we have come—and how much further we must go—if we hope to meet the global commitments to end AIDS in children. It offers a snapshot of global progress and permits an early assessment of the impact of the Global Alliance’s work. This report highlights the transformative work that is being undertaken in Global Alliance countries to accelerate gains towards ending AIDS in children, underscoring the urgent need to apply good practices, emerging innovations and critical lessons learned to overcome the barriers that slow progress.

For additional information, consult the joint press release and the video created for the report launch at AIDS 2024.

Care and Support for Adolescents Living with HIV/AIDS in School Settings: Perspectives of Teachers and Administrators in the Southern Highlands of Tanzania

Adolescents living with HIV (ALHIV) encounter diverse challenges in school settings that impact their well-being and academic performance. This UNICEF-supported study sought to delve into the viewpoints of teachers and administrators regarding the care and support accessible to ALHIV in schools in the Southern Highlands of Tanzania. 

Various forms of support for ALHIV in schools were identified. Schools had designated health teachers/matrons/ patrons responsible for addressing health-related issues, including those affecting ALHIV. Assistance for clinic visits and medication adherence was readily available. Peer clubs were established to combat stigma and discrimination while providing additional support. Nevertheless, challenges such as staff members’ limited knowledge and skills, reluctance to disclose, inadequate nutritional support, and insufficient backing from regional and district administrators persist.

The study also pinpointed areas for enhancement, such as capacity building for teachers and staff, bolstering support for disclosure, offering nutritious dietary options, reinforcing peer clubs, and fostering collaboration between the education and health sectors. These findings can inform the development of comprehensive interventions to support ALHIV in school settings better, ultimately advancing their well-being and academic achievements. 

Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis and Adolescent Girls and Young Women in Eastern and Southern Africa: The latest insights

Eastern and southern Africa (ESA) is the world’s most heavily HIV-impacted region, with adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) disproportionately affected. To support the scale-up of PrEP amongst AGYW in ESA, in September 2021 UNICEF and partners released the implementation brief “Improving the Quality of Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis Implementation for Adolescent Girls and Young Women in Eastern and Southern Africa,” highlighting considerations to help improve the quality and coverage of AGYW PrEP programming.

The PrEP landscape has evolved significantly in the three years since the original brief was released, both in scale and variety. This updated brief summarises the most recent evidence on AGYW PrEP provision, serving as a supplement to the original 2021 implementation brief.

Ending HIV for Every Child, Every Adolescent: An investment opportunity for the public and private sectors

This document highlights opportunities for both public and private sectors to engage in the global HIV response for infants, children, and adolescents in partnership with UNICEF. Below is also a spotlight on the Global HIV and AIDS Thematic Fund, with financial results from 2023 programming.

UNICEF is a key partner and leader in the AIDS response for children, adolescents, and women. It collaborates with governments and partners worldwide, offering innovation, technical expertise, data and evidence, programme excellence, coordination, and convening power.

UNICEF is 100 per cent voluntarily funded, and is seeking support to deliver ambitious HIV results for children and to ensure the world can reach Sustainable Development Goal Target 3.3, to end the epidemic of HIV by 2030.