We now have a much better understanding of what funds are being spent, where, how much, by whom, and where the gaps are. We also know what needs to change. There is widespread agreement on what donors, governments, and civil society can do differently to tackle inequity and improve financing for children and adolescents affected by HIV.
More money is not the only answer: We can achieve more with the funds we have by investing wisely and efficiently. This is as much about mobilizing more funding, as it is about improving financial transparency and accountability, and focusing resources on proven interventions for children and adolescents ordinarily left behind.
And this is not just an issue for the HIV sector. It is also an imperative for wider social, economic and humanitarian sectors to ensure that HIV-affected children and adolescents are adequately served. They are a vast and growing global population with distinct needs. HIV remains a major barrier to achieving many of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), and preventing and treating HIV infection in children is a cornerstone of global goals to end AIDS for all by 2030. Yet we are far off track: Indeed, in many countries, progress is slowing down or at risk of reversal. If we do not invest now, we run the risk of undoing the hard-won gains achieved in recent years—leading to far greater adversity and higher costs to society.
We have several new pieces of evidence to share including:
- A new report and advocacy briefing on expenditures, needs and gaps for children and adolescents affected by HIV. We look at financing in all low- and middle-income countries, including the 21 countries in sub-Saharan Africa that account for 80% of the HIV burden for children and adolescents. And we examine in detail financing in Kenya, Uganda and Cameroon. We put forward both the research findings and a set of recommendations co created with many people living with HIV, donors, governments, UN agencies, academics and NGOs. A video of our principle researcher, John Stover at Avenir Health summarising our research findings is available here.
- A new analysis we conducted with Funders Concerned About AIDS looking at global trends in philanthropy for children and HIV.
- New research by Coalition Member Lucie Cluver and colleagues into the financial return on investment of different types of interventions with HIV-affected adolescents.
- And a video from Coalition Ambassador Miriam Hasasha, speaking on behalf of young parents affected by HIV, talking about their role in improving financing.
Since 2021, the Coalition has been working to improve financial transparency and efficacy for children and adolescents affected by HIV. It established the Global Working Group on Financing for Children and Adolescents Affected by HIV – a group of UN, donor, academic and NGO thought leadership. In 2022, the Coalition published a report revealing – for the first time – global trends in donor funding. Already, this endeavour has generated important results. Not least, PEPFAR now publishes a new annual global expenditure report on children and adolescents; and the Global Fund made children and adolescents more visible in its financial and impact monitoring systems. Moreover, the Working Group generated unprecedented dialogue, transparency and collaboration.
Our thanks to Avenir Health, the Members of the Working Group on Financing for Children and Adolescents, WHO, UNICEF, UNAIDS, the Governments of Kenya, Uganda and Cameroon, Funders Concerned About AIDS, Lucie Cluver and her colleagues, and the many community advocates who have shaped this work so far.
We especially wish to thank and acknowledge all people living with and affected by HIV, in particular children, adolescents and caregivers who continue to bear the brunt of inequitable funding gaps and their consequences.