Children affected by HIV and AIDS and their parents/carers know best how to improve their lives. Many have organised themselves into networks that, with the right support, can advise us all on the best approaches, and create change in their own communities.
For example, in many countries children and youth have organised themselves into networks that raise local awareness of HIV and to tackle the stigma that surrounds it, while mothers, fathers and grandparents have created community-based organisations to give emotional and practical support to parents/carers and children affected by AIDS and to champion their rights in decisions around treatment, care, laws, policies and funds that affect them. Very often these groups are at the forefront of cutting-edge solutions.
Governments, donors and NGOs need to give children affected by AIDS and their parents/carers the space and resources so that their voices are more prominent in decision-making, financial planning and service development including at the global level.
Read about the Coalition Ambassadors initiative.
Key Reading:
- New Evidence on Financing: Find out how to improve resourcing for children and adolescents affected by HIV.
- Donor Policy Report: How much funding is going to children and adolescents, where, on what and what are the gaps?
- Adolescent mothers affected by HIV and their children – understanding and meeting their needs in our HIV response and global commitments, a background note outlining the current evidence on the experiences of this population.
- COVID-19 Policy Briefing: Prioritising Children, Adolescents and Caregivers Affected by HIV in the COVID-19 response.
- Tackle Exclusion: End AIDS in Children, an advocacy brief highlighting where the world must focus in order to end AIDS in children.
- This Study explored the impact of cash grants on children’s cognitive development, and whether combined cash and care (operationalised as good parenting) was associated with improved cognitive outcomes.