Children and HIV and AIDS

Technical and policy documents

© UNICEF/ HQ05-1407/Nesbitt

Pre-school children at the UNICEF-supported Consol Homes Orphan Care in the village of Namitete, Malawi.

Cross-cutting Issues

Universal Access: Scaling up Priority HIV/AIDS interventions in the health sector: Progress Report, April 2007
At the June 2006 United Nations General Assembly High-Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS, the Member States agreed to work towards the goal of 'universal access to comprehensive prevention programmes, treatment, care and support' by 2010. Drawing on lessons from the scale-up of HIV interventions over the last few years, WHO, as the UNAIDS cosponsor responsible for the health sector response to HIV/AIDS, has established priorities for its technical work and support to countries on the basis of five Strategic Directions, each representing a critical area where the health sector must invest. This first report addresses progress in scaling up the health sector interventions. [PDF]

Eight Corporate Responses to Children, Young People and AIDS: A win-win guide, April 2007
This guide, launched on 17 April 2007 by the UNICEF China Office, in collaboration with UNAIDS, ILO, UNFPA, GBC and AusAID, recommends eight corporate responses that the private sector can adopt to help reduce the burden and impact of the HIV/AIDS pandemic on children and young people in China. In addition, the guide provides online resources that businesses can use to develop and implement their workplace programme on HIV/AIDS as well as a section on facts on HIV and AIDS. [PDF] 

Guidelines on Construction of Core Indicators, April 2007
This document provides key constituents who are actively involved in a country’s response to AIDS with essential information on core indicators that measure the effectiveness of the national response. These guidelines will also help ensure the consistency and transparency of the process used by national governments. [PDF]

Sources and prices of selected medicines and diagnostics for people living with HIV/AIDS, June 2005
This HIV/AIDS drugs availability and pricing report aims to help increase access to drugs for people in developing countries living with HIV/AIDS. The report includes information on sources and prices of medicines and diagnostics commonly required by people living with HIV/AIDS, but difficult to obtain locally due to a small number of producers, the lack of distribution channels, or high prices. [PDF] 

Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission

Guidance on Global Scale Up of the Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV, November 2007
This global guidance jointly developed by WHO and UNICEF with the Inter-Agency Task Team on Prevention of HIV Infection in Pregnant Women, Mothers and their Children, supports the implementation of the United Nations comprehensive approach for scaling up the prevention of mother to child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV. The four components of this approach include: primary prevention of HIV among women of childbearing age; preventing unintended pregnancies among women living with HIV; preventing HIV transmission from women living with HIV to her infant; and providing appropriate treatment, care, and support to women living with HIV and their children and their families. [PDF]

Consensus Statement on Achieving Universal Access to Comprehensive Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission Services, Global Partners Forum, November 2007
The statement was endorsed by Ministers of Health and High-level delegates from 28 countries as well as members of the Global Expanded Inter-Agency Task Team on Prevention of HIV Infection in Pregnant Women, Mothers and their Children who attended the second High-Level PMTCT Global Partners Forum from 26-27 November 2007 in Johannesburg, South Africa. The global statement summarizes key challenges to scaling up quality, comprehensive PMTCT programmes from the community to the global levels, and outlines priority actions for national governments as well as partners. [PDF]

A Report Card on Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV and Paediatric HIV Care and Treatment in Low-and Middle-Income Countries: Scaling Up Progress from 2004 to 2005, February 2007
Global momentum has been building with respect to national scale-up and increased focus to meet a number of global commitments for the prevention of HIV and AIDS. This working paper, written as a contribution to the efforts of the Expanded Inter-Agency Task Team on Prevention of HIV Infection in Pregnant Women, Mothers and their Children, attempts to measure where the world is in meeting its commitments to the thousands of children exposed and infected annually. [PDF]

Antiretroviral Drugs for Treating Pregnant Women and Preventing HIV Infection in Infants in Resource-Limited settings: Recommendations for a public health approach, 2006
These revised guidelines prepared by WHO are consistent with and aim to support, the Call to Action: Towards an HIV-free and AIDS-free Generation. The document is one of a trilogy of guidelines published in 2006 by WHO and provides recommendations in support of a public health approach to antiretroviral therapy (ART) in resource-constrained settings. It contains recommendations for the use of ARV drugs in pregnant women for their own health and for preventing HIV infection in infants and young children, and a summary of the scientific rationale for the recommendations [PDF]

Testing and Counselling for Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV (TC for PMTCT): Support Tools, December 2005
The TC for PMTCT Support Tools were developed by the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Global AIDS Program, in collaboration with the Department of HIV/AIDS at the World Health Organization, United Nations Children's Fund and United States Agency for International Development and their implementing partners. [Link]

Paediatric Treatment

Guidelines on co-trimoxazole prophylaxis for HIV-related infections among children, adolescents and adults in resource-limited settings: recommendations for a public health approach, 2006
In high-income countries, co-trimoxazole prophylaxis among children (both those exposed to HIV and those living with HIV) and adults and adolescents living with HIV has been the standard of care for many years. These guidelines developed by WHO in consultation with partner agencies and experts provide global technical and operational recommendations for the use of co-trimoxazole prophylaxis in HIV-exposed children, children living with HIV and adolescents and adults living with HIV in the context of scaling up HIV care in resource-limited settings. [PDF]

Antiretroviral therapy of HIV infection in infants and children in resource-limited settings, towards Universal Access: Recommendations for a public health approach, 2006
These revised guidelines prepared by WHO are consistent with and aim to support, the Call to Action: Towards an HIV-free and AIDS-free Generation. The document is one of a trilogy of guidelines published in 2006 by WHO and provides recommendations in support of a public health approach to antiretroviral therapy (ART) in resource-constrained settings. The guidelines serve as a framework for selecting the most potent and feasible first-line and second-line antiretroviral regimens as components of expanded national responses for the care of HIV-infected infants and children. [PDF]

Prevention among Adolescents and Young People

Preventing HIV/AIDS in Young People: A systematic review of the evidence from developing countries, 2006
The report produced by the Inter-Agency Task Team on Young People provides systematic reviews of the evidence for policies and programmes to decrease HIV prevalence among young people as a contribution towards achieving universal access to prevention, treatment and care and attaining the Millennium Development Goal on AIDS. [PDF]

Intensifying HIV prevention, UNAIDS policy position paper, 2005
This paper seeks to energize and mobilize an intensification of HIV prevention efforts with an ultimate aim of universal access to HIV prevention and treatment. The paper defines the central actions that must be taken to arrest the spread of new HIV infections and to turn the tide against AIDS. It identifies what needs to be done to speedily and effectively bridge the HIV prevention gap, building on synergies between HIV prevention and care, and to ensure the sustainability of HIV treatment scale-up in the present context. It highlights the role of UNAIDS in relation to intensifying HIV prevention and points to ways in which jointly supportive action can be achieved. [PDF]

At the crossroads: Accelerating youth access to HIV/AIDS interventions, 2004
This pamphlet draws upon discussions and outcomes of, the global consultation on “The Evidence for Policies and Programmes to Achieve the Global Goals on HIV/AIDS and Young People” held in Talloires, France, 24-28 May 2004. This global consultation was organized by WHO, UNAIDS, UNFPA and UNICEF, with the support of the UNAIDS Inter-Agency Task Team on Young People, and in collaboration with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, and a range of other partners. [PDF]

Protection and Support of Children Affected by HIV/AIDS

Enhanced Protection for Children Affected by AIDS, March 2007
This publication serves as a companion paper to The Framework for the Protection, Care and Support of Orphans and Vulnerable Children Living in a World with HIV and AIDS. It discusses the protection issues facing children globally and outlinies the priority actions needed to reduce their vulnerability. Like The Framework, the publication has been widely endorsed by international and non-governmental partners. It calls for enhanced social protection, legal protection and justice, and alternative care. This work must be underpinned by efforts to address the silence and stigma that allow HIV-related discrimination, abuse and exploitation of children to continue. [PDF]

Africa's Orphaned and Vulnerable Generations: Children Affected by AIDS, 2006
This report shows how the AIDS epidemic continues to affect children disproportionately and in many harmful ways, making them more vulnerable than other children, leaving many of them orphaned, and threatening their survival. Released by UNICEF, UNAIDS and PEPFAR (The US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief), the report contains new and improved research on orphans and vulnerable children and includes suggestions on what governments, NGOs, the private sector and the international community can do to better respond to the epidemic. [PDF]

The Framework for the Protection, Care and Support of Orphans and Vulnerable Children Living in a World with HIV and AIDS, July 2004
A broad range of stakeholders from all sectors of society collaborated to produce the Framework. It is targeted to senior leaders and decision makers around the world who can influence policies, programmes and resources directed to orphans and vulnerable children.  Its purpose is to provide a common agenda for mounting an effective response. [PDF]