Program Overview: Objectives and Targets
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Objectives

Overall Objective

To reduce HIV transmission and to reduce the impact of the epidemic, on children, young people and families, through increasing the effectiveness of national and intercountry responses to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in East Asia and the Pacific and providing practical support at community level, encouraging the full participation of people affected by HIV/AIDS.

Specific Objectives

  • To assist and facilitate achievement of objectives formulated for UNICEF Country Programs (national-level advocacy, capacity building, mainstreaming of HIV/AIDS into UNICEF programming, technical assistance for behaviour development and change, reproductive health, care and support, and going to scale).
  • To facilitate and develop multi-country and multi-agency initiatives and responses to effectively reduce HIV transmission and the impact of HIV/AIDS on children, youth, women and families, and people with high-risk behaviour.
  • To keep Country Offices and partners informed about emerging issues, assist with the development of effective responses to these issues, as well as facilitate exchange and sharing of information, experiences and resources.
  • To participate and help to coordinate new regional and country initiatives to reduce trafficking in women and children with HIV/AIDS/STD prevention and care activities.

UNICEF Medium-term Targets for 2002-2005

UNICEF support for HIV/AIDS prevention and care now takes place within the context of the UNICEF global Medium Term Strategic Plan. This plan has the following targets:

Contributing to the achievement of the commitments agreed at the UN Special Session on AIDS, UNICEF's medium term aim is to 'support and strengthen the capacities of individuals, families, communities and nations to prevent HIV infection and ensure protection and care for children and young people infected and affected by HIV and AIDS'. More specifically, UNICEF will support actions to a) prevent new infections among young people; b) prevent parent to child transmission of the HIV virus; c) expand access to care and support for children and their families living with HIV and AIDS; and d) expand care, protection and support for children orphaned or made vulnerable by HIV and AIDS. Seeking these results for children, UNICEF will intensify its advocacy and programming efforts to ensure the achievement of the following medium term objectives:
  • By 2005, ensure that all UNICEF country programmes have conducted an assessment and analysis of the HIV/AIDS situation and its actual or potential impacts on children and young people, and have developed country programme strategies and actions to respond to HIV and AIDS guided by the global strategy framework.
  • By 2005, ensure that national policies and strategies have been approved and action plans are under implementation to reduce the risk and vulnerability of young people to HIV infection, in countries with emerging, concentrated, and generalized epidemics.
  • By 2005, ensure that national policies, strategies and action plans are under implementation to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV in all countries affected by HIV/AIDS.
  • By 2005, ensure that national policies, strategies and action plans are developed and implemented to ensure protection and care for children orphaned or made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS in all countries affected by HIV/AIDS.

Target Populations

  • Children, adolescents and young people: children affected by AIDS; AIDS orphans; children in need of special protection (street children, sex workers, child labourers); students; out-of-school youth and adolescents.
  • Women of reproductive age: housewives; pregnant women; HIV-positive mothers; young women in the workplace; direct and indirect sexworkers.
  • People considered vulnerable: the poorest and others not reached by or benefitting from government education and social services; people living with HIV/AIDS; families and communities affected by HIV/AIDS; migrants; seasonal workers; indigenous populations; military; police; young men having sex with men; substance abusers and people with sexually transmitted infections.
  • Policy makers and government officials.
  • Implementing organizations and groups: local NGOs, community-based organizations and peer-support groups of people living with HIV/AIDS.

Target Risk Behaviours

Unprotected Sex

Across the region, there is strong evidence that adolescents and young people, especially girls and young women, are becoming more sexually active. Adolescents are especially vulnerable to HIV, especially where they do not have access to condoms or the skills and knowledge to reduce their vulnerability.

Girls and young women are at greater risk of infection than boys both biologically and because their first partner has, in many cases, already had other unprotected sexual contacts. Women are often too ashamed to negotiate condom use, or are afraid of their partner's response. A survey in China suggests that unprotected pre- and extra-marital sex frequently occurs among injecting drug users, increasing the cross-over risk of HIV transmission to the general population.

Sexually transmitted infections, which greatly raise the risk of HIV transmission through unprotected sex, are reaching epidemic levels in some countries.

Sex Work

In Thailand and Cambodia, sex workers were the first population groups to experience major HIV/AIDS epidemics, and generally sex workers have far higher prevalence rates that mainstream populations. Men who become infected from sex workers often in turn infect their wives or girlfriends.

Armed conflict, wealth disparities and migration have fuelled rises in both supply and demand for commercial sex, even in areas where it was virtually unknown even a decade ago.

Many trafficked women and children end up in the sex industry, in conditions that can be close to slavery. This group is very vulnerable to HIV/AIDS because of their limited access to information and health services, and their lack of leverage with employers and clients.

Substance Abuse

HIV infection rates among injecting drug users are alarmingly high in Viet Nam, China, and Myanmar, and the number of new users is increasing. Use of non-injected psychoactive substances (particularly methamphetamines) is also on the rise, especially among youth. Alcohol and other substances are important contributing factors to increased risk behaviour and reduced ability to identify and control risk.

Men Having Sex with Men

Limited evidence available from men who have sex with men indicates serious levels of infection among this hard-to-access sub-population. Studies show low condom usage, low perceived risk of contracting HIV/AIDS, and high numbers of partners. An increase in men becoming sex workers has been reported in several countries. However, there is a marked lack of research, programming and services targetting men who have sex with men.

For more information on country-level activities, see the individual country reports.