Children and HIV/AIDS Programme
In spite of concerted national efforts, the HIV/AIDS epidemic continues to spread in Jamaica, with the number of AIDS cases increasing by 18 per cent between 2001 and 2004. It is estimated that approximately 22,000 persons live with HIV. Most HIV infections occur in urban areas. Close to 10 per cent of reported AIDS cases are among children under 18, and 20 per cent among young people aged 20-29 years. Adolescent girls aged 10-19 are almost three times more likely to become infected with HIV than boys of the same age. This higher susceptibility for girls is a result of several factors, including early sexual initiation, young girls having sexual relations with HIV- infected older men, and high rates of forced sex and prevalent unsafe practices among adolescents. While AIDS is the second leading cause of death in children aged 1-4, paediatric AIDS cases (children under 10) have declined over the last four years because of increased prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) in public services. More than 90 per cent of pregnant women are being tested as part of antenatal care in the public sector, and it is conservatively estimated that 43 per cent of those who test positive access antiretroviral (ARV) drugs. An estimated 20,000 children are affected by HIV/AIDS, of whom approximately 5,000 are orphaned. A rapid assessment conducted in 2002 concluded that children affected by HIV/AIDS suffer from poor nutrition, lack of schooling, trauma from witnessing the death of a family member, and non-supportive family and community environments. The extremely high levels of stigma and discrimination associated with the disease put children at a higher risk of exclusion and marginalization. Programme Objectives The overall programme’s objective is to strengthen national and parish capacities to prevent HIV infection among children and to care for children with HIV and AIDS or affected by the epidemic. Complementing financial support from the Global Fund and the World Bank, the Children and HIV/AIDS programme supports the implementation of the National HIV/AIDS Strategic Plan 2007-2012, including targeted, data-driven prevention, treatment, care and support interventions with vulnerable groups of children and adolescents, and the establishment of a comprehensive HIV/AIDS monitoring system under the management of one national coordinating authority.Programme Strategies The results will be achieved through a combination of national and parish/community level interventions.National Level: The programme will strive to foster an enabling policy, planning and programming environment; improve data processing and monitoring, as well as the dissemination of data to inform advocacy and social mobilization efforts; and establish appropriate policy and legislative measures to enable effective service delivery, including measures to prevent stigma and discrimination. The quality life-skills based reproductive health and HIV/AIDS-related education will be implemented in primary and secondary schools nationwide. Parish Level: Targeting the parishes with high HIV/AIDS prevalence, support will be provided to programmes providing age-appropriate, gender-sensitive sexual and reproductive health information, skills and services to reduce young people’s risk and vulnerability to HIV. This will include the participation of adolescents and expansion of adolescent-friendly VCCT services as well as targeted outreach interventions providing information and skills-based education to especially vulnerable adolescent groups and to young male sexual partners of adolescent girls. Community Level: UNICEF will support community projects to strengthen the capacity of duty-bearers to care for, support and protect children orphaned or made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS. The latter will also include improving the livelihoods of parents and providing equitable access to essential services and cash assistance, and home-based care. Additionally, support will be continued to build the capacity of health care workers, teachers, psychologist and social workers to provide user-friendly and quality services to children and women. Projects 1. Enabling Policy and Programming EnvironmentThis project will support the comprehensive National Strategic Plan 2007-2011 and related sectoral policies and plans that aim at universality and prioritize access by children and adolescents (including especially vulnerable adolescents) to prevention, care, treatment, support and impact mitigation services. The project is national in scope and will benefit all children. 2. Improving Access to and Quality of Services This project will compliment the Enabling Policy and Programming Environment Project, and will result in:
While national in its scope, this project will also support interventions in the two parishes with the highest HIV/AIDS prevalence. 3. Monitoring and Evaluation This project will ensure provision of technical assistance and will support the improvement of data collection, processing and monitoring, as well as dissemination of data to inform advocacy and social mobilization efforts, to establish appropriate policy and legislative measures and to enable effective service delivery. The strategies of this project are geared towards improving: participation of adolescents in surveys and research, the establishment of baseline data and performance frameworks for pilot interventions in targeted parishes as well as on capacity building of decision makers and professionals to improve data quality, monitoring and reporting.
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