Transcript Outcomes of the East & Southern Africa Regional Inter-Agency Task Team (RIATT) Children’s Conference in Dar-es-Salaam By Noreen M.

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Outcomes of the East & Southern Africa Regional
Inter-Agency Task Team (RIATT)
Children’s Conference in Dar-es-Salaam
By
Noreen M. Huni
6th October, 2008
Dublin
Situation in the Region

Greater political and financial attention, considerable
progress towards achieving universal access to
prevention, treatment, care and support for children living
with and affected by HIV and AIDS.
 Providing
antiretroviral treatment for children,
 Preventing
 Supporting
mother-to-child transmission of HIV and
the care of orphans and vulnerable children,
especially through strengthening family-centred and
community-based responses.
Situation in the Region continued



1.8 million children are living with HIV
11.4 million children under 18 have lost one or
both parents to AIDS.
Increased child mortality rates due to HIV
 AIDS
- leading cause of death among children younger than
five years in six countries, all in East and Southern Africa.

Families available, but weakened.
RIATT - East and Southern Africa: Overview


February 2006: Global Partners Forum’s recommendation of
establishing regional task teams.
October 2006: The East and Southern Africa Regional Inter
Agency Task Team (RIATT) was formed - 23 organizations.


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Strives to build consensus around a regional strategy for children
affected by HIV/AIDS and conduct ongoing research in the region.
Focus – resource tracking, social protection, advocacy,
regional engagement and social innovation.
The conference results culminate from the past one and
half years’ RIATT led work in the region.
260+ delegates.
Historic nature
of children and
older carers
participation
Collectively
reviewed
progress and
evidence for
action needed
to scale up the
response to
children
affected by HIV
and AIDS.
Recommendations: 4 Critical Areas for Urgent Action for Scaling Up.
Calling on Governments, community & faith based organizations,
international and regional bodies to:
Keep
Parents and
Children
Alive
Increase
Effectiveness of
Services and
Funding
Universal
Access to
prevention,
treatment, care
and support for
children infected
and affected by
HIV and AIDS in
the region.
Strengthen
Families &
Communities
Human
Rights for
Vulnerable
Children
Keep Parents and Children Alive

Increase resource allocation
improve children’s access to early diagnosis,
 child appropriate treatment,
 child friendly voluntary counseling and testing, and
 supervisory and follow-up support for adherence.


Expand the reach of vertical transmission prevention
programmes for both women and men,

adopt a family centered approach, including older carers, to
testing, treatment, adherence, counseling and support
programmes.
Keep Parents and Children Alive Continued

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
Link and integrate nutritional support into treatment
programmes.
Incorporate awareness of nutrition and positive living into
support group activities for both adults and children.
Conduct research to understand how children are infected
with HIV beyond vertical transmission, such as through
sexual abuse and caring for sick family members.
Strengthen Families and Communities as Units of Care and Support

Gear relevant support towards the family, rather than only
orphaned children
 Majority
of them are cared for within a family context.
 Institutional care should be considered a last resort.

Cash transfers
a
viable means of strengthening families’ capacities to provide
care and support
 should be aligned to national policies and legislation relating to
poverty and children.

Strengthen skills of child, youth and older caregivers with age
and gender sensitive training, including life and parenting skills,
and awareness on sexuality and HIV and AIDS.
Strengthen Families and Communities as Units of Care and Support

Create formal structures and systems for effective and
meaningful child participation at national, district and community
levels.
 Engage adolescent children in designing, implementing, and
monitoring programmes that concern them.

Support families with children under 5 through effective early
childhood care and development programmes.

Hire, train and adequately pay volunteers and community
health care workers to increase accessibility of health systems
to older carers and children, and linking them to needed
services.
Increase Effectiveness of Services and Funding

Align all responses with:
National AIDS Plans and
 National Plans of Action on “Orphans and Vulnerable Children”

at all levels of government and ensure regional responses
are aligned with plans of regional bodies.

Ensure vulnerable children are included in national
development and sectoral plans.
Increase Effectiveness of Services and Funding
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Improve coordination between ministries and all key
stakeholders providing services to children at all levels.
Integrate social protection policies and plans into national
development policies and plans.
Strengthen national social welfare systems, with a focus on
care and protection of vulnerable children at all levels.
Increase Effectiveness of Services and Funding
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Strengthen monitoring and evaluation mechanisms and encourage
effective resource tracking from national to community level.
Update regularly country situation analyses on vulnerable
children to keep up with realities on the ground.
Improve regional and national data collection on vulnerable
children and their carers by disaggregating by age and
gender.
Emphasize the importance of civil registration systems,
particularly birth and death registration in the legal protection of
children
Human Rights for Vulnerable Children
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Incorporate issues of gender inequality, violence, and abuse
particularly of girls into HIV prevention policies and
programmes.
Reinforce the right to appropriate sexual and reproductive
health education and information for children and older carers.
Strengthen and increase the number of child friendly courts and
increase resources available for legal aid for children and older
carers.
Strengthen legal frameworks designed to protect children and
ensure their timely implementation.
Human Rights for Vulnerable Children
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Include all vulnerable children in legislation, programmes,
plans, and delivery of services, not just children orphaned
and affected by AIDS.
Define vulnerability at national, rather than international
level, with inputs from children, older carers, and community
and faith based organizations, to ensure that no vulnerable
children are excluded or stigmatized.
Human Rights for Vulnerable Children

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Vulnerable children:
 Orphaned
 Other children affected by HIV and AIDS
 Children affected by armed conflict, extreme poverty, and
children with significant disabilities.
Provide free good quality primary and secondary
schooling and financing opportunities for tertiary level
education, which include life skills.
 Support for transport, uniforms, and school materials must
be provided.
Conclusion
Recommendations: 4 Critical Areas for Urgent Action for
Scaling Up.
Calling on Governments, community & faith based organizations, international and regional
bodies to:

Global leaders, the East &
Southern Region looks up
to your intensified interest
and support:

Keep
Parents and
Children
Alive
Increase
Effectiveness of
Services and
Funding
Policy and programming
support

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For resource mobilization
for the region focusing the
four critical areas as
prioritized by the regional
stakeholders.
Human
Rights for
Vulnerable
Children
Opportunity for interregional learning and
dialogue
“The pain of the past does not have to be today’s reality.”
Iyanla Vanzant – Yesterday I Cried.
Together we can all run with them out of this painful
past, and walk with them into the future of tomorrow.
Thank you!