by John Miller, Projects Coordinator, Coalition on Children Affected by AIDS

For the third time since AIDS 2006, the Coalition on Children Affected by AIDS and The Teresa Group co-hosted a symposium on children affected by HIV/AIDS. Titled “Children and HIV: Family Support First,” the symposium provided an important and targeted opportunity to probe topics and issues focused on improving how best to support families and younger children in the battle against HIV/AIDS.  The symposium drew 440 attendees from 67 countries.
 
As Graca Machel told symposium attendees via video: “When one child dies needlessly from HIV/AIDS, it creates a tragic ripple that will harm our world for generations to come.” She urged attendees to join the growing Campaign to End Pediatric HIV/AIDS (CEPA). 

Elizabeth Mwenya of the Zambian Network of People Living With HIV and AIDS speaks at the the conference.

The symposium’s theme was family-centred prevention, treatment and care for children, with a strong emphasis on eliminating pediatric AIDS and reducing maternal mortality while expanding and connecting services related to the care and support of children.  Nearly one in five maternal deaths can be linked to HIV.

Jude Byrne of the International Network of People Who Use Drugs, cautioned delegates that family-centred services cannot be developed without a concurrent initiative to break down legal barriers and the stigmatization of especially-marginalized populations. “Family-centred services are fantastic on paper, but they won’t work without a change of attitudes toward drug-using parents, men who have sex with men and sex workers,” said Byrne.

While also urging delegates to expand sexuality education to reach younger children, Elizabeth Mataka, UN Special Envoy for HIV and AIDS in Africa, urged that immediate action be taken on these issues.

“Too little political commitment, too few resources and too little forward planning, execution and monitoring has been mustered to make this life-saving technology available to all women and their children,” said Mataka. 

In his remarks opening the symposium, UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé rallied people to support “The Road to Zero” to virtually eliminate parent-to-child transmission in the 10 most-affected countries by 2015, averting more than two million infections. “We don’t want anything less than zero new infections among children. This is our vision we are launching. We can do this by 2015 using a family-centred approach,” said Sidibé. 

Dr. Sankaran Vijaykumar of the Duke University-evaluated Tamil Nadu Health Systems Project in India said, “If you don’t emphasize the family, then you cannot be doing a complete job. This is one of the great conclusions that came out of the conference.”

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon launched the Joint Action Plan for Women and Children’s Health earlier this year to urge all stakeholders and partners to improve the health of women and children.

As  Mataka urged in her closing remarks, “HIV/AIDS services need to be integrated with maternal and child health, as well as with TB, nutrition and family planning programs, in order to serve the health and well-being of women, their children and families.”

Linda Richter, Senior Vulnerable Children’s Specialist at the Global Fund, said that HIV/AIDS creates “hubs for infection” in the home and in the family. When one family member is infected, the whole family is affected and put at risk. This is also why families are the first and last resort for those members who are suffering and in need of care.

New evidence presented in a special issue of the Journal of the International AIDS Society points to the effectiveness of family-centred approaches in increasing HIV testing, disclosure, support, prevention and treatment.

Wairimu Mungai of WEM Integrated Health Services in Kenya said, “The more you start working with a child, the more layers of need you begin to unpeel. The care of children has to be expanded to optimize invisible support structures like the family.”

In her moving speech recounting her personal journey through the illness and death of her children, Elizabeth Mwenya of the Network of Zambian People Living with HIV/AIDS said: “As we strengthen the family, we give children the gifts of being seen, heard and loved, and a chance for a better life.”

As we look toward AIDS 2012 in Washington, the evidence and experience is clear: by remembering that we live within biological or chosen families, we can go beyond the individual and the disease to save more lives—and improve more lives—for adults and children alike.