HIV/AIDS: What about very young children?

Source Key list: HIV/AIDS and Early Childhood Development

HIV/AIDS: What about very young children Report from Exchange lunchtime discussion on 21 April 2004

The way the money goes: an investigation of flows of funding
and resources for young children affected by HIV/AIDS
Dunn, A/Bernard van Leer Foundation 2005 (PDF 42 pages 850 KB)

This Exchange findings paper reveals gaps in programming and policy to support the 0-8 age group and suggests ways forward.

Exchange Findings 2: HIV/AIDS: What about very young children? (2004, PDF 6 pages 78 KB)

Contact healthcomms@healthlink.org.uk to receive a text-only version by e-mail.

Key points

• Very young children are at a critical stage of development when holistic care and support is essential.
• Opportunities to meet young children’s needs are greatly reduced in communities affected by HIV and AIDS yet research, policy and programming tends to ignore the 0-8 age group.
• Support for ongoing community initiatives can increase household and community capacity to provide holistic care for very young children affected by HIV and AIDS.
• Ways of listening to and consulting with very young children need to be promoted to enable children aged 0-8 to participate in processes that affect them and to be valued for the contributions that they make.
• National policy frameworks need to include HIV and AIDS in Early Childhood Development (ECD) programmes and integrate ECD initiatives into National AIDS plans of action.

The full paper (PDF), by Alison Dunn for Exchange, presents the arguments for the key points above and gives practical examples to inform a way forward.

See Source Key list: HIV/AIDS and Early Childhood Development for key resources drawn from this research.