Equity and HIV/AIDS

The first draft of the political declaration was released on April 26, and is based on the outcomes of the regional consultations on Scaling Up for Universal Access. Amongst other important strengths, the draft declaration has quite a strong focus on women and girls, committing governments to increase women’s and girls’ capacity to protect themselves from the risk of HIV infection, to take measures that will promote women’s empowerment and to protect and promote women’s human rights. The text also calls for stronger policy and program linkages between sexual and reproductive health and HIV and AIDS.

African leaders meeting at a special summit on HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, threw down a challenge to their governments by setting bold new targets to be achieved by 2010. At the end of the gathering to review progress in implementing the 2001 Abuja Declaration on AIDS, TB and Malaria, a major resolution was passed, declaring that at least 80 percent of those in need, especially women and children, should have access to HIV/AIDS treatment, including antiretroviral (ARV) drugs, care and support. Civil society organisations welcomed the ambitious continental targets, but it remains to be seen whether these will be met, particularly when considering how little progress has been made in implementing goals set in 2001. Of particular concern is that leaders reiterated their commitment to devote 15 percent of their national budgets to improving the health sector, while the African Union (AU) found that Nigeria, Burundi and Ethiopia scored worst in this respect, having set aside only four, three and two percent of their annual budgets respectively for health. Only a third of African countries spend 10 percent of their budget or more on health. African countries also pledged that at least 80 percent of pregnant women would have access to medication for preventing mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) by 2010, and at least 80 percent of target populations would have access to voluntary testing and counselling services.

Uganda began to implement the prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV programme in 2000, and by the end of 2003 it had expanded to cover 38 of 56 districts including Mbale District. However, reports from Mbale Hospital showed that less than 10% of pregnant women accepted antenatal HIV testing. We therefore conducted a study to determine the proportion of pregnant women who tested for HIV and the gaps and barriers in PMTCT implementation.

This short article examines the impacts that HIV and AIDS in a community has on children living in that community. The author reviews the different impacts that these situations have on children. The author also discusses Article 26 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), in the context of children indirectly affected by HIV and AIDS, which states that children have a right to benefit from state-provided social security. Registration required (free).