About the campaign

In 2005 Unite for Children, Unite against AIDS was launched as a global Call to Action to all those working to protect children from the impact of HIV and AIDS. Drawing attention to the international community’s commitment to the Millennium Development Goals and the promises world leaders have made since the UN General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS in 2001.

The campaign calls for the next generation to be AIDS-free.

An important part of the Unite for Children, Unite against AIDS commitment involves advocating for the achievement of MDG 6 - to halt and begin to reverse the spread of HIV and AIDS by 2015.

HOW?

By focusing on the following goals – the Four Ps:

P1 - Prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission
By 2010, offer appropriate services to 80 per cent of women in need
P2 - Provide paediatric treatment
By 2010, provide treatment to 80 per cent of children in need
P3 - Prevent infection among adolescents and young people
By 2010, reduce the percentage of young people living with HIV by 25 per cent
P4 - Protect and support children affected by HIV and AIDS
By 2010, reach 80 per cent of children most in need

The annual Children and AIDS: Stocktaking Report monitors progress towards achieving these goals. The reports look at data on progress, emerging evidence, and current knowledge and practice for children as they relate to four programme areas. The key findings from the 3rd Stocktaking Report are:

Scale up programmes for early infant diagnosis
Expand access to treatment for pregnant women that are HIV positive
Integrate HIV response within primary health care programmes
Increase efforts to support mothers on safe child feeding practices
Tailor combined prevention programmes to the needs of adolescents and young people
Address the greater vulnerability of girls
Ensure availability of high quality and disaggregated data
Invest in systems that will protect the most vulnerable children

Unite for Children, Unite against AIDS provides a child-focused framework for nationally owned programmes around the ‘Four Ps’ - urgent imperatives that can make a real difference in the lives and life chances of children affected by HIV/AIDS, such as:

Mobilizing international resources to combat HIV/AIDS. This means not only a significant increase in official development assistance overall, but also a bigger proportion allocated to HIV and AIDS and, specifically, to protect, care, support and provide treatment for children affected by the disease.
Advocating for governments, donors and international and non-governmental organizations to stand by the commitment to come as close as possible to the goal of universal access to treatment by 2010.
Supporting countries in accessing appropriate and affordable medicines, especially formulations and diagnostics adapted to the specific needs of children.
Campaigning for education and health services to be strengthened, and for governments and agencies to work towards the elimination of user fees for primary education and, where appropriate, health-care services.
Putting the protection, care, support and treatment of children, adolescents and young people at the centre of national and international HIV/AIDS agendas.

Governments and agencies, activists and scientists, corporations and community workers, families, children and young people must join the many who are already working towards an AIDS-free generation, when

Not one more child will die of AIDS,
Not one more child will be infected with HIV, and
Not one more child will lose a parent or a teacher or a friend to a pandemic that must be stopped.