Programme documents and research

Primary Prevention

Facing the Future Together: Report of the United Nations Secretary-General's Task Force on Women, Girls and HIV/AIDS in Southern Africa (2004)
[Word]

The task force has identified identified key actions in relation to its six focus issues:

• Prevention among girls and young women: We must collapse the bridge of infection between older men and younger women and girls.
  
• Girls' education: We must protect female enrolment figures - AIDS may be taking girls out of school.
  
• Violence against women and girls: We must protect girls and women from the direct and long-term risks of HIV infection as a result of violence.
  
• Property and inheritance rights: We must protect the rights of women and girls to own and inherit land.
  
• Women and girls as caregivers: We must put in place a Volunteer Charter articulating the rights and responsibilities of women and men who provide care and support to the sick and orphaned.
  
• Access to care and treatment for women and girls: We must address gender norms, violence, stigma and discrimination as potential barriers to women's access to care and treatment.

Young People Speak Out: Meeting our Rights to HIV Prevention and Care: Access for All - Bangkok Youth Report
(UNICEF, 2004)
The consultations are part of a larger strategy designed to engage young people as true partners in the fight against HIV/AIDS. For more than 10 years UNICEF has been working with adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa to prevent the spread of the disease. Across the continent, adolescents are developing critical life skills in classrooms, taking responsibility for their health with 'adolescent-friendly' health services and educating and motivating their peers to make safe choices.
[PDF]

At The Crossroads: Accelerating Youth Access to HIV/AIDS Interventions
(UNAIDS Inter-Agency Task Team on Young People: ILO, UNICEF, UNDP, UNESCO, UNODC, UNFPA, World Bank and WHO; 2004)
This Pamphlet draws upon the issues discussed at, and outcomes of, the global consultation on “The Evidence for Policies and Programmes to Achieve the Global Goals on HIV/AIDS and Young People” held in Talloires, France, 24-28 May 2004.
[PDF]

The Talloires Consultation to Review the Evidence for Policies and Programmes to Achieve the Global Goals on Young People and HIV/AIDS: Steady...Ready...GO!
(WHO, UNICEF, UNAIDS, and UNFPA, May 2004) The global consultation held in Talloires, France, 25-28 May, 2004, will contribute to simplifying the difficult decisions that governments, policy makers, programmers, research institutions and funding organizations have to take in order to make the most strategic use of available funds. The meeting focused on decisions relating to priority interventions to achieve the global goals on HIV/AIDS and young people (10-24 years). [PDF]

HIV Prevention in the Era of Expanded Treatment Access
(Global HIV Prevention Working Group, June 2004)
This report makes detailed recommendations on how to effectively integrate HIV prevention into expanding HIV treatment programmes. It also provides recommendations on new approaches to HIV prevention that will be required as treatment access expands.
[PDF]

Prevention of mother-to-child transmission plus

PMTCT report card 2005
Monitoring progress on the implementation of programs to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV.
[PDF]

Antiretroviral Drugs for Treating Pregnant Women and Preventing HIV Infection in Infants: Guidelines on Care, Treatment and Support for Women Living with HIV/AIDS and their Children in Resource-Constrained Settings
(WHO, 2004)
These guidelines present recommendations for the use of antiretroviral drugs for treating pregnant women and preventing HIV infection in infants in resource-constrained settings. It summarizes of the scientific rationale and programmatic considerations for these recommendations. It is intended to support and facilitate antiretroviral treatment for pregnant women and women of reproductive age who have indications for treatment. The guidelines may also be useful for health service providers as specific recommendations are provided for the most frequently encountered.
[PDF]

Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV (PMTCT) - Generic Training Curriculum
WHO and the United States Department of Health and Human Services-Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (HHS-CDC).
The WHO/CDC Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV Generic Training Package is a comprehensive approach to the training of health care workers.
[PDF]

Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV - Generic Training Package Participant Manual
(WHO,CDC; 2004)
[PDF]

This participant manual accompanies the WHO/CDC Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV Generic Training Package above, a comprehensive approach to the training of health care workers.

Included are the following modules:

• Module One: Introduction to HIV/AIDS [PDF]
• Module Two: Overview of HIV Prevention in Mothers, Infants, and Young Children [PDF]
• Module Three: Specific Interventions to Prevent MTCT [PDF]
• Module Four: Infant Feeding in the Context of HIV Infection [PDF]
• Module Five: Stigma and Discrimination Related to MTCT [PDF]
• Module Six: HIV Testing and Counselling for PMTCT [PDF]
• Module Seven: Linkages to Treatment, Care, and Support for Mothers and Families With HIV Infection [PDF]
• Module Eight: Safety and Supportive Care in the Work Environment [PDF]
• Module Nine: PMTCT Programme Monitoring [PDF]
• Glossary [PDF]

National Guide to Monitoring and Evaluating Programmes for the Prevention of HIV in Infants and Young Children
(UNAIDS, WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, USAID and CDC, 2004)
UNAIDS and its partners have developed a set of core indicators that permit the monitoring of key international and national actions, national programme outcomes and impact entitled National AIDS Programmes: A guide to monitoring and evaluation (UNAIDS/00.17E, June 2000). This guide has been widely distributed and used. As a consequence of rapid developments in HIV/AIDS prevention and care in the last few years, however, some important areas were not covered in that publication. One important shortcoming is that insufficient attention is paid to the monitoring and evaluation of programmes for the prevention of HIV infection in infants and young children. The present guide is an attempt to fill this gap.
[PDF]

HIV and Infant Feeding: Framework for Priority Action
(2003) The document that was developed by nine UN agencies, including UNICEF, proposes five key actions when supporting HIV and infant feeding. The five proposed actions are similar to the five already included in the UNICEF PRO on HIV and infant feeding (July 2002).
[PDF]

HIV and Infant Feeding: Guidelines for decision makers
(WHO/UNAIDS/UNICEF, 2003)
The purpose of this document is to provide guidance to decision makers on issues that need to be considered in relation to infant and young child feeding in the context of HIV, and to highlight areas of special concern on which policy decisions need to be made locally.
[PDF]

Paediatric Treatment

Scaling up antiretroviral therapy in resource-limited settings: Guidelines for a public health approach
(WHO, 2004)
The present updated and simplified treatment guidelines are a cornerstone of the WHO '3-by-5' Initiative and are more directive than its predecessor with respect to first-line and second-line therapies. These treatment guidelines are part of WHO's commitment to the treatment of persons living with HIV/AIDS. The first edition of these recommendations, published in April 2002, reflected the best practices at that time on the basis of a review of evidence. In this rapidly evolving field, WHO recognized at the outset that the recommendations would have to be regularly updated. The present revision has been brought forward as a result of new scientific data and the increasing reality of scale-up of anti-retroviral treatment in many countries.
[PDF]

Also available in French, Russian and Spanish. [PDF]

The 2004 guidelines above are currently being revised. Attached are two meeting reports that contain the revisions to both the paediatric and adult guidelines. [PDF]    [PDF]

The Columbia Clinical Manual
(The International Centre for AIDS Care and Treatment Programs, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, September 2004)
The Clinical Manual provides an overview of essential services, implementation recommendations, clinical guidelines and treatment algorithms. These are intended to enhance rather than to replace the judgment and expertise of health care workers, and to add to the clinical support tools developed by others.
[PDF]

Handbook on Paediatric AIDS in Africa
(African Network for the Care of Children Affected by AIDS, 2004)
This handbook seeks to provide a simple, accessible and practical guide for health professionals involved in preventing infection and caring for children infected and affected by HIV. The primary targets are medical students and their lecturers, nurses, clinicians, community health workers and other service providers in resource poor settings where there is a signficant HIV/AIDS burden.
[PDF]

Rapid HIV Tests: Guidelines for Use in HIV Testing and Counselling Services in Resource-Constrained Settings
(DRAFT, WHO and CDC, March 2004).
[PDF]

Sources and prices of selected medicines and diagnostics for people living with HIV/AIDS - June 2005 report
(UNICEF, UNAIDS, WHO and Médecins Sans Frontières; June 2005)
This report provides market information on 87 reviewed products for the treatment and management of HIV/AIDS from 84 manufacturers in 29 countries. It gives purchasers of AIDS medicines and diagnostics a range of choices related to suppliers and affordability. The medicines included were selected on the basis of WHO standard treatment guidelines, although it must be highlighted that the list is not intended to be exhaustive, but to cover the most commonly used HIV/AIDS medicines, with paediatric forms included wherever possible.
[Link]

Protection, Care and Support of Children affected by HIV/AIDS

Children on the Brink 2004
(UNAIDS, UNICEF and USAID, July, 2004)
Millions of children are growing up without parents. Millions more are in households with family members sick or dying from AIDS; children in sub-Saharan African have been hardest hit. Children on the Brink 2004 presents the latest statistics on historical, current and projected numbers of children under 18 who have been orphaned by AIDS and other causes. This edition of the biannial report underscores the changing needs of this vulnerable group as they progress through adolescence and calls for the urgent development and expansion of family and community support.
[Link]

The Framework for the Protection, Care and Support of Orphans and Vulnerable children living in a world with HIV and AIDS
(UNICEF, UNAIDS and partners, July, 2004).
[PDF]

A summary of the Framework and a cover letter from Carol Bellamy, former UNICEF Executive Director, are also available. [PDF]

The Framework’s key strategies are as follows:

• Strengthen the capacity of families to protect and care for orphans and vulnerable children by prolonging the lives of parents and providing economic, psychosocial and other support;
  
• Mobilize and support community-based responses;
  
• Ensure access for orphans and vulnerable children to essential services, including education, health care, birth registration and others;
  
• Ensure that governments protect the most vulnerable children through improved policy and legislation and by channeling resources to families and communities;
  
• Raise awareness at all levels through advocacy and social mobilization to create a supportive environment for children and families affected by HIV/AIDS.

Africa's Orphaned Generations
(UNICEF, November 2003, An updated version will be available in the first quarter of 2006)
The chilling consequences of HIV/AIDS are documented in this 52-page report, which provides data and analysis on sub-Saharan Africa's 11 million orphaned children and the households in which they live. Although the epidemic has pushed many families beyond their ability to cope, the report argues that immediate action can ensure that the continent's orphaned children are safe, healthy and educated. It encourages hope in the face of an epic disaster.
[PDF]

The Role of Education in the Protection, Care and Support of Orphans and Vulnerable Children Living in a World with HIV and AIDS
(UNAIDS Inter-Agency Task Team on Education and HIV/AIDS, 2004)
This document elaborates the contribution of education to the protection, care and support of orphans and other vulnerable children, as set out in the Framework for the Protection, Care and Support of Orphans and Vulnerable Children Living in a World with HIV and AIDS, and should be read with the UNAIDS global strategy on HIV/AIDS and Education: A Strategic Approach. It is intended to provide guidance for investments and interventions by presenting the broad lines of action considered necessary for education-related responses to orphans and other children made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS.
[PDF]