Children

Communities know best how to identify children most vulnerable to HIV infection and how to support them to test for HIV, initiate treatment and sustain treatment for the long-term. Building on local knowledge and local community structures, community-based models are effective, sustainable and critical for filling the gaps in paediatric HIV care and treatment to reach global goals.

HIV care and treatment for children and pregnant women in low-resource settings comes with a number of challenges. These include long distances to health facilities, stock outs of antiretroviral treatment or lack of paediatric antiretroviral treatment, health facility staff shortages and high workloads. These health system challenges are complicated by community challenges – poverty, food insecurity, stigma and discrimination. Those most affected are children. This is unacceptable. Join us in bringing kids to care!

0 %

of all deaths related to AIDS occur in children

0 %

of children living with HIV are not on treatment

1,078

children newly acquired HIV in 2022

The Kids to Care model

The Aidsfonds Kids to Care model is a four-stage community-based model that empowers communities to strengthen the links between communities and health facilities to find, test, treat, and retain children, and pregnant and lactating mothers, living with HIV. We work in collaboration with governments and local partners, to test and scale up community-based HIV programmes. These are based on the Kids to Care model that is part of our Paediatric HIV approach to ensure children can live healthily with HIV.

The Kids to Care model in video

Illustration of six people standing together, including three adults and three kids in colorful clothing. One person holds a child while another displays a red cross emblem.

Check out our projects!

project

BLOOM project

The aim of the project is a healthy life for children and their mothers (10-24) living with or exposed to HIV.

Communities

Adolescent girls and young women,
Children,

project

KidzAlive@Home

KidzAlive@Home is an innovative approach to improving identification, testing, treatment and retention in care for children living with HIV in South Africa by supporting caregivers to access comprehensive services in a child-friendly environment. It puts the child at the centre of care. Its needs are taken care of within a circle of key players, including their caregivers, the child’s family, community structures and the health facility. The programme was implemented by Zoë-life Innovative Solutions in South Africa with support from Aidsfonds, and focused on two communities in eThekwini and uMgungundlovu districts in KwaZulu-Natal province. KidzAlive@Home is based on identifying children living with HIV through engagement with community-based organisations and community structures building on the Kids to Care model stages which include find, test, treat and stay.

Communities

Children,

project

Lafiyan Yara

The Lafiyan Yara project is a community-based response to paediatric HIV in Nigeria. Run by Society for Family Health, it aimed to increase uptake of HIV services among children aged 0-14 years and to reduce mother-to-child transmission. The project worked with traditional birth attendants, village health workers and patent and proprietary medicine vendors, who worked to eliminate vertical transmission and identify children living with HIV as early as possible so they can be linked to care and supported to live healthy lives. Lafiyan Yara was implemented between 2019-2022 in eight local government authorities in Taraba state with support from Aidsfonds. In Hausa language Lafiyan Yara means 'well-being of children'. The Lafiyan Yara project is built on the Kids to Care model, using the four stages of find, test, treat and stay, where early detection of HIV can reduce infant, child and maternal mortality. To facilitate early detection of HIV, community-level mobilisers for health are engaged to conduct effective case identification and linkage to care.

Communities

Children,

project

Towards an AIDS Free Generation in Uganda

The Towards an AIDS Free Generation in Uganda (TAFU) programme was Aidsfonds’ first paediatric HIV community intervention programme. The programme trained up community health workers to identify HIV positive children, and link individuals to care and ongoing support. The programme was co-created through community leadership and engagement with key stakeholders, building on community knowledge of the needs of children living with HIV. Towards an AIDS Free Generation in Uganda changed the way that community-based paediatric HIV services were delivered.

Communities

Children,

project

Kusingata

Kusingata means ‘support’ or ‘warmth’ in local language, referring to a support approach to families and children living with or affected by HIV. It is rooted in traditional systems of the communities in Inhambane. The programme makes use of these community structures for referrals to testing and treatment; individual support through home visits; support groups and community dialogues. Implementation of a community scorecard, a social accountability tool at health facility level, quality of HIV services have been improved from a user-perspective. To assure intrinsic motivation of clients, field staff and health care providers have received training on motivational interviewing. The Lafiyan Yara project is built on the Kids to Care model, using the four stages of find, test, treat and stay, where early detection of HIV can reduce infant, child and maternal mortality. To facilitate early detection of HIV, community-level mobilisers for health are engaged to conduct effective case identification and linkage to care.

Communities

Children,

project

Paediatric HIV Breakthrough Partnership

The Breakthrough Partnership is a commitment to end paediatric HIV in regions most urgent.

Communities

Adolescent girls and young women,
Children,

project

Tanya Marlo Indonesia – Stepped Care Model

Tanya Marlo (‘Ask Marlo’) works to reach young people with quality HIV information and guides them to tailored advice and services, such as HIV self-testing and PrEP.

Communities

LGBTIQ+ people,
People living with HIV,
Young people,

project

Emergency support fund for Ukraine and CEECA region

The Emergency Fund provides uninterrupted services and safety for people living with and vulnerable to HIV in times of war and disruption in Central & Eastern Europe and Central Asia (CEECA) region, including Ukraine. The region has the fastest growing HIV epidemic in the world. The Fund focuses on the urgent unmet needs of key populations, builds the capacity and sustainability of the community systems response, and addresses the scarcity and fragmentation of international funding for key populations. It provides small, middle and larger grants to local community-led and community-based organisations, who provide low-threshold, fast-paced, client-oriented aid to the people around them. Cooperation is at the core of our work: Aidsfonds has formed a partnership with Eurasion Coalition on Health, Rights, Gender and Sexual Diversity (ECOM) and Alliance for Public Health (APH) on the establishment of this Emergency Fund.

Communities

Children,
LGBTIQ+ people,
People living with HIV,
People who use drugs,
Sex workers,
Young people,

Kids to Care learned us to invest more in the community

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