Protecting Childhood in the AIDS Pandemic Finding Solutions that Work

by Heymann, Jody; Sherr, Lorraine; Kidman, Rachel

• ISBN13: 9780199765126
• ISBN10: 019976512X
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-02-20
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Every year over a quarter of a million children die of AIDS. Another two million children currently live with HIV, most in sub-Saharan Africa. Millions more are affected when AIDS enters their families or their communities. Orphans are perhaps the most visible: 15 million children have lost one or both parents to AIDS; 12 million of them live in sub-Saharan Africa. The increasing burden of care due to HIV/AIDS falls mainly on extended family: first they care for the sick and dying relatives, and then they take responsibility for the children left behind. Today, the extended family cares for over 90% of double orphans. Adults who take on these immense caregiving burdens have less time for their own children, fewer financial resources, and greater difficulties securing food and shelter. Thus, children who have parents providing care to sick relatives or who share scarce resources with foster children may also experience disadvantage. In communities severely affected by AIDS, traditional safety nets are often eroded by cumulative mortality: teachers are absent from school because of their own illness or that of family members, and basic health facilities can be overwhelmed by AIDS care needs, all of which leave children increasingly vulnerable. The impact is most severe in environments where government- and state-level support is weakest-where universal education, health care, and social welfare are either partially available or not available at all. Protecting Childhood in the AIDS Pandemicwill bring together lessons from experts around the world on what has worked, and what would need to be done to transform the outcomes of children of all ages whose lives have been affected by HIV/AIDS. Examining which public policies and programs have worked best to meet the full range of children's needs, from medical care to social support and from infancy to adolescence, this is the volume for academics, social scientists, policymakers, and on-the-ground practitioners.

Author Biography

Jody Heymann, MD, PhD, is the Founding Director of the Institute for Health and Social Policy at McGill University. She led some of the earliest work on preventing post-natal HIV transmission, reducing HIV associated tuberculosis, and improving ways to get HIV treatment to low-income settings. An internationally renowned researcher on public policy and equity in 190 countries, Heymann's work has been featured widely in The New York Times, Washington Post,CNN, NPR, Financial Times, and Business Week, among other leading national and international media.

Lorraine Sherr, PhD, is a clinical psychologist and academic working in London with wide national and international research and policy experience. She has authored over 255 publications on the subject of HIV infection generally and families particularly. She has sat on the World Health Organization's Strategic Organizational committee and has been awarded a Churchill Fellowship for work on mothers and infants in HIV.

Rachel Kidman, PhD, is a Research Assistant Professor in the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine at Tulane University, where her research focuses on the development of appropriate social interventions to help protect the welfare of children affected by AIDS. She has conducted research on health and educational disparities and programs serving vulnerable children and their families in sub-Saharan Africa.

Table of Contents

1. Meeting the Essential Needs of All Children
Jody Heymann, Lorraine Sherr, and Rachel Kidman

Part I. The Critical Context of Children's Lives

2. The Central Role of Families in the Lives of Children Affected by AIDS
Linda M. Richter

3. Strength Under Duress: Community Responses to Children's Needs
Geoff Foster, Nathan Nshakira, and Nigel Taylor

Part II. Challenges to Child Development

4. Early Childhood: The Building Base for the Future
Patrice L. Engle

5. Education in a Pandemic: The Needs of School-aged Children
Xiaoming Li and Yan Guo

6. Healthy Minds: Psychosocial Interventions for School-aged Children Affected by HIV/AIDS
Lucie D. Cluver, Malega Kganakga, Mark E. Boyes, and Mihyung Park

7. Transition into Adulthood: The Changing Needs of Youth
Simona Bignami-Van Assche and Vinod Mishra

Part III. Meeting Health Care Needs

8. Effective HIV Prevention and Treatment for Pregnant Mothers and Their Children
Hoosen M. Coovadia and Marie-Louise Newell

9. Breaking the Cycle: Challenges and Solutions in Pediatric HIV Policy
Liezl Smit, Angela Dramowski, Kevin Clarke, Janine Clayton, Annemadelein Scherer, Amy Slogrove, Happyson Musvosvi, Marina Rifkin, and Mark Cotton

Part IV. Getting Delivery Done Well

10. Choices and Consequences: Should Resources Directed Toward AIDS-affected Children or Poor Families?Michelle Adato

11. Whose Responsibility is It Anyway? Four Perspectives

View 1. Moving from Abrogation to Shared Responsibility
Douglas Webb

View 2. Responsibility, Accountability, and Government (In)Action
Agnes Binagwaho

View 3. Children's Rights and the Responsibility of All Stakeholders
Stefan E. Germann, Stuart Kean, and Rachel Samuel

View 4. The Responsibility Not to Turn Away
Chris Desmond