ART and Treatment

The West and Central Africa Catch-up Plan provides a framework for political advocacy and accelerated action for countries to adapt and scale up effective approaches and innovations that will reduce inequity in access to HIV treatment. Twelve countries have adapted this regional initiative to their national contexts and developed country catch-up plans, with the support of the World Health Organization (WHO), UNAIDS and UNICEF.

At the 19th International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa (ICASA), country representatives and partners took part in a meeting convened by UNICEF and UNAIDS to reflect on the shortfalls within West and Central Africa country catch-up plans and to agree on ways to sharpen acceleration strategies and interventions that will increase access to paediatric ART.

The meeting at ICASA had three high-level strategic objectives:

1. Call greater attention to the gap in paediatric HIV testing, including EID, and paediatric treatment within the West and Central African country catch-up plans
2. Define the priority actions for children in country catch-up plans in 2018, with a focus on: (a) expanding access to paediatric HIV testing through improved EID and rapid testing at other entry points; (b) improving immediate linkages to care and treatment; and (c) task-shifting to enable nurses within maternal, neonatal and child health facilities to treat children
3. Galvanize partnerships in support of country catch-up plans

More information can be found in this meeting report. 

This qualitative rapid appraisal study from researchers at the South African Medical Research Council and partners explores how community cadres provide links to health facilities and supports HIV client support. The study maps the roles taken by the community cadres as well as challenges and opportunities.

This presentation from IAS 2016 highlights a promising practice to improve retention of HIV-exposed infants (HEI) in the postnatal care continuum. The pilot integrated infant defaulter tracing into the Malawi's Option B+ programme. Description of the intervention and initial results are included here.

In follow-up to the 2017 Continental Summit in October 2017, Pediatric-Adolescent Treatment Africa (PATA) released a summary report with key highlights and recommendations from the meeting. Towards an AIDS Free Africa – Delivering on the frontline was the focus of the 2017 Summit, which brought together over 200 delegates across 15 sub-Saharan African countries along with programme implementers and policy-makers from across the globe. The recommendations provided are centred around three pillars – FIND, TREAT and CARE – that support the UNAIDS superfast-track framework. Attending health facility teams drafted new quality improvement plans and will be commencing 53 projects improving service delivery at the frontline in 2018.

UNICEF Learning Collaborative,Summary of Selected Research Articles
January - March 2018

The current state of the AIDS response is not sufficient to end AIDS in children and adolescents.

Appel pour l’accélération de l’élimination de la transmission mère-enfant du VIH et le traitement antirétroviral chez l’enfant en Afrique de l’ouest et du centre d’ici 2020

Call for the acceleration of the elimination of mother-to-child HIV transmission and antiretroviral treatment for children in West and Central Africa by 2020

This policy brief provides antiretroviral therapy programme managers, implementing partners, procurement and supply chain managers, and other relevant stakeholders with key points to consider before and during the introduction of the new dosage form of ritonavir-boosted lopinavir (LPV/r) oral pellets.