Publications on Children

South Asia stands out as the region with the second largest number of HIV infections in the world. HIV is now found in every country in South Asia. No longer can any society in the region consider itself immune to the virus.

The United Nations Regional Taskforce on Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV met from 11-13 May 2004 in Bangkok, involving countries from East and South Asia and the Pacific. The meeting aimed to strengthen communication and cooperation among those working on PMTCT in Asia and the Pacific through sharing country experiences and technical updates from global experts.

Universal education might seem a relatively straightforward goal but it has proven as difficult as any to achieve. Decades after commitments and reaffirmations of those commitments have been made to ensure a quality education for every child, some 121 million children are still denied this right.

The guidelines described herein were developed from discussions at several technical consultations and documents on complementary feeding.

This particular study therefore seeks to contribute to a greater understanding of how the HIV/AIDS epidemic impacts on children. The conceptual framework is based on the Convention on the Rights of the Child, signed and ratified by Vietnam and almost all other countries in the world. 

The HIV epidemic has been spreading slowly in Lao PDR, and the prevalence remains low. Nevertheless there is potential for the epidemic to grow and much need for further prevention efforts and care and support initiatives. The NCCA has established a new Taskforce to address prevention and care in relation to mother to child transmission (MTCT) of HIV. UNICEF Vientiane wishes to assist the Taskforce to develop appropriate national policies and strategies to address the problems raised by parent to child transmission of HIV. 

UNICEF EAPRO convened the UN Regional Taskforce meeting in Bangkok from 27-29 August 2003 as part of ongoing efforts to support countries to respond strategically and effectively to HIV/AIDS, to share the lessons learned between countries and from clinical trials and programme initiatives, and to meet the Millennium Development Goals, and the Declaration of Commitments arising from the 2001 UN General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS.

UNICEF developed the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) to monitor goals established at the World Summit for Children (WSC) held in New York in 1990. But it is also consistent with many monitoring needs of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), as well as those of the more recent World Fit for Children (WFFC) that many countries are now using for human development planning into the 21st Century.

Effective and innovative responses to the psychosocial needs of young people and children (including counseling) require investment in addition to VCT services. The United Nation’s Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has a crucial role to play in this area.

This report illustrates the powerful and negative effects of stigma on those affected by HIV/AIDS.