Journal of the International AIDS Society Blog

Launch of "Family-centred services for children affected by HIV and AIDS" Supplement

The HIV epidemic continues to place a great burden on children, and the importance that treatment and care for children are integrated into the broader context of family-support schemes is becoming increasingly recognised. However, despite growing evidence of the benefits of family-centred services, reforms in favour of family-oriented HIV interventions have been slow to emerge.

With this month’s supplement on “Family-centred services for children affected by HIV and AIDS” the Journal of the International AIDS Society (JIAS) brings together in one place for the first time the rationale for family-centred services for children affected by HIV and AIDS and some of the available evidence for the effectiveness of doing so.

The issue comprises nine articles by leading researchers in the field, starting with an introduction by Linda Richter and followed by contributions from Theresa Betancourt and colleagues on family-centred models for prevention of vertical transmission and Sarah Leeper and colleagues, who analyse the impact of family-services on children’s health. In addition Lorraine Sherr as well as Vicky Hosegood and Sangeetha Madhavan explore the role of men in these types of programmes. Two articles by Jennifer Beard and colleagues, and Sunil Solomon and colleagues describe family-centred care for marginalized groups. Focusing on pre- and early adolescents, Arvin Bhana and colleagues review an intervention project and the concluding article of the issue by Mark Tomlinson examines links to the field of depression.

We hope this special issue constitutes a beginning of what could be a groundswell of interest in family-centred services for children affected by HIV and AIDS. We would like to invite and encourage readers to contemplate the diverse aspects of this area and to engage with the editors and the authors in dialogue on this important and timely issue by using the ‘comment’ option on the JIAS website below each article.

 

 

 

Posted by Rose-Marie Neuenschwander at 12:57    Comments (0)

 

Call for submission for organizing AIDS2010 hubs – deadline 30 June!

For those active in the response against HIV/AIDS but cannot attend the conference in Vienna,  for delegates going to Vienna and committed to follow up when they return,  AIDS 2010 organizers invite you to be part of the movement for expanded access by organizing an independent hub in your region. Independent hubs are “mini-conferences”, hosted by local organizations around the world, featuring screenings of a selection of videotaped sessions followed by moderated discussions on how the content of the session may be used to strengthen the response to HIV locally.

A conference hub is a unique chance to engage regional leadership, build professional capacities among local stakeholders and develop new partnerships, with the potential of developing a comprehensive plan for future actions at the local or regional levels. For your organization, it’s also a great opportunity to develop your visibility and credibility towards local stakeholders, demonstrating your involvement in the response to HIV/AIDS.

Organizing an independent hub is easy and access to AIDS 2010 conference content is free. The AIDS 2010 conference hubs team provides a dedicated online access for hubs organizers to easily select and download the videotaped sessions as well as a toolkit to help you organize your hub. For more information, please visit our website at Conference Hubs at AIDS 2010 or contact us at hubs@aids2010.org.

Independent hub submission closes on 30 June 2010

 

 

 

 

Posted by Rose-Marie Neuenschwander at 11:46    Comments (0)