Tearfund statement on the UK Government’s updated strategy on HIV:
‘Achieving Universal Access – the UK’s strategy for halting and reversing
the spread of HIV in the developing world’.
Introduction
Tearfund welcomes the publication of the UK Government’s updated strategy on
HIV: ‘Achieving Universal Access – the UK’s strategy for halting and reversing the
spread of HIV in the developing world’.
The commitments in the updated strategy echo many of the priorities and
concerns of civil society groups. Leading up to the strategy’s launch yesterday,
Tearfund has been calling upon the Government to ensure that rights and needs
of children affected by AIDS remain at the heart of the UK’s response, to
strengthen collaboration with civil society and to acknowledge the distinctive role
of faith-based groups in the response to HIV.
Below is Tearfund’s response to specific aspects of the updated strategy.
Funding
We are concerned by the apparent decline in funding for HIV and disappointed by
the UK’s decision to abandon the earmarked funding for children affected by HIV.
Having been the catalyst for global efforts to tackle HIV including the historic goal
of Universal Access, we are concerned that both these decisions may signal to the
international community that UK’s leadership on HIV is waning with a lowering of
priority on this issue.
Social Protection
We welcome the announcement of £200 million for social protection which will
help ensure that more orphans and vulnerable children have access to better
nutrition, health and education. This demonstrates that children are a continuing
priority for the UK Government. Social protection is an important mechanism to
secure predictable support and welfare to vulnerable children and their carers.
However, social protection is only part of a comprehensive response to children
affected by HIV. Children living with HIV remain at a higher risk of mortality than
adults. A report released yesterday by the World Health Organisation states that
HIV has been the leading cause of death in children under 5 in six countries in
Southern Africa. Children make up 6% of all HIV infections but 14% of overall
deaths from HIV. It is not clear from the strategy how DFID will support the
development and delivery of medicines and diagnostics for children living with or
exposed to HIV in poor communities.
The strategy includes information from DFID funded research from 2004 showing
a 43% reduction in mortality when children exposed to HIV are given cotrimoxazole, an affordable and simple antibiotic. New information from the World
Health Organisation shows that 4 years on only 4% of children born to women
living with HIV received this. Over 90% of children born to pregnant women in
2007 were not tested for HIV within the first two months of their lives. As part of
DFID’s new Southern African regional programme on Access to Medicines
announced in the strategy, concrete action must be taken to ensure the rapid
development of improved infant diagnostics, increased availability of cotrimoxazole for children and paediatric antiretroviral treatment.
Tearfund welcomes the strategy’s emphasis on the integration of prevention of
mother-to-child transmission’ (PMTCT) services into broader Maternal, Newborn
and Child health services. We believe that DFID should now develop a robust
action plan with measurable outcomes to ensure that PMTCT services are
effectively integrated in primary health care programmes.
Faith-based groups
The updated strategy affirms the distinctive role and contribution of faith-based
groups to the response to HIV, including the reach of services. It also
acknowledges the potential faith groups have to influence behaviour and attitudes
and shape social norms. Tearfund welcomes DFID commitment to track and
monitor resources from national to community level. However, there is no clear
indication of how DFID will improve its own support to civil society and faithbased groups in particular. We call on DFID to implement recommendations from
the National Audit Office to ensure there is a mixture of funding instruments to
support the significant proportion of the response to HIV which is being provided
by civil society organisations, including faith-based groups and the local church.
Next steps
Whilst Tearfund welcomes the language and many of the sentiments expressed in
the updated strategy, the acid test for the UK Government is how these
commitments and actions will be translated into tangible and life-saving
outcomes for individuals, families and communities affected by HIV.