HIV and AIDS: What We Do

Partnering with Communities to End HIV and AIDS

Save the Children envisions a world where children and families can live free of HIV infection and in which families that are affected by HIV and AIDS around the world can live positively and productively without stigma and discrimination.

Drawing on our global experience, Save the Children supports hundreds of thousands of children and young people at risk for, and affected by, HIV. Save the Children takes a comprehensive approach in addressing HIV and AIDS, focusing on orphans and other vulnerable children; young people most at risk in the epidemic; and efforts to combat Pediatric AIDS. Working with families, local governments and others, Save the Children enables communities to better protect vulnerable children, expand efforts to prevent the spread of HIV, and care for community members infected with HIV and AIDS. In order to ensure a comprehensive and sustainable response to the epidemic as well as reduce stigma and discrimination, Save the Children integrates HIV and AIDS programming into our education, health, and hunger programs as well.

Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC)

Save the Children provides care and support for orphans and other vulnerable children in communities in many countries across Africa, including Ethiopia, Malawi, Mozambique, Uganda and Tanzania. Save the Children has also been active in Haiti and is building stronger support for orphans and other vulnerable children in our Asia programming as well. Save the Children’s approach strengthens child safety and protection, nutrition, health, education and other critical support services. Our programs are tailored to meet the age-specific needs of the children affected by AIDS, and use whole child programming and family-centered approaches to ensure their needs are met.

For example, Save the Children supported over half a million children though the Positive Change: Children, Communities and Care (PC3) program in Ethiopia, building upon on a foundation of community mobilization that has been highly successful. This program was the largest of its kind in Ethiopia and strengthened the ability of local organizations and government to improve the lives of orphans and other vulnerable children and their families through capacity building, training, and mentoring, and much greater integration of services.

Youth At Risk

Save the Children has significant youth HIV prevention programs worldwide, including Ethiopia, Mozambique, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan and Georgia. Our youth prevention approach is based on an understanding of local epidemics and the factors that increase vulnerability and drive the spread of the disease. In concentrated epidemics (primarily Asia), our work focuses on young people at greatest risk based on geographic, demographic and behavioral considerations. In high prevalence settings, we target all youth, with particular attention to older orphans and vulnerable children. Save the Children is working to expand access to quality information and services, establish peer support networks, and ensure that services are youth friendly so young people can make healthy decisions and adopt protective practices. Mobilizing peers and influential adults such as parents, teachers, and traditional religious leaders, Save the Children is able to work with young people and their communities to increase knowledge and information, create livelihood opportunities, increase healthy behaviors, and reduce vulnerability.

Pediatric AIDS and Mother-to Child Transmission

Save the Children works to end mother-to-child transmission of pediatric AIDS infection through prevention of mother to child transmission (PMTCT) and the identification and care of children known to be HIV positive. We address gender and stigma barriers to testing among women, improve case follow-up for HIV-exposed newborns, and enhance support for HIV-positive mothers. For HIV-infected children born to parents who do not know their status, we focus on developing interventions for earlier case finding through community health, nutrition and OVC programming. We are also testing new approaches to address nutritional needs of HIV positive children. Save the Children has implemented PMTCT program activities in Mozambique, Malawi, Ethiopia and Myanmar. We continue to build an evidence base for community based prevention of mother to child transmission.