Abstract #352  -  The importance of regional collaboration in ensuring a coordinated strategy and response to children and AIDS.
Authors:   Presenting Author:   Mrs Noreen Huni - REPSSI
Additional Authors:
Aim: Drawing on experiences and lessons learned from the Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Inter-Agency Task Team on Children and AIDS(RIATT), this presentation argues the importance of regional-level collaboration in identifying and addressing children’s vulnerabilities.
Method / Issue: This presentation will focus on why a regional coordinated strategy and response to children and AIDS is not only necessary to ensuring a strong focus on children in addressing the Universal Access goals, but it is also a cost-effective and contextually relevant means of ensuring that children have access to prevention, treatment, care and support services.
Results / Comments: The high-level RIATT “Getting it Right for Children” Conference, 29 September – 2 October 2008 in Dar es Salaam, pulled together more than 300 delegates, of which approximately 25 were children and 15 were older carers, from 19 countries in Eastern and Southern Africa. The Conference recommendations underlined the importance of the regional partnership to identify, share and motivate for the implementation of evidence based, cost-effective and at-scale interventions for use at national levels for vulnerable children. The strength of the RIATT as a regional partnership lies with its strong ties to the international and national levels. Through regular communication with the global Inter-Agency Task Team on Children and AIDS (IATT) and national RIATT Country Focal People (identified at the 2008 RIATT Conference), the RIATT tracks implementation of the Conference recommendations at both regional and national levels. Monitoring the progress of implementation of these recommendations generates important evidence-based findings that are key to influencing global decision-making on children and AIDS.
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