Children affected by HIV are one of the most marginalized groups among children. Evidence across the globe shows that children affected by HIV/AIDS (CABA) are at increased risk of homelessness, discrimination, exploitation, and loss of life-opportunities. With advent of effective anti-retroviral treatment, children living with HIV are surviving longer, with many now on the verge of transitioning to adulthood. If these children are to contribute as meaningful adults, to themselves as well as to society, health, education, and well-being of these children are of paramount importance. To improve access to these, several schemes have been launched by the government for these children, but there exist barriers that make it difficult for children or their families to reach out to such support systems.

With the support of UNICEF, Prayas (Health Group) undertook a situation analysis to understand the current status of health, and education of family-based HIV-infected, and HIV-affected children, and the barriers faced by the parents/guardians of these children to access mainstream services for health, education, nutrition, social and child protection services. The assessment was undertaken with the anticipation that such knowledge would help in strengthening efforts by the government and other stakeholders to protect and promote the rights of these children

Objectives:

Primary objectives

• To estimate the magnitude of school non-enrollment, school drop-out, and highest educational attainment (years of formal schooling) among family-based HIV affected/infected children.
• To understand the barriers faced by care givers of family-based children affected/infected with HIV to access services for children.
• To understand the barriers faced by other stakeholders (such as organizations working for CABA, managers of government departments) involved in provision of services to these children.

Secondary objectives

• To understand the socio-demographic determinants of school non-enrollment and school drop-outs among these children.
• To document information on the best practices to overcome the barriers faced by CABA while accessing services for children, and social welfare schemes.
• To document information on the best practices to overcome the barriers faced by CABA while accessing services for children, and social welfare schemes.

Investigator:

Dr. Vinay Kulkarni, Dr.Ritu Parchure (Principal investigators)

Funding: UNICEF , Maharashtra

Start date: July 2014

End date: May 2015