Existing beliefs and practices

Residential Care and Alternatives is based on child development and protection principles. Tearfund is a Christian organisation and the document makes a number of references to Christian scripture and values. It could be a useful tool for helping Christian organisations that provide, or that are considering providing, residential care to explore better care alternatives or improving the quality of residential care

The International Save the Children’s Alliance organised a project called ‘Care and Protection of Separated Children in Emergencies’ to address the issue of children that are separated from their parents in situations of armed conflict, natural disasters, pandemics such as AIDS and various forms of exploitation and abuse. The initiative explored issues of fostering, group care, and other types of care arrangements for children. The project produced case studies in 6 countries. Participatory research with children was a key theme. This paper offers a ten-point analysis of the typical negative features of institutional care and then looks at community based care. This is done firstly under the heading of preventative approaches to avoid the unnecessary separation of children, then alternative care strategies such as community based care. There are some concluding comments pointing towards the need for further research and the need to place more emphasis on what children themselves have to say in research, in policy formulation and in developing good practice

This is an interesting response to an article in the Washington Post, which described the horrific impact that AIDS had on a family in Kenya. Williamson responds by saying that the article promotes a distorted image of Africa, an image that is promoted by most US news coverage on HIV/AIDS. News coverage is of statistics and tragic stories, but not of responses that are being made at the community level to protect and care for orphans and other vulnerable children. He suggests that this lack of recognition of the actual capacity of communities in Africa makes it difficult to convince US donors of the importance of strengthening first line responses to the impact of HIV/AIDS which are ultimately family and community capacities

This resource consists of 14 chapters filled with practical information about how to ensure children’s rights to survival, growth, development and well-being. The topics address pregnancy, childbirth, major childhood illnesses, child development, early learning, parenting, protection, and care and support of children. The messages it contains are based on human rights, particularly the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. The resource aims to provide families and communities with the information they need to save and improve the lives of children. Parents, grandparents, other caregivers and young people can refer to this practical source of information for answers to their questions related to childbearing and getting children off to the best start in life. The website includes a link to an interactive site for posting comments, sharing experiences and materials and discussing relevant issues

This section of WABA's website provides resources and information on key issues such as what interventions should be put in place to prevent transmission of HIV through breastfeeding, while also protecting, promoting and supporting breastfeeding for the majority of children who benefit from it. It also tries to address the question of how to decide which children would be at greater risk from being breastfed. An additional difficulty is the need to encourage HIV-positive mothers to choose either exclusive replacement feeding or exclusive breastfeeding, since neither is common in low-income populations

This report covers the main dilemmas and debates around HIV/AIDS and infant feeding practices. There is some focus on antiretrovirals and prevention of mother to child transmission, but sessions featured in the report mainly cover technical and progammatic issues, and the sharing of field experiences. The key themes are the issues of if and how to breastfeed, and confusion over unclear messages about infant feeding practices. Increasing access to information and voluntary counselling and testing is covered as well as community involvement and the perspective and role of breastfeeding supportive NGOs. Lessons learned are drawn upon and details of each working group on various subjects are documented. Research, monitoring and evaluation priorities are looked at, and there is a presentation of knowledge gaps and challenges for the future

This report contains statistics on children orphaned by HIV/AIDS from 88 different countries, analysis of the trends found in these statistics and principles for helping children. This is the third report in a series (previous reports in 1997 and 2000) and is a collaboration between USAID, UNICEF and UNAIDS. Critical points addressed in the report are that HIV/AIDS has created an orphan crisis, but that orphans due to other causes also need attention. AIDS threatens chidren's lives, and communities with a high proportion of orphans requiring urgent assistance. The crisis is such that no one can act alone and therefore collaboration is the key

South Africa has, until now, focused its HIV prevention efforts on youth and adults, and now needs to expand its focus to include children. Much is already known about mother to child transmission, which is the dominant mode of HIV transmission among children. However, little investigation has been done into the potential for horizontal transmission of HIV on the population below reproductive age. This report focuses on children aged 2-9 years and, using a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods, presents evidence on the potential for HIV transmission in dental, maternity and paediatric service in public health facilities. A new finding concerns the practice of shared breastfeeding

This manual is a tool for trainers to train concerned community members to assist distressed children, and to facilitate their interventions on the level of awareness, knowledge, skills and behaviour in relation to orphans. Its stated objective is to enhance the capacity of adults to listen and talk to orphans and children of terminally ill parents, and to understand their situation and their needs. In this way the community improves its capacity to cope with some of the consequences of AIDS. In the manual there are 16 modules that rely on participatory methods, each with detailed instructions for the facilitator and a handout for participants. The manual was produced by the Humuliza (Community Based Mental Health for Orphans) project team

This training pack features downloadable presentations and lessons. It provides teachers the information they need to teach their pupils about child health and development issues and add their voices the campaign to save children’s lives. This resource would be useful for anyone with an interest in teaching child health and development

Taking Better Care looks at the situation facing orphaned and vulnerable children in the Rakai District in Uganda and at the legacy of Save the Children's Child Social Care Project (CSCP) there. The report examines the impact of the CSCP, implemented between 1991 and 1996, and at trends in Rakai since the CSCP ended, as well as outlining the lessons learned and providing recommendations for future action. It concludes that in order to support orphans and vulnerable children in a long-term, sustainable way, child-care models now need to incorporate a maximum of state support and civil society mobilisation, combined with more traditional family support

This report complements UNICEF’s ‘State of the World’s Children 2008’. It provides an overview of child survival in the Asia-Pacific region, including progress towards the related Millennium Development Goals; causes of child deaths in the region; and creating a supportive environment for child survival strategies. It considers ways to improve child survival in the region, for example creating demand within a community; health financing and an equity approach to health-care provision; and strengthening data collection and monitoring