South Africa’s Response to Children and HIV and AIDS

iMEDIATE continues focusing on children’s rights and participation. We are busy with a regional study for Save the Children Sweden to identify opportunities and challenges related to creating spaces for children to be meaningfully involved in decisions and processes that affect them.

One thing that has long been apparent is that, in South Africa at least, there is a legal and policy framework that guarantees children the opportunity to be heard and to participate in all spheres of life. However, the gulf between rights on paper and rights in practice continues.

Millions of children are still without adequate nutrition, health services, education, family care and housing and their experiences and ideas about what needs to be done are sorely neglected in most planning, budgeting and programming.

The Children’s Institute in Cape Town has an initiative called Children Count – Abantwana Babalulekile – through which is presents child-centered data on many aspects of socio-economic rights. This is a very useful tool for those who want up-to-date statistics and a sound evidence base for advocacy on children’s rights.

Scorecard 2009:Weighing Up

The Children’s Rights Centre, in Durban, has just published a very accessible booklet titled Scorecard 2009: WEIGHING UP South African’s Response to Children and HIV and AIDS, with support from the Children’s Institute, the University of Cape Town, the Medical Research Council and Irish Aid.

The Scorecard measures how South Africa is doing in implementing HIV and AIDS and STI National Strategic Plan 2007-2011 (NSP) for children and families. The NSP is South Africa’s plan for working together as a country to address the problem of HIV and AIDS. It describes the actions that need to be taken to prevent further HIV infections and to make sure there is access to treatment, care and support for people living with HIV and their families.