In 2014, approximately two million people worldwide were newly infected with HIV—including 220,000 children. While global efforts to scale up HIV care and treatment (C&T) for adults have strengthened access to antiretroviral therapy (ART), access among children and adolescents has lagged behind. In Kenya, for example, an estimated 614,000 children and adolescents are living with HIV; of these only 42 percent are receiving lifesaving care and treatment. Although Kenya, like other sub-Saharan priority countries, possesses a diverse and multisectoral health system, private for-profit and not-forprofit health care providers are not yet fully and formally engaged in rapidly scaling access to pediatric C&T.
The AIDSFree Pediatric Care and Treatment team researched strategies to increase private sector involvement in C&T for children and adolescents in Kenya. With local partners from government, private health sector, facilities, and communities engaged in Kenya's HIV response, AIDSFree developed a multisectoral approach, the "Public-Private Alliance for Pediatric HIV and AIDS in Kenya" (the AIDSFree Alliance), aimed at increasing access to and use of pediatric C&T services in Kenya by mobilizing and increasing the capacity of private-sector facilities, providers, and civil society actors. This document describes the rationale behind expanding private sector involvement in pediatric C&T; outlines the pediatric HIV situation in Kenya; and provides details on the AIDSFree Alliance model and the Kenyan partners who will implement and ultimately sustain the model.
Click here to download the AIDSFree Technical Implementation Plan.
White, James, Lauren Weir, Samantha Lint, Pam Mutua, and Elizabeth Oywer. 2016. AIDSFree Technical Implementation Plan: Creating a Public-Private Alliance for Rapid Extension of Pediatric HIV Care and Treatment Services in Kenya. Arlington, VA: Strengthening High Impact Interventions for an AIDS-free Generation (AIDSFree) Project.