The Children’s sector has made a submission for priorities to be taken into account in preparing the first draft of the NSP 2012-2016 that will form the basis for consultations in August 2011. The submission was drafted under severe time constraints; the sector was given 72 hours’ notice of the call for submissions.

The submission does not include a comprehensive list of objectives for inclusion in the NSP 2012-2016. It reflects the priorities identified by the Children’s sector organisations. Consultations are taking place with children to ensure that their concerns and priorities are reflected and addressed in the next five-year plan.

Recommendations are clustered under the following headings:

• Know your status – what does this mean for children?
• Prevention
• Health and wellness – what does this mean for children?
• Safety and reducing vulnerability – what does this mean for children?
• Changing norms and social values – what does this mean for children?

A number of the recommendations are pertinent to the well-being of young children and, as such, one would like to see these issues taken up in the NSP as well as other comprehensive documents targeting young children, such as the NIP for ECD.

The recommendations include:

• Pregnant women must be encouraged to test for HIV as soon as they are pregnant, at 32 weeks and again immediately after delivery (many women seroconvert during pregnancy).
• All HIV-exposed babies must be tested as soon as possible after birth and close the gap between positive PCR tests and infant treatment.
• Test all abandoned babies for HIV.
• Mothers attending clinics with their infants should be encourage to test themselves at 6 weeks, 9 months and 18 months if their status is unknown or previously negative.
• HIV testing should routinely be offered to all children attending primary health care service points for any reason.
• Awareness campaigns must be run on the importance of immediate medical care, including HIV testing for any child that has been sexually abused; all children presenting at a health facility following sexual abuse must be offered appropriate HIV counselling and testing.
• Improve access to developmental screening for all children under the age of 5 years because children under the age of 5 who are HIV positive are at high risk of developmental delay.
• Children living in households with an adult TB patient or who has been diagnosed as HIV positive must be tested for TB.
• Continue expanding the comprehensive PMTCT programme nationally.
• Ensure the provision of effective family-planning services.
• Strengthen campaigns to prevent HIV-infection during pregnancy.
• All HIV-positive pregnant women should start triple therapy for life at their first pregnancy.
• Ensure use of the new Road to Health booklet with explicit HIV-relevant information.
• Ensure the provision of PEP to all eligible abandoned babies.
• Protect children against sexual abuse with a zero-tolerance campaign.
• Promote awareness of access to safe neonatal circumcision.
• Ensure access to treatment for HIV-positive infants by full adopting the WHO treatment guidelines and other interventions.

WEB LINKS FOR THIS ARTICLE

Click here to view the children’s sector submission

For further information, please refer to the Yezingane Network website