A Rights Based Situational Assessment of HIV positive Jamaican Children

1. A Rights Based Situational Assessment of HIV positive Jamaican Children Hope Ramsay & Jasneth Mullings February 2006

2. Background • OVC assessment done in 2002 • National Strategic Plan for OVC developed and launched in 2003 • Implementation of strategic plan has revealed some gaps, namely special needs of children with HIV • Convention of the Rights of the Child speaks to protecting ‘the best interests of the child’

3. Rationale • Little has been done to assess the fulfillment of the rights of HIV infected children • Focus has been on enhancing number of years/Global Fund Project • Unless factors affecting the fulfillment of the children’s rights are understood, programs will be limited in their ability to fulfill the CRC

4. What are these Rights? • The rights fall under 4 headings • Survival • Protection • Development • Participation

5. Rights include • Survival • Health, medical care and immunization • Protection • Abuse, neglect and exploitation • Development • Name, nationality, education • Participation • Groups, information

6. Proposed activities • Comprehensive Literature review • In-depth interviews • Focus Group Discussions • Children with HIV (8 – 17 years) • Parents/Primary care givers of these children • Service providers • Policy Makers

7. The Plan • Advisory Board set up • Ethical approval received from UWI Faculty of Medical Sciences Ethics committee • Conduct assessment • Analyze and present findings

8. The Plan cont’d • Plan: • Questionnaires • Focus Groups • Originally 4 parishes identified, now doing 2 regions because of numbers • Difficulty in conducting FGDs with Children who have not be told of their status

9. Challenges being worked through • Identifying and including the agencies (both Governmental and Non governmental) • Selection of participants • Sampling methodologies • Time lines