The United Nations sixth Millennium Development Goal (MDG) called for the halting and reversal of the spread of HIV by 2015, and the achievement of universal access to HIV/AIDS treatment by 2010. Although progress has been made, the epidemic continues to devastate countless lives. This is especially true in developing countries, where HIV/AIDS has placed enormous burden on already strained health care systems and a dwindling health workforce, and where more than 90% of the world’s HIV-infected population lives.¹ Women and children are among the hardest hit, with women 15 years of age and older making up half of the world’s HIV-infected population, and an estimated 2.1 million children living with HIV/AIDS as of 2007.²

What Jhpiego Is Doing

Over the past 13 years, Jhpiego has brought evidence-based innovations to the prevention, care and treatment of HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases. Our technical expertise in HIV/AIDS encompasses a broad range of technical areas, including:

• Prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT), addressing the main mode of HIV infection in children
• Counseling and testing (CT) for HIV, considered the gateway to comprehensive HIV prevention, care and treatment for people who test positive, as well as reinforced prevention for those who test negative
• Male circumcision (MC), shown to reduce the risk of female-to-male HIV transmission by 60%
• Prevention of medical transmission of HIV and other infectious diseases through simple infection prevention practices, as well as post-exposure prophylaxis for HIV
• Provision of adult and pediatric antiretroviral therapy (ART), treatment for opportunistic infections and palliative care, from the facility to the community level
• Integration of HIV/AIDS serviceswith tuberculosis (TB), cervical cancer, malaria in pregnancy, family planning and maternal and child health services, to address the problem of co-infection among HIV/AIDS patients and to reach as many people as possible

Highlights from Jhpiego’s HIV/AIDS Portfolio

In the fight against HIV/AIDS, Jhpiego adapts best practices and cutting-edge research to real-world situations. Here are some highlights from our ongoing efforts:

• Mozambique, Jhpiego and the Ministry of Health (MOH) are working together to increase coverage of provider-initiated testing and counseling (PITC).⁴ Within one year alone, more than 147,000 people were tested as a result of this initiative.
• Jhpiego and Ethiopia’s federal MOH have implemented an innovative network for mothers with HIV. Through this effort, members are trained as “mother mentors,” who link pregnant women at the antenatal clinic with PMTCT services.
• Since our first pioneering MC pilot project in 2003, Jhpiego has supported ministries of health and defense force health systems in leading activities to strengthen or scale up comprehensive MC services⁵ in Botswana, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Swaziland, Tanzania and Zambia.
• In the informal settlements or “slums” surrounding Nairobi, Kenya, Jhpiego has implemented a Comprehensive Care Center Program that helps community members living with HIV gain access to comprehensive health care services including physical and psychological support.
• In South Africa, Jhpiego is leading the effort to expand the role of nurses to initiate and manage patients on ART through “task-shifting,” helping to address the country’s health care human resource crisis.
• Jhpiego has earned a reputation as an authority in a range of HIV/AIDS-related clinical areas, resulting in several high-level collaborations—with organizations such as WHO, CDC and UNAIDS and the Office of the US Global AIDS Coordinator/PEPFAR—on global HIV/AIDS guidelines, tools and educational materials on PMTCT, MC and HIV–CT.

Click here to print a full version of the fact sheet.

¹UNICEF. 2008. The State of the World’s Children 2007: Women and Children—The double dividend of gender equality. At: http:www.unicef.org/publications/index_36587.html

² UNAIDS, WHO. 2007. AIDS epidemic update. At: http://data.unaids.org/pub/EPISlides/2007/2007_epiupdate_en.pdf.

³ With funding from and in collaboration with major international health organizations, such as the U.S. Agency for International Development(USAID), U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria (GFATM), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), United Nations Joint Programme for HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and World Health Organization (WHO), as well as from private corporations and foundations such as GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer, Wallace Global Fund and The Rockefeller Foundation.

⁴In PITC, providers recommend HIV-CT to all clients in identified regions/populations as a routine component of care; emphasis is placed on counseling, confidentiality and client consent.

⁵Including other reproductive health services, such as risk-reduction counseling, screening and treatment for sexually transmitted infections, etc.