Case Study: Integrated Child Protection and Care and Treatment Programming

A growing body of evidence supports the theory that child protection and HIV care and treatment outcomes are inextricably linked. Protecting children from abuse, violence, exploitation and neglect, is essential to achieving an AIDS-free generation, and providing children living with HIV access to HIV testing, treatment and the support necessary to live a healthy and independent life is a critical objective of both child protection and care and treatment programming.

This case study describes the process, methods and results of the approach promoted by World Education’s Bantwana Initiative (“Bantwana”) under two USAID/PEPFAR funded consortium projects in Uganda: SUNRISE-OVC, a systems strengthening project primed by The International AIDS Alliance partnering with the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development (MGLSD), and STAR- EC, an HIV care and treatment project primed by John Snow International partnering with the Ministry of Health (MoH). The case study focuses on a) the steps Bantwana took to integrate these two projects, b) the development of a Ugandan case management system through collaborative engagement with both projects, and c) the initial results of integrating the projects, measurable changes in outreach to vulnerable children and pediatric enrollment in care and treatment, and d) the potential for this approach to impact child outcomes.