Advocacy and Communication

Advocacy, an organized effort to influence decision-making, is a critical component in scaling up prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) services globally. Advocacy plays a considerable role in influencing the highest authorities in the country to provide leadership and political support, and mobilize much needed resources. The first requirement in advocacy is solid factual information, which can be drawn from situation analyses, research studies, government statistics and other data sources. In relation to supporting the scale up of PMTCT services, advocacy is used to:

Work with national governments as well as regional bodies and institutions to ensure that regional and national political commitments are translated into concrete initiatives to accelerate the scale-up of PMTCT programs
Encourage the mobilization of resources and commitment for the implementation scale-up of PMTCT programs
Initiate and support campaigns for making antiretroviral drugs and other PMTCT commodities widely and cheaply available
Support the coordination, planning and implementation of PMTCT through national coordination mechanisms, including between the planning and implementation of HIV, maternal, newborn and child health and sexual and reproductive health care
Identify and support champions of PMTCT to raise the visibility of the issue
Seek to ensure that PMTCT is included on the agenda and addressed at relevant meetings, events, workshops and conferences.

The Communication Tools and Resources subtab below includes a selection of resources intended to promote communication around PMTCT. Additional resources on behavior change communication related to PMTCT can be recommended for inclusion in this Toolkit by submitting an email to toolkits@k4helath.org or by posting suggestions to the discussion board.

Advocacy

Missing the Target #7: Failing Women, Failing Children: HIV, Vertical Transmission and Women’s Health

2009 | International Treatment Preparedness Coalition | 88 p

English

For this seventh edition of Missing the Target researchers identified important barriers standing in the way of the continuum of services needed to successfully prevent vertical transmission:

2008 | Alliance of Mayors and Municipal Leaders on HIV/AIDS in Africa AMICAALL Namibia Programme | 19

English

This short guide presents the case for local government addressing HIV/AIDS. It shows, in practical terms, what you, as local leaders - no matter the size of your city, town or village - can do to advocate for effective responses to HIV/AIDS at the local authority level.

2006 | World Health Organization [WHO]

English

There is a key programmatic linkage between family planning and the prevention of HIV in women and chil- dren. This was the focus of a high-level consultation convened by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Glion, Switzerland, in May 2004.

2006 | Religions for Peace | 58

English

The main purpose of this manual is to equip teams of trainers from the religious bodies who are members of national IRCs to be able to enhance the skills of religious leaders in developing and implementing advocacy strategies and strengthening their relations with the media. With these skills, religious leaders at national and community levels can more effectively address the key problems children and communities face in relation to AIDS, including stigma, denial and discrimination (SDD), gender disparity, violation of rights, and lack of access to services and support.

2005 | Call to Action

English

Comprehensive programmes to address mother-to-child transmission include strategies to prevent HIV transmission to women; to provide reproductive health care to women living with HIV; to prevent HIV transmission during pregnancy, labour and delivery; to minimise HIV transmission through safer infant feeding practices; and provide care, support and treatment services to women, infants and their families

Religions for Peace

English

This training manual, used together with the participants’ handbook, is meant to strengthen the advocacy and media relations skills of religious leaders at both national and community levels in order to expand their advocacy efforts on behalf of children orphaned and made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS, with the goal of bringing greater priority to their needs and expanding the response. Date: 2008

United Nations Population Fund [UNFPA]

English

The AIDS epidemic is a global catastrophe, responsible for over 20 million deaths worldwide, tens of millions of children left orphaned, and 40 million people living with HIV. Similarly, five hundred million people a year suffer from reproductive health morbidity or lack of access to modern contraceptives, and there are over half a million pregnancy related deaths each year.

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Communication Tools and Resources

HIV During Pregnancy, Labor and Delivery, and After Birth: Health Information for HIV Positive Pregnant Women

2010 | AIDS Info | U.S. Department of Health and Human Services | 12 p

English

These fact sheets on HIV and pregnancy are intended especially for HIV-infected women who are pregnant or thinking about becoming pregnant. The fact sheets include information to help HIV-infected women stay healthy during pregnancy and reduce the risk of transmitting HIV to their babies. The information in these fact sheets is based on the Recommendations for Use of Antiretroviral Drugs in Pregnant HIV-1-Infected Women for Maternal Health and Interventions to Reduce Perinatal HIV Transmission in the United States.

2003 | Academy for Educational Development (AED) | 66 p

English

This discussion paper is intended to encourage dialogue and generate feedback from PMTCT and Safe Motherhood (SM) program planners and implementers who share the responsibility for shaping interventions to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV, and to improve maternal and newborn survival through conventional safe motherhood interventions. The paper reviews research results and field experience from a behavior change perspective, to see what can be applied to develop and

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Multimedia Gallery

Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS [UNAIDS]

English

The UNAIDS multimedia centre features video, audio and photographic material from UNAIDS and partners.

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