East Asia and Pacific Regional Partnership Forum on Children and HIV & AIDS

Children have been called the missing face of HIV and AIDS. While countries and regions have marshaled resources to respond to the HIV epidemic, children and young people infected and affected by HIV and AIDS have received little, if any, attention. In March 2006, participants in the three day East Asia and Pacific Regional Consultation on Children and HIV & AIDS, held in Hanoi, Viet Nam, issued the ‘Hanoi Call to Action’. It appealed to national and regional leaders to put children firmly on the agenda in their HIV response. Two years later, many of those who attended the Hanoi consultation gathered in Bangkok to take stock of what progress had been made and what gaps still existed in efforts to protect, treat and care for children infected and affected by HIV and AIDS in the East Asia and Pacific region.

Convened by the UNICEF East Asia and Pacific Regional Office, the Regional Partnership Forum on Children and HIV and AIDS (or “Forum”) brought together 133 representatives from 17 countries and organizations. The forum was held from 31 March to 2 April 2008 at the Imperial Queen’s Park Hotel in Bangkok, Thailand.

This report highlights the substantial inputs and discourses made during the three-day Forum. It outlines several action points that aim to minimize the impact of HIV and AIDS on children and young people and to prevent the continuing spread of HIV by protecting children and young people from a host of vulnerability and risk factors that drive the spread of HIV in the region.