The Joint Learning Initiative on Children and HIV/AIDS (JLICA) engages practitioners, policymakers, and scholars in collaborative problem-solving, research, and analysis to address the needs of children living in the context of HIV/AIDS. Its goal is to protect and fulfill the rights of children affected by HIV/AIDS by mobilizing the scientific evidence base and producing actionable recommendations for policy and practice.
What is JLICA?
JLICA is a cross-sectoral, interdisciplinary exercise in collaboration between leading practitioners, policymakers and scholars concerned with the well-being of children living in a world with HIV/AIDS. The Initiative’s research tasks range across child survival, the role of families and communities, service provision, governance issues, and calculating the cost of an adequate response to children’s needs—as well as the cost of failure to act. JLICA’s goal is to protect and fulfill the rights of children affected by HIV/AIDS by mobilizing the scientific evidence base and producing actionable recommendations for policy and practice.
Why is JLICA needed?
We know that children are our future; yet, collectively, we far too often fail to hear their voices or to invest in their well-being. The world’s neglect of children affected by HIV/AIDS is a tragic case in point. Each day, 1,400 children under 15 die of an AIDS-related illness, while more than 6,000 young people aged 15-24 are newly infected with HIV. Of the more than 15 million children orphaned by HIV/AIDS worldwide, fewer than 10% receive public support and services to help them cope.