The Paediatric-Adolescent Treatment Africa (PATA) will on the 16-18 October, host over participants in an effort to address HIV-SRHR integration in the frontline HIV response for adolescents, children and young people.
The PATA 2019 Summit is a collaborative meeting that will share lessons, and drive action, service delivery improvements and accountability in safeguarding the rights of adolescents and young people (AYP) to access quality adolescent-friendly health service (AFHS), responsive to their sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) and wellbeing.
The summit will provide a dynamic and productive linking, learning and networking platform to examine progress and feature service delivery models that are effectively crossing divides, building bridges and breaking barriers in HIV-SRHR linkage and community engagement.
The summit brings together a diverse community united in a renewed call to action to accelerate HIV-SRHR service delivery and linkage. The programme will highlight peer-led, psychosocial support and clinic-community partnership strategies that provide holistic and comprehensive quality treatment and care for adolescents and young people living with HIV (AYPLHIV). The summit will prioritise clinic-community collaboration (C3) methodology, emphasising the importance of building positive health partnerships, where AYPLHIV are meaningfully engaged in planning, delivering and evaluating services that most affect them, and where clinic teams and community-based organisations partner in delivering services together on the frontline.
The summit will promote access to stigma-free integrated HIV-SRHR services, highlighting differentiated approaches that meet the needs of AYPLHIV and include services that are safe, flexible, friendly and convenient. Attention will be paid to strategies that can reach all AYP in their diversity, and ensure that young mothers, young key populations and hyper-vulnerable groups are not left behind. Inter-generational dialogues and intersectoral engagement between service providers, service users and policymakers will create safe spaces to share differing perspectives discuss diverse contents and explore sensitive issues that may divide us, in order to build bridges, share stories and prioritise joint actions that will unite us.