Description

Early identification of HIV positive children can be a life serving event for many and if properly handled can become a turning point to a brighter future for many children in the low resource settings. If remain unidentified, less than 25% HIV positive children would survive past the age of five years. Identification of HIV infected children is essential to provide comprehensive HIV care, treatment and support; however, only an estimated 15% of HIV exposed infants globally receive HIV testing in the first two months. The Intensified Pediatric Case Finding (IPCF) is a facility-community-based innovative approach for identification of HIV positive children and adolescents. Contrary to the traditional approaches Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT) and Provider Initiated Counseling and Testing (PICT), the IPCF approach initiates the process of HIV testing while children are still at the community, also uses unspoken social clues to expedite the identification. Stigma is an important barrier of early HIV detection. A sustained increase in identification of HIV positive children were shown, thus strong recommendation to replicate the IPCF approach in other geographic areas is made