Evidence for Pathways out of Childhood Adversity: Expert Meeting on Orphans and Vulnerable Children in Uganda

In low-resource settings, the burden of HIV/AIDS has led to millions of children below the age of 18 who have lost one or both parents to HIV, and are at increased risk of having or becoming infected with the virus. The syndemics of poverty and HIV in Uganda have contributed to 2.6 million orphans, 1.1 million of whom are orphaned to HIV/AIDS. This planning grant will fund an expert meeting to bring together leading researchers and care providers from the fields of child protections and HIV/AIDS. A two-day learning forum will be held in Uganda to: 1) provide overviews of each partner organization, share key achievements and challenges related to HIV and orphans and vulnerable children action-research; and 2) discuss specific upcoming funding applications, review potential research designs and prepare a timeline and roles for submitting a successful proposal. With millions of orphans and vulnerable children in need of support and protection, there is an urgent need to develop and design studies to evaluate and provide evidence to identify and support pathways out of childhood adversity.