Care for the most vulnerable children in Tanzania: a faith-based model of care and support for children affected by HIV.

In the fight against HIV and AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa, the plight of orphaned and vulnerable children was long overlooked. The first United Nations report on orphans and vulnerable children did not emerge until 2002 after more than two generations of children and youth had struggled to survive with limited family, institutional, or government support. The major social determinants of health for infants and children with one or more parents dying or dead from HIV include pervasive poverty, weak community social support systems, lack of policy commitment by governments or foreign donors, lack of access to anti-retroviral drugs, limited access to schools, and gender. In this paper, we present a model of care and support to the most vulnerable children (MVC) affected by HIV that brings together faith-based institutions in partnership with the government and community volunteers in 13 rural districts of Tanzania. Although still being implemented, the project has a number of valuable lessons learned for program managers, donors, and researchers working with faith-based organizations in the development and delivery of services to the most vulnerable children in a resource-limited setting.