New Partnership extends our library of content to include HIV paediatric case study films

Medical Aid Films and Picturing Health have joined forces to broaden our film archive to provide educational resources on paediatric HIV and the treatment of children living with HIV. 

Currently 13 films for teaching in Africa are available for free download with more to be added in future.

Early diagnosis and access to HIV treatment is vital to reducing early mortality in HIV-infected infants, so with this in mind, Picturing Health’s Executive Director Tom Gibb travelled to Malawi to create educational films covering the main treatment areas of paediatric HIV care.  We are thrilled to be making these paediatric case study films available for health worker training and development.

Filmed in a busy district hospital in Malawi, the interactive films use real cases to bring clinical decision-making into training; question slides pop up when there is a clinical decision to be made and the film can be paused to answer questions or to check the accompanying notes.  

Each film includes teaching points ranging from early infant diagnosis, to treatment and monitoring of exposed babies, initiation on ART, opportunistic infections and investigating treatment failure. 

Without treatment, about one third of children living with HIV die by their first birthday and half die by their second. ¹  

Studies have shown² that starting antiretroviral (ARV) therapy in the first 12 weeks after birth reduces the risk of children dying from AIDS related illnesses by 75%  – so these interactive films provide an invaluable resource for trainees to assist in the treatment and management of paediatric HIV cases.

“I am delighted that we are joining forces with Picturing Health – another NGO which uses media to bring vital health information to those who need it most. Together we want to provide even more learning and training resources globally; we see this as a fantastic addition to our growing collection of media based learning.” 

HIV Paediatric Case Study Training Films

Designed to be used with their accompanying notes (which can be easily adapted to different settings and guidelines) the films are available to stream online or download for free:

Footnotes

1. UNAIDS (2014) ‘The Gap Report’[pdf]
2. Violari A et al. Antiretroviral therapy initiated before 12 weeks of age reduces early mortality in young HIV-infected infants: evidence from the Children with HIV Early Antiretroviral Therapy (CHER) study. Fourth International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Treatment and Pathogenesis, Sydney, abstract WESS103, 2007.