Executive Summary-
The Integrated Bio-Behavioural Study among Street Children and youth of Kathmandu on HIV & AIDS was carried out on 268 respondents in the age group 11–24 years. Out of the total respondent, (264) participated in serological examination of HIV. As a result, (17) youths were investigated as being HIV positive based on repeat positives of replicated Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assays (ELISA) as per WHO guidelines  strategy 3) and the National Guidelines on HIV and AIDS Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT). This study suggests that young children and youth are likely to be at risk of HIV infection due to their high risk behaviours. There are more than 86% of the street children and youth in Kathmandu in this group currently engaged in unprotected sex with a majority of those being involved in  activities that are considered high risk behaviour leading to contracting HIV. This study has shown that the overall prevalence of HIV in this particular group is 6.3% of the total population studied. Follow up testing carried out after 6 months on 204 subjects who were initially diagnosed as being HIV negative and 4 new subjects who volunteered for testing and counselling, yielded 10 new HIV positive cases which converts to overall 9.8% prevalence of HIV in the Street Children and Youth of Kathmandu.
The far-reaching consequence of the activities of this group can trickle down to non-street-based groups such as commercial Sex Workers. Preventive education on HIV/AIDS awareness seems to be working in increasing the awareness of HIV in this group but does not appear to have had a significant effect in reducing the high risk behaviours currently still present in the Street children/ youth population. There is a growing need for a collective program to carry our effective harm reduction strategy to address this Challenge. Most importantly, the Nepal Government, and various Non-Governmental- Organizations (NGOs) currently involved in programs related to HIV need to focus on the street children, as this Population is still a neglected group in the overall HIV/AIDS scenario in Nepal.