Lao PDR – United Nations Regional Task Force on Injecting Drug Use and HIV/AIDS in Asia and the Pacific Baseline Assessment Dec 2006. United Nations Regional Task Force on Injecting Drug Use and HIV/AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (2006)

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Funded through AusAID’s Australian Development Research Awards (2009), the Burnet Institute conducted this research to explore the sexual networks of men who have sex with both men and women in  Vientiane, Lao PDR. The research aimed to identify network characteristics that promote or block HIV transmission in this network. The qualitative research component aimed to explore the reasons why men have sex with both women and men, the context in which these interactions occur (in terms of meeting partners, negotiation of sex, and where the sex act occurs) and how place and time impact on the choice of partner and or condom use (the intersection of why and where).

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"Why you?” “Why this job?” – these are the questions which sexual service providers (SSP) are most commonly asked by male clients; it is as though the man, after being sexually serviced, cannot quite believe that a young woman like this could be doing sex work. The questions suppose that there are other choices open to these women other than sex work, and arguably, they imply at the same time that only certain types of woman do this work as it must be degrading to do so. This study attempts to address these presumptions and allows the reader to hear as it were, the answers (for there are many) to these questions. This study met 101 women from 12 different ethnicities, from 16 provinces in Laos and with 101 different experiences of life to relate.

The purpose of the NSAP 2011-2015 is to guide the national response to HIV/AIDS. The review and revision of the NSAP was participatory, and this document reflects contributions from government, civil society, people living with HIV and development partners.

Given that the spread of HIV throughout a community or a country is entirely contingent on human behaviour, we must acknowledge that public health interventions designed to prevent HIV transmission need to take account of the sexual practices of the relevant population. A more comprehensive approach would also consider other behaviours related to the spread of HIV - for example, behaviours around intravenous drug use and blood transfusions. The patterns of human sexuality within a population are generally considered to be culturally specific1; as such, we need to evaluate societies individually if we wish to introduce public health measures for sexually transmitted infections (STI) that have both local relevance and local acceptance.

Preparation/consultation process for the National Report on monitoring the follow-up to the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS Lao PDR, 08 April 2003

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Lao PDR has conducted three rounds of behavioral and biological surveillance of women selling sex at sentinel sites in 2001, 2004 and 2008. Provinces included in the sentinel surveillance were the most populated and those with easy access to the target populations. The surveillance schedule was adapted in 2009, in order to conduct regular surveys in a small number of provinces to serve as early warning and to closely monitor progress of programs implemented to this target population.

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The Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) has a ‘latent’ HIV epidemic1, with rates of HIV estimated at just 0.2 per cent of the total population aged between 15-49 years of age. However, because of its location in the heart of the Mekong, surrounded by countries with high rates of HIV in concentrated epidemics3, Lao PDR is believed to be “in danger of an expanding epidemic”. More than 50 per cent of the population of Lao PDR is below the age of 20 and adolescents and young people engaged in high- risk behaviour for HIV are an emerging priority across Asia and the Pacific.