Site Search
Displaying results 101 - 110 of 184
Resource | Publications,
Antiretroviral treatment (ART) is extending the lives of people living with HIV (PLHIV). Though ART has become more widely accessible globally since the early 1990s, getting antiretroviral drugs (ARV) to those who need it most continues to be a challenge. As access increases, so does the need to assure that systems are in place to report on outputs and outcomes in a timely manner. Such data are vital to ART programs, as not only do they assist in tracking progress towards achieving global goals, but they also inform the day to day implementation of treatment programs. Without an adequate measurement of what is being done, countries risk losing opportunities to prevent premature deaths and potential ARV resistance; they also do not have the information critical to assure PLHIV on ART receive appropriate care at the appropriate time to improve and maintain their quality of life.
Acknowledging the need to share experiences and lessons learned in order to inform future direction, the U.S. Government (USG), World Health Organization (WHO) and other partners organized the first “Regional workshop on strengthening ART data use in Asia and the Pacific: examples from USG, national and multilateral partners” in Bangkok, Thailand from 18-19 May 2009. This two day workshop provided a forum for national and international experts to present lessons learned and discuss specific challenges faced in most resource-poor settings throughout the region.
Resource | Publications,
According to the latest estimates1 in 2007 in Asia there were around 4.9 million (range of 3.7 million-6.7 million) people living with HIV of whom 440,000 (range of 210,000-one million) became newly infected in the past year and approximately 300,000 (range of 250,000-470,000) died from AIDS-related illness. HIV prevalence in Asia-Pacific has a large variation from almost zero to 2.4 per cent in Papua province of Indonesia.2 Those values are lower than for many other parts of the world, particularly Africa. However, given the substantial number of people living in this region, even a low increasing prevalence of HIV would translate into millions of infections.
Resource | Tools,
HIV is the greatest threat to development facing the world today. Most children living with HIV were infected by their mothers who are living with HIV. These children get infected during pregnancy, childbirth or during breastfeeding. For the mother to infect the child, she might have been infected before she got pregnant, when she was pregnant or even when she was breastfeeding. We know that we can prevent HIV in children by preventing the mother from initial infection, by preventing unintended pregnancies in women with HIV and, by ensuring that pregnant women with HIV have the care that prevents mother-to-child transmission. We can now considerably reduce the chances of a baby being infected by his/her mother. Globally, this intervention has come to be known as PMTCT—prevention of mother-to-child transmission. Without PMTCT about 35% of babies born to women with HIV will be infected. With PMTCT this is reduced to about 5%.
The Fiji, Vanuatu, Kiribati and Solomon Islands PMTCT Training Package is based largely on the 2007 update of the PMTCT Generic Training Package (GTP) that was developed under the direction of the World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for adaptation by countries and regions across the globe. This PMTCT Training Package is expected to play a key role in accelerating the scale up of PMTCT services in the Pacific region through training of healthcare workers to implement appropriate, quality services for PMTCT.
Prevention of Spread of HIV amongst Vulnerable Groups in South Asia: Our work in South Asian Prisons
Resource | Publications,
Worldwide at any given time, there are approximately 10 million prison inmates, with an annual turnover of 30 million. Thus, after release, millions of prisoners return to social networks in the general community, thereby facilitating the spread of HIV to the community.
Prison inmates are vulnerable to risk behaviours including drug abuse and HIV. Although no reliable estimates are available for the South Asian region, in most countries, drug use and unsafe sexual practices are well-recognized problems in prison settings.
Everywhere in the world, rates of HIV-infection among prison populations are generally much higher than in the general population. Drug use in general, and injecting drug use in particular, as well as violence and the practice of men having sex with men are widespread in prisons.
In South Asia (Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka), 26 prison intervention sites
are being supported by UNODC under its regional project RAS/H71 titled, "Prevention of spread of HIV amongst vulnerable groups in South Asia".
Resource | Publications,
A key challenge faced by women infected and affected by HIV in the Asia Pacific region is the denial of their right to inheritance and properties. Reports from networks of women living with HIV, as well as academic research in the region, show that it is a crucial factor in reducing women's vulnerability to violence and HIV, as well as empowering women to cope with the social and economic impact of the epidemic at the household level.
This booklet and the film enclosed comprise the highlights of the Court and reflections by people concerned with the issues. While the film takes one directly to the Court proceedings, the intention of the booklet is to help set the context and serve as a companion.
Resource | Publications,
A few years after the first reported case of AIDS in the USA, the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) had also established itself in Asia. It spread quickly and by the early 1990s, HIV infections were being reported in every country of Asia. In some, notably Thailand, major epidemics were underway. A little more than two decades later, an estimated 9 million people in Asia have been infected with HIV, and millions of them have died of AIDS-related illnesses.
The Commission on AIDS in Asia was set up in June 2006 and assigned an 18-month mandate to study and assess the impact of AIDS in Asia, and to recommend strategies for a stronger response to HIV and AIDS. The Commission's terms of reference and its composition are provided in the annexes to this Report.
Resource | Publications,
This review has been commissioned in order to produce a summary analysis of processes and outcomes from the 2008 UNGASS Country Reports.
The aim of the review is to provide:
1. a general overview of civil society participation in national responses and in the compilation of the reports; and
2. an assessment of the accuracy/gaps of each report in terms of civil society experience and knowledge of national responses.
The countries that have provided 2008 UNGASS Country Reports are China, Japan, Mongolia, Republic of Korea, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Australia, Fiji, Marshall Islands, New Zealand, Federated States of Micronesia, Palau, Papua New Guinea (PNG) and Tuvalu.
The majority of Country Reports note that current UNGASS 2008 reporting has improved significantly from the last round, reflecting improved data collection, increased political commitment and a greater willingness to acknowledge and include the view of civil society partners. Nevertheless the number of reports quality, amount of information and number of indicators reported on – ranging from Singapore’s 5 and Japan’s 7 pages to Papua New Guinea’s 169 pages – indicates that some countries take the reporting process more seriously than others.
Resource | Tools,
This Guidance Note provides important practical tips for working with groups of people living with HIV in the Asia-Pacific region. Its purpose is to facilitate equal, effective and synergistic partnerships between development organisations/practitioners and PLHIV networks. Ethically, it is grounded in the same human-rights principles as those of GIPA (Greater Involvement of People Living with HIV/AIDS): empowerment, non-discrimination, ownership and active, meaningful participation. Functionally, its aim is to improve future interventions by groups working with PLHIV networks in other contexts. It is a practical guide, based on a wealth of experience and learning drawn from PLHIV networks and their supporting partners in several countries across the Asia-Pacific region.
Resource | Presentations,
This presentation is a summary of the overall situation of HIV in the region of South-East Asia. It is prepared by the World Health Organization's Department of Communicable Diseases.
Resource | Publications,
As yet, little is known about the HIV epidemic status and potential in Afghanistan. The country seems to be at an early epidemic phase with low HIV prevalence, but there are a number of underlying vulnerability factors that could lead to the conditions for epidemic expansion, including drug trafficking, the post-conflict situation with displacement of populations, a fledgling health care system, and a low level of knowledge and awareness about HIV/AIDS. As in other parts of central and south Asia, the most important proximate determinants of the scale and distribution of an HIV epidemic in Afghanistan will be the size and characteristics of high risk networks involving injecting drug users (IDUs), female sex workers (FSWs) and men who have sex with men (MSM) who are at high risk (i.e., have high numbers of sexual partners).
Assessments from elsewhere in central Asia indicate an explosive growth in injecting drug use and commercial sex work throughout the region, concurrent epidemics of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and economic and political migration. As yet, little information is known about the size, distribution, and characteristics of IDU and sex worker sub-populations in Afghanistan. Therefore, the World Bank (WB) agreed with the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) to contract with the University of Manitoba (UM) to conduct an assessment of these three key, high risk populations in three cities of Afghanistan: Mazār-i-Sharif, Jalalabad, and Kabul.