What's New

This report reflects a new era for the UN. It offers practical solutions to transforming the way the Joint Programme works. As the UN charts out its reform agenda, this report provides the first organizational effort to translate the directions set out in the Quadrennial Comprehensive Policy Review into specific, actionable recommendations on financing, joint working, and accountability. But these recommendations should not stop at the door of the Joint Programme, we encourage Member States as well as our colleagues across the UN Development system to consider these recommendations as they take their own steps towards organizational repositioning, as together, we build a UN fit for purpose in leading the world to achieve the vision of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including to leave no one behind.

The report prepared by UNAIDS Regional Support Team for Asia and the Pacific and AIDS Data Hub provides information on the HIV epidemic and response on female sex workers in Asia and the Pacific.

TB is preventable and completely curable–yet about 710 000 people died of TB in 2015. Incomplete treatment can lead to drug-resistant TB over 200 000 people got DR-TB in 2015. Malnutrition, smoking and diabetes aggravate TB. TB thrives in poverty. It also creates poverty; the poor have a five-time higher chance of getting TB. This is the second SEAR TB Report as we take first steps into the post 2015 era of the SDGs. In 2015, there was an estimated 4.74 million incidence of TB in the SEA Region, including HIV+TB co-infection. The total number of new cases notified to National TB programmes in the Region were around 2.65 million in appear staggering despite a reasonably good performance. Three countries that are poised well to eliminating TB by 2030 are Maldives, Bhutan and Sri Lanka. Nepal too is doing well despite the twin challenges of its mountainous terrain and coping with a major natural disaster. Timor-Leste, though small in terms of absolute TB numbers, faces a major challenge in bringing down its incidence rate.

This WHO Global hepatitis report describes, for the first time, the global and regional estimates on viral hepatitis in 2015, setting the baseline for tracking progress in implementing the new global strategy. The report focuses on hepatitis B and C, which are responsible for 96% of all hepatitis mortality. It presents data along the five strategic directions (strategic information, interventions, equity, financing and innovation) – key pillars of the GHSS to facilitate monitoring of progress in countries, regions and globally, and to measure the impact of interventions on reducing new infections and saving lives between 2015 and 2030.

Infographic that summarizes the power and benefits of antiretroviral medicines.

Competition law is an important policy tool that LMICs can use to protect consumer welfare and promote industrial and economic development. It aims to restrict unfair business practices, and promote quicker introduction and increased availability of health technologies. The issue brief highlights key aspects of using competition law to promote access to health technologies from UNDP’s landmark publication “Using Competition Law to Promote Access to Health Technologies: A guidebook for low- and middle-income countries.” The issue brief intends to be a resource for policymakers, national competition authorities, national procurement agencies, health authorities, civil society and other actors who have an interest in understanding the critical role of competition authorities in promoting access to health technologies.

This policy paper shows how countries and stakeholders can take resolute actions to promote the R&D required to successfully reach the SDG target of ending the TB epidemic by 2030. The paper concludes by recommending steps governments and other stakeholders can take at the national and international levels to create research-enabling environments and increase funding for TB research; namely, the creation of a global strategy for TB R&D and the deployment of innovative, collaborative financing mechanisms.

People living with HIV are 29 times (26–31) more likely to develop tuberculosis (TB) disease compared with people without HIV and living in the same country. TB is a leading cause of hospitalization and death among adults and children living with HIV, accounting for one in five HIV-related deaths globally. This Regional Response Plan for TB-HIV 2017–2021 is a product of wide consultation with national and regional partners. It is intended to provide strategic directions to countries on prioritizing interventions and setting reasonable targets. It will guide how interventions can be further expanded and made efficient by strengthening health systems, and improving coordination and synergy to ensure universal access and equity.

Tuberculosis (TB) remains the largest cause of death and suffering due to any communicable disease among the most productive groups in the World Health Organization’s South-East Asia Region. Nearly half of global TB cases emerge in this Region, which is home to one fourth of the total population. It is estimated that TB and TB-HIV co-infection caused 3 deaths every 2 minutes in the Region in 2015. These deaths were entirely preventable with proper treatment of all TB patients, including those infected with drug-resistant strains. The WHO End TB strategy and corresponding Regional Strategic Plan to end TB targets reductions to the extent of 90% in deaths, and 80% in TB incidence by 2030. This is in alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to which all countries have committed.

The world’s 370 million indigenous peoples face a plethora of issues caused by displacement, dispossession, loss of livelihood, systematic racism and abuse, and lack of recognition. Further hindering an adequate response to these challenges, there is a pervasive lack of data about indigenous peoples concerning health and other key development indicators. Data that are available show a prevalence of extreme poverty and severe health disparities that include tuberculosis (TB).