Publications

When women lead, change happens. Results follow. The AIDS response has been led by women. When there was no treatment available, women were at the forefront of providing care for people living with and affected by HIV. Grandmothers looked after orphans. Elder sisters looked after their younger siblings. Women fought for access to treatment and mobilized. Today, we are at the cusp of eliminating new HIV infections among children—a movement led by women. More women are accessing antiretroviral therapy than men, transferring the benefits of their good health to their families and economies. When young women are empowered and have their rights fulfilled, HIV prevalence falls, there are fewer unintended pregnancies, fewer maternal deaths and fewer dropouts from school and more women join the workforce. When young women have access to education, health outcomes dramatically improve.

Health programmes are able to target health interventions for specific diseases or populations, and historically, countries have relied heavily on them to deliver priority services. In low and middle income countries, this organizational approach has been reinforced by donor assistance for priority areas that often leads programmes to operate largely autonomously from one another in seeking to optimize the achievement of a specific objective. This dynamic has implications for how priority interventions are delivered and sustained, sometimes with separate organizational arrangements resulting in inefficient overlaps and duplications. As contexts change, and in particular, as responsibility for funding these programmes shifts more towards domestic resources, maintaining an array of programmes with distinct, separate organizational arrangements is unlikely to be affordable. This paper presents an approach to conceptualizing and addressing inefficiencies arising from the way that health programmes operate within the context of the overall health system. 

This book represents a collaboration between the International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW) and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). IASSW is an association of institutions of social work education, organizations supporting social work education and social work educators around the world. The values and mission statements of the two organizations have synergies that encouraged cooperation between them in the realization of their shared aims. It is more than a compilation of scientific articles on the response to HIV by social workers. It is also a collection of stories told with candour about restoring hope, dignity and social capital to people and their families in order that theu can withstand the shocks they encounter in life.

The Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children was formed by countries, civil society, the United Nations, the academic community and the private sector to transform these shared responsibilities into concrete action. As this strategy makes clear, the Partnership provides a global platform for countries – and all those working toward the goal of ending violence against children – to share lessons learned and best practices, and to facilitate greater cooperation and coordination of our common efforts. At the national level, and working through its members, the Global Partnership will support national action to make ending violence against children a policy and programme priority – by strengthenin laws to prevent and punish violence against children... improving the way we respond to violence against children and reduce its impact... targeting those most vulnerable to violence with access to information and support... and above all, changing the mindset that violence is permissible in our institutions, our communities or our homes.

Unmet need for contraception remains high in many settings, and is highest among the most vulnerable in society: adolescents, the poor, those living in rural areas and urban slums, people living with HIV, and internally displaced people. The latest estimates are that 225 million women have an unmet need for modern contraception, and the need is greatest where the risks of maternal mortality are highest. This document presents a user friendly checklist specifically addressed to health care providers, at the primary health care level, who are involved in the direct provision of contraceptive information and services. It is complimentary to WHO guidelines on Ensuring human rights in the provision of contraceptive information and services: Guidance and recommendations, and the Implementation Guide published jointly with UNFPA in 2015. This checklist also builds on WHO vision document on Standards for Improving Quality of Care for Maternal and Newborn Care and its ongoing work under the Quality, Equity and Dignity initiative. The checklist should be read along with other guidance from WHO and also from partners.

There has been great progress in the response to HIV during the past decade. The world is one step closer to eliminating HIV infections among children, more people living with HIV know their status and are accessing HIV treatment and AIDS-related deaths are declining. However, throughout the world, stigma, discrimination, exclusion and inequality continue to make people vulnerable to HIV and hinder their access to HIV prevention, treatment and care services. People living with HIV, key populations and other vulnerable groups continue to face stigma, discrimination, criminalization and ill-treatment based on their actual or perceived health status, race, socioeconomic status, age, sex, sexual orientation or gender identity or other grounds. Discrimination and other human rights violations may occur in health-care settings, barring people from accessing health services or enjoying quality health care. Workers in health-care settings can also face discrimination from their co-workers and employers, or work in environments where their rights, roles and responsibilities cannot be fully exercised.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development charts an ambitious course for the coming decade and beyond. Reaching further than its precursor, the Millennium Development Goals, the Agenda brings together the social, economic and environmental dimensions of development. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a clarion call for a more equitable future, and at their core is a commitment to leave no one behind. The SDGs can only deliver on the promise of equity if the world knows which children and families are thriving and which are being left behind – both at the launch of the Agenda and throughout its implementation.  This report considers both the implications of the 2030 Agenda for children and the data required to monitor the situation of children within the SDG framework.

Youth Voices Count (YVC) is a regional community network of sexual and gender minority youth in Asia and the Pacific. Founded in 2010 by 40 young gay men, transgender women, and other men who have sex with men, from 19 countries, YVC addresses issues related to HIV, health, and human rights through capacity building, advocacy and community mobilization. Led by a dynamic group of young persons from the region, YVC brings together community leaders to address stigma and discrimination, including self-stigma, and to leverage the power of young people in regional and international gatherings, including its most recent involvement with UNAIDS High Level Meeting on HIV held in 2016 in New York, USA. Youth Voices Count envisions a society in which young people of [all] sexual and gender diversity including [those that identify as] lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer identities lead safe and free lives with equal opportunity to achieve their full potential and well-being.

East and North-East Asia (ENEA), as one of the most dynamic, innovative and fast-developing areas of the world, has made remarkable progress over the past two decades − with annual GDP growth higher than that in the Asia-Pacific region and the rest of world. The ENEA subregion is well advanced in achieving the Millennium Development Goals. Yet many challenges remain. The ENEA subregion still has a large number of people living in poverty and a large disparity in income among countries, with Japan at one end of the spectrum and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea at the other. There has been no fundamental trend in reversing environmental and resource losses, or in reducing the growth of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The subregion's resource-intensive economic growth has led to large increases in the demand for materials and energy. This publication highlights challenges and priorities of the East and North-East Asian subregion in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

The Asia-Pacific Sustainable Development Goals Outlook report aims to develop a shared understanding of the opportunities and challenges confronting the region. This report provides a goal by goal snapshot of where we stand, including bright spots, hot spots and emerging issues for our region as we implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Limitations of data and the sheer complexity of the issues addressed by the 2030 Agenda have constrained this effort. Nonetheless, a picture emerges of a region that has, on the aggregate level, achieved several of the Millennium Development Goals but in which too many of its people are still not benefiting from growth and progress and are increasingly vulnerable to economic, social and environmental risks. In 2013, 400 million people lived on less than $1.90 per day (in 2011 PPP). With business-as-usual practices, we may not realize the brighter future that global leaders in 2015 committed to reach in 15 years’ time. This outlook report provides a starting point for dialogue and will support follow-up and review at the regional level. It can also help governments and other stakeholders to reach much-needed social and political consensus and focus on the gaps and priorities for moving forward. It also focuses attention on the opportunities for bringing the Asia-Pacific region together in action on cross-cutting issues and in support of the countries that face multiple challenges.