Publications

HSS 2016-17 highlights that the HIV epidemic continues to be heterogenic in India with varied HIV prevalence by location and population. These epidemiological findings need to be taken into consideration for tailoring the responses by all stakeholders including policy makers, programme managers, research scholars, community and civil society.

The 2017 Pakistan National Human Development Report (NHDR) focuses on the country’s youth as a critical force for shaping human development in the country. This Report covers three drivers of youth empowerment – education, employment and engagement – with the objective of informing public policy discourse and improving the policy landscape for young people.

According to the findings from this review, KPs value and recognise PrEP as additional protection against HIV infection (part of combination prevention programme). However, the perceived benefits and concerns around PrEP were motivated by the specific needs and experiences of the different KP groups. A few cross-cutting issues emerged, highlighting areas which need to be addressed for easier PrEP uptake. Among the key issues raised were concerns around safety and potential side effects, effectiveness, cost, potential adherence challenges, and the need to address all forms of stigma, discrimination and criminalisation which act as barriers to HIV services.

In 2017, the International Treatment Preparedness Coalition (ITPC) embarked on an initiative to develop and implement innovative community-led demand creation solutions for access to and use of oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) of HIV by key populations. This initiative included a preliminary literature review of global community perspectives on PrEP, the Community-led Consultative Think Tank Meeting on PrEP, and development of the Key Population Activist Toolkit on PrEP.

To inform the content of the meeting, ITPC undertook a Literature Review to collate and examine views from key populations on use and access to PrEP. Key findings of the suggested that there is general acceptability and demand for PrEP among KPs as an additional option for HIV prevention within a comprehensive approach. However, there are a number of concerns, risks and barriers that will need to be addressed for successful PrEP uptake.

The right to health is the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, as enshrined in the 1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. This includes the right of everyone, including people living with and affected by HIV, to the prevention and treatment of ill health, to make decisions about one’s own health and to be treated with respect and dignity and without discrimination. Everyone, regardless of who they are or where they live, has a right to health, which is also dependent on adequate sanitation and housing, nutritious food, healthy working conditions and access to justice.

The assessment consisted of a descriptive cross-sectional study to assess stigma level (quantitative part), in-depth interviews to describe views from people living with HIV who are in positive networks (qualitative part), and a desk review to identify the supportive legal and policy frameworks and other available services for people living with HIV.

The 2016 NDHS is a national sample survey that provides up-to-date information on fertility levels; marriage; fertility preferences; awareness and use of family planning methods; child feeding practices; nutrition; adult and childhood mortality; awareness and attitudes regarding HIV/AIDS; women's empowerment; and domestic violence. The target groups were women and men age 15-49 residing in randomly selected households across the country. In addition to national estimates, the report provides estimates of key indicators for both urban and rural areas in Nepal and also for the seven provinces.

Although it can be prevented and successfully treated, tuberculosis (TB) is the world’s deadliest infectious disease. In Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA), conditions are ripe for TB proliferation, with suboptimal TB diagnosis and treatment, poor treatment adherence rates, limited health care in prisons, and high rates of HIV infection and injection drug use, all against a backdrop of weak health care systems. In 2015, most of the 323,000 new TB cases and the 32,000 deaths due to TB in the WHO European Region occurred in EECA. In 2015, an estimated one in five MDR-TB cases globally occurred in the European Region.

This report presents the most current data on four specific forms of violence – violent discipline and exposure to domestic abuse during early childhood; violence at school; violent deaths among adolescents; and sexual violence in childhood and adolescence. The statistics reveal that children experience violence across all stages of childhood, in diverse settings, and often at the hands of the trusted individuals with whom they interact daily. The report concludes with specific national actions and strategies that UNICEF has embraced to prevent and respond to violence against children.