Publications

The aim of the program is to create enabling and empowering environment in the selected countries to enhance the engagement of young key populations in the Global Fund processes at country level, with following specific objectives: (i) To synthesize and generate strategic information in relation to HIV and young people to inform the National Strategic Plan review and Investment Cases; (ii) Ensure youth partners have the skills and knowledge to influence the country dialogue for adequately resourced HIV responses for young people; and (iii) Ensure programmes funded through the NFM targeting young people are designed and implemented in full partnership with young people to ensure programmes are effective. 

This paper sets out the ways in which current drug control efforts are already impacting upon the development sector’s efforts to achieve sustainable development, highlighting specific areas of policy incoherence between drug control and development, as well as recommendations for the way forward, which must be recognised and addressed if we are to fully achieve the new Goals and Targets set out in the Sustainable Development Agenda. The development sector has so far remained largely absent from debates on drug policy reform, but if it is serious about achieving the SDGs it can no longer remain silent.

This National Strategic Plan for HIV and STIs 2014-2018 provides strategic guidance and direction to all individuals, groups, organisations and agencies responsible for contributing to the national HIV and STI response in the Solomon Islands. This plan is based upon the commitments of the Government of the Solomon Islands to its people. The National Strategic Plan for HIV and STIs 2014-2018 has been designed to assist all stakeholders to develop their annual activity plans to meet national strategic priorities. Due to the five year duration of the National Strategic Plan, it is acknowledged that these priorities may change as a result of altered disease prevalence and patterns (perhaps resulting from changed behaviours and practices of some groups and/or improved surveillance and testing).

We have made incredible progress in the global fight against HIV/AIDS. But we are starting to see a dangerous level of complacency which threatens to reverse the real achievements made so far. The world stands at a critical juncture: if we act with urgency in the next five years, we could end AIDS as an epidemic by 2030. But achieving this goal will require $12 billion annually more by 2020, targeted more effectively to reach the most vulnerable. Our new report calls on governments to prioritize support for the Global Fund; leaders in sub-Saharan Africa to invest more domestic resources in health; and the private sector to play a greater role.

Until recently, diagnosis and treatment of HCV was complex. Suitable tools for screening and diagnosis were lacking, and treatment was hampered by limited efficacy and severe side effects. New medicines for the treatment of HCV have revolutionized HCV treatment. Combinations of these new medicines, which are generally well-tolerated and effective, can cure HCV in 12 weeks. This offers a huge opportunity to address HCV, in particularly among HIV/HCV co-infected people, who are more vulnerable as they progress faster to serious disease than HCV mono-infected people.

A diverse set of data is a pre-requisite for effective planning and governance. The Sindh Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) is an important source of accurate and reliable data on a comprehensive set of socioeconomic indicators. The purpose of the survey is to provide statistically valid data for researchers, policy makers, planners, and individual’s vis-à-vis evidence based decision, program and policy making, in-depth analysis and future forecast regarding human development. MICS is a unique source of information in which more than 120 indicators are covered on the basis of the province, 5 divisions, 28 districts as well as area of residence and background. MICS also provides high-quality data on household’s characteristics, child mortality, nutrition, child health, reproductive health, ante-natal health checks, child development, education and literacy, water and sanitation, wealth quintiles and poverty status.

In Cambodia, gender norms remain heavily rooted in society, creating inequality between men and women and depriving women of their basic rights. While violence against women is considered immoral and unacceptable in Cambodian culture, domestic violence is considered to be justifiable in this society. Nearly 60 per cent of men believe that women should tolerate domestic violence to keep her family together and 28 per cent believe that there are occasions where a woman deserves to be beaten. The "Good Men Campaign" is a 5-year national social behavioural change campaign that was launched in 2011. Its primary goal was to challenge gender norms and encourage the 3.5 million men and boys aged 15 to 49 to change their attitudes and behavior towards women.

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) Secretariat organize an annual meeting with pharmaceutical companies and stakeholders to discuss antiretroviral (ARV) drug demand forecasts for adults and children. The March 2015 meeting went beyond the usual three-year forecast by including a model of new ARVs that will be needed up to 2024. For the first time this year, the meeting also included a discussion on hepatitis B and C medicines. 

The present study analyzes the prevalence and some key drivers of child marriage at the district level in India, using government data sources. The practice of child marriage persists across the country, with many northern states having the highest percentage of women married before the legal age. Although there has been a significant decline in child marriage for females throughout the country, especially for girls below the age of 15 years, child marriage continues to affect almost a third of all girls in India. Among individual characteristics, the level of education of females has the most profound impact on the age they marry, irrespective of household wealth, locality and other characteristics. Further, in the districts studied here, Other Backward Class (OBC) and Scheduled Caste (SC) women tend to have the lowest mean age at the time of marriage, irrespective of their level of education, locality and economic background.

Many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) in Asia have adopted the goal of universal health coverage. In principle, universal coverage includes providing financial protection to the whole population. This is a goal. In practice, universal coverage cannot be achieved at once, but involves progress along a path towards achieving complete population coverage. This is especially true in LMICs, where resources are constrained and per capita health expenditures are low. Experience shows that LMICs generally begin on the pathway to universal coverage by implementing different prepayment mechanisms targeted at particular sections of the population. The implementation of prepayment mechanisms for non-poor informal workers in LMICs is a relatively new policy area, with many unresolved issues. Questions being raised are whether compulsory schemes such as social health insurance (SHI) are effective in covering nonpoor informal workers, whether voluntary schemes such as communitybased health insurance (CBHI) can be used to scale-up coverage of non-poor informal workers, and whether complete subsidization of non-poor informal workers can create perverse incentives for remaining in or moving into informal employment.