Publications

Documenting the implementation of a public health programme as per its design is critical to interpretation of results from survey-led outcome and impact evaluation activities, the authors describe the scale-up and coverage of large-scale HIV-prevention services provided to female sex workers (FSWs) and high-risk men who have sex with men (HR-MSM) during the first 5 years of the Avahan programme in India.

The past decade has held high hopes for reducing the rate of new HIV infections among young people. In 2000, world leaders adopted the Millennium Declaration, affirming their collective responsibility to ensure equitable development for all people, especially children and the most vulnerable, in the 21st century.

Available data on HIV prevalence in Papua New Guinea (PNG) indicates that the country is on the verge of a generalized HIV epidemic. As of March 2010, prevalence among the general population was 0.79% while risk groups have a higher prevalence ranging between 4.3% among men who have sex with men (MSM) and 5.9% among female sex workers (FSW). The objective of the USAID/FHI behavioral surveillance survey (BSS) was to collect and analyze information about most-at-risk populations (MARPs) in Port Moresby (POM), Papua New Guinea (PNG) in order to better understand how HIV is transmitted in the country; how transactional sex contributes to the HIV epidemic there; and to help assess the outcomes of HIV outreach and prevention efforts.

The National statistics Bureau conducted the Bhutan Multiple Indicator Survey between March and August, 2010. The survey’s main objective is to provide up-to-date information on the situation of children and women in Bhutan. The survey is also aimed at furnishing data required for monitoring progress towards the MDGs, the goals of A World Fit for Children and other international goals. It is hoped that the findings will serve as a basis for equity-based programming, as well as contribute towards the improvement of data and monitoring systems in Bhutan. It will also help to strengthen technical expertise in the design, implementation, and data analysis of similar surveys in future.

The aim of the Vanuatu National Survey on Women's Lives and Family Relationships was to conduct a population-based study to provide a reliable benchmark of the prevalence and incidence of violence against women in Vanuatu, and on attitudes to violence including: health and other effects of violence on women and children; risk and protective factors in the family and the community; coping strategies of women; and the implications for prevention and support services. This report presents findings from the survey, which was conducted by the Vanuatu Women’s Centre (VWC) in partnership with the Vanuatu National Statistics Office (VNSO) from March to May 2009. This is the first nation-wide study that has been undertaken in Vanuatu on violence against women and attitudes to women’s human rights.

To provide a framework within which to tackle the HIV epidemic, the Government of Papua New Guinea (GoPNG) has recently endorsed the National HIV and AIDS Strategy 2011-2015 (NHS). Although this supersedes the National Strategic Plan on HIV/AIDS 2006-2010 (NSP), it builds upon it to intensify efforts to reduce the transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and to minimise their impact on individuals, families and communities. An NHS Implementation Framework and a National Monitoring and Evaluation Framework provide guidance to partners in developing their annual HIV activity plans and budgets, and in measuring progress in implementing the NHS. An independent and transparent mechanism for the review of the national response to HIV and AIDS – the Independent Review Group (IRG) – was established in 2007 for an initial three year period to assess performance and to fulfill the Global Task Team’s recommendations for accountability and oversight. The work of the group was extended by the National AIDS Council (NAC) in 2010, for a second three-year period.

To evaluate the effectiveness of the scaled-up ‘Safe Highway’ HIV intervention program among female sex workers (FSWs) in the Terai region of Nepal after a quasi-experimental pre-surveillance study demonstrated the efficacy of the program on a limited scale.

The World Health Organization (WHO), with support from the Pangaea Global AIDS Foundation and funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, convened a meeting of experts in HIV treatment from around the world to establish short-term treatment optimization priorities for preferred first- and second-line regimens recommended in 2010 WHO guidelines for adults and paediatrics. The list of attendees is attached at Annex A. For this meeting, short-term drug optimization was defined as a three-year window (2011-2013), and discussion focused on preferred first- and second-line regimens for adults and paediatrics recommended in the 2010 WHO Guidelines. The meeting’s objective was to refine the recommendations of the Conference on Anti-Retroviral Drug Optimization (CADO) held in June, 2010, and the recommendations made by the Medicines Patent Pool, UNITAID and WHO, endorsed by a number of global partners working on the Treatment 2.0 initiative, to the WHO Expert Committee on Essential Medicines in March, 2011.

This study focuses on the experiences and perspectives of HIV-positive women living in Fiji and Papua New Guinea. The purpose of the study is to give voice to women living with HIV and to allow their stories and views to inform an improved HIV response where the dignity of each and every woman and man is respected and protected. By paying attention to the experiences of these Pacific women, whose lives were dramatically changed on the day when they found out that they were HIV-positive, this study expands upon the knowledge and data on HIV in the Pacific Islands region.

The Philippines has maintained a low prevalence rate in HIV and AIDS. With the current spike in the number of reported cases, however, the country may not be able to keep it at the present level. There is growing evidence that the next Country Response to HIV and AIDS must catch up with, if not overtake, the spread of the epidemic at its present rate. The 5th AIDS Medium Term Plan (5th AMTP) envisions the halt to the present rate of HIV infection in the Philippines by preventing the further spread of HIV infection and reducing the impact of the disease on individuals, families, communities, and various sectors. It aims to broaden its reach among the general population, especially those most-at-risk and are found to be the present drivers of the epidemic such as Men having Sex with Men (MSM) and People Who Inject Drugs (PWID).