Publications

India had an estimated 1.8 – 2.9 million HIV positive persons in 2007, with an estimated adult HIV prevalence of 0.34% (0.25%–0.43%). As the HIV Prevalence among the high risk groups (HRG) is very high compared to that among the general population, India continues to be in the category of concentrated epidemic. The sexual mode continues to be the major mode of transmission, though transmission through injecting drug use and Men having Sex with Men are on the rise in many new pockets. The annual HIV sentinel surveillance covered 1,215 sites in 2008-09. The National AIDS Control Programme (NACP) Phase-III (2007-2012) has the overall goal of halting and reversing the epidemic in India over the five-year period. It places the highest priority on preventive efforts while, at the same time, seeking to integrate prevention with care, support and treatment.

This report provides the results of the 2009 in-country  process of updating Population Size Estimates for MARPs.  The exercise has been undertaken at this juncture, not only because the previous estimates are already five years old, but because of newly available data that allows the country to improve  upon previous estimates.  A large-scale mapping exercise, known as the Rapid Situation and Response Assessment (RSRA) provided a major impetus for updating the 2004 estimates for IDUs and FSWs in particular. 

We explore the magnitude of and current trends in HIV infection among people who inject drugs and estimate the reach of harm reduction interventions among them in seven high-burden countries of the South-East Asia Region. Our data are drawn from the published and unpublished literature, routine national HIV serological and behavioural surveillance surveys and information from key informants. A mapping of harm reduction interventions suggests a lack of congruence between the location of established and emerging epidemics and the availability of scaled-up prevention services. Harm reduction interventions in closed settings are almost nonexistent. To achieve significant impact on the HIV epidemics among this population, governments, specifically national AIDS programmes, urgently need to scale up needle–syringe programmes and opioid substitution therapy and make these widely available both in community and closed settings.

This report has been prepared by the Western Pacific Regional Office of the WHO to describe the "compulsory treatment centres" in Cambodia, China, Malaysia and Viet Nam, and assess the treatment they provide. The main objective of this report is to use some key human rights principles as a lens through which to assess and document the situation in the compulsory drug treatment centres in a constructive way, as a basis for engaging in dialogue with policy-makers in these countries. The assessment suggests that these centres lack effective drug treatment services. There is also a lack of prevention or care services for HIV in closed settings, where the spread of the disease is much faster than in the community. People who use drugs in the region are at risk in these settings because they do not receive drug treatment and HIV prevention services.

A Computerised Management Information System (CMIS) for monitoring the implementation of the National AIDS Control Programme in India was initiated in 2001. The CMIS has been designed to provide continuous critical information on the response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in India. The CMIS enables National AIDS Control Organisation, State AIDS Control Societies and district units to use programmatic information for evidence based planning, for identifying appropriate strategies and for developing district and state level capacities for collection, analysis, interpretation of data and relevant remedial actions.

The reported number of PLHIV in 2008 was again a record high at 1,126 cases. The number of newly reported PLHIV cases over the past five years represents 45.2% of the total. 1,033 cases were Japanese nationals and 93 cases were foreign nationals. In terms of exposure routes for the reported PLHIV cases in 2008, 779 cases (69.2%) were caused by homosexual sexual contact and 220 cases (19.5%) by heterosexual sexual contact, making a total of 999 cases (88.7%) by sexual contact. Age ranges centered on the 20-39 group (70.3%), with both Japanese and foreign nationals seeing most reports in the 25-34 age range for males and the 20-24 age range for females.

This paper will explore that proposition and discuss the future of the Thai epidemic by presenting revised HIV projections that incorporate new data on changes in sexual behaviors among heterosexual men and women in Thailand collected from The National Sexual Behavior Survey of Thailand 2006 (NSBS 2006). This new projection will also take into account expected changes in risk behaviors in both commercial and casual sex from 2007 until 2020. This revised scenario will then be compared to the current national HIV projection to illustrate the impact that heterosexual behavior changes are likely to have on the epidemic.

In 2007, it was estimated that there were 4.9 million people living with HIV in Asia, of whom 440,000 became newly infected in the past year and approximately 300,000 died from AIDS‐related illness (#UNAIDS, 2008a). While overall prevalence of HIV in Asia is lower than in certain other parts of the world, particularly Africa, there is a large variation in HIV prevalence within Asia – from almost 0%, up to 2.4% recorded in the Papua province of Indonesia (#UNAIDS & WHO, 2007).

The Philippines is one of the world’s largest and best organised source countries for human labour migration. There are an estimated over 7 million Filipinos overseas at any point in time working in more than 160 countries, with an additional 1.3 million undocumented Filipinos working abroad. The migration profile is gradually changing to include not only less skilled workers ‐ such as domestics, construction and factory workers ‐ but also highly skilled workers and particularly healthcare professionals.

This report synthesizes data from surveillance, behavioral surveys and published and unpublished research to better understand emerging patterns and trends in the HIV epidemic in Bangladesh. Taking stock of 20 years of experience with HIV in Bangladesh, this report summarizes what is known about the coverage and impact of HIV prevention services, including knowledge on risk and protective behaviors.