Publications

This document summarizes the findings of the third round of the IBBS conducted among 400 MSM in the Kathmandu Valley in 2009. This survey was conducted primarily to determine the prevalence of HIV and STIs among MSM in the Kathmandu Valley and to assess their HIV/STI-related risk behaviors, including their sexual behaviors.

This study presents the findings of the fourth round of the Integrated Biological and Behavioral Surveillance (IBBS) conducted among Injecting Drug Users (IDUs) of the Eastern Terai region of Nepal. The study is based on a survey of 345 males aged 16 years and above who have been injecting illicit drugs for at least three months before the date of the survey. The IDUs were recruited from different areas of the Jhapa, Sunsari, and Morang districts of the Eastern Terai. The objective of the study was to determine the prevalence of HIV/STIs and to assess HIV/STI-related risk behavior among the IDUs in the study areas. The study also collected information on IDUs’ socio-demographic characteristics, awareness of HIV/STIs, sexual behavior, condom use and exposure to intervention programs in the study areas. The fieldwork started on 19 January and was completed on 23 February 2009

The HIV epidemic in Indonesia is among the fastest growing in Asia, and limited funding is available for HIV/AIDS control. The epidemic is concentrated among injecting drug users (IDUs) and their sexual partners in most parts of the country, but generalised in some other parts. This raises a number of important policy questions, about the adequacy of the level of available funding, the appropriateness of its use, and its financial sustainability. This paper puts these questions in context of the present Indonesian health system.  

This survey presents a snapshot of themes affecting programming for men who have sex with men (MSM), for a group of men who have been having sexual relations with men for some time and are in contact with services. A large number of them have disclosed their sexuality to family, friends and others and are more likely to be HIV-positive, having been recruited for the survey through the Alliance’s programme networks.

This Southeast Asian multi-country study on HIV vulnerability of sex trafficked girls and women is the first of such systematic research ever undertaken in the Southeast Asia region. The findings and lessons from the study including limitations and need for more investigations can provide us with powerful evidence and impetus to further explore this unexplored field. In this context, the study has taken us a step closer towards more comprehensive and integrated approach to prevent human trafficking and HIV infection in the region.

The world is responding. We see a growing global momentum to stop violence against women. In 2008, the Secretary-General launched a multi-year global campaign called UNiTE to End Violence against Women. He is appealing to all partners to join forces to eliminate this scourge. The Campaign recognizes the power of the law: one of its five key goals is for all countries to adopt and enforce, by 2015, national laws that address and punish all forms of such violence, in line with international human rights standards. This Handbook for Legislation on Violence against Women, prepared by the Department of Economic and Social Affairs/Division for the Advancement of Women (DESA/DAW), is intended to assist States and other stakeholders to enhance existing, or develop new laws to protect women. The recommendations it provides in the model framework for legislation on violence against women serve as a useful tool in supporting efforts to provide justice, support, protection and remedies to victims and to hold perpetrators accountable. The commentaries which accompany the recommendations highlight promising examples from laws worldwide.

Sexual risk and STDs are relatively high among injecting drug users (IDUs) in Vietnam. We sought to determine characteristics of sexually active IDUs and correlates of high-risk sexual practices among IDUs in Bac Ninh province in northern Vietnam. IDUs who inject socially and IDUs who share needles are likely to engage in highrisk sexual behaviors and may serve as an important bridge group for epidemic HIV transmission in Vietnam. In addition to messages regarding the dangers of sharing needles and other injection equipment, preventive interventions among newly initiated IDUs should also focus on reducing sexual risk.

The present study describes complex drug and sexual risk in a group of male sex workers who were recruited in the context of a larger study of young heroin users in Hanoi, Vietnam. Male sex workers were significantly more likely than male non-sex workers to be migrants and to have unstable housing, to have lifetime exposure to marijuana, 3,4 methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, ecstasy), amphetamines, cocaine and morphine. Male sex workers are more likely to currently use MDMA, amphetamines, morphine and to 'smoke' as their most frequent mode of heroin administration. Male sex workers are more likely to have both male and female concurrent sex partners, to have a history of sexual victimisation, to have had more than three different sex partners in the past 30 days, and to have had partners who injected drugs before sex or who used drugs during sex. In their last sexual encounter with a client partner, approximately one-third (31.1%) reported having had receptive anal sex. In nearly three-quarters of these exchanges (71.4%), no condom was used. Similarly, in their last sexual encounter with a client partner, 42.2% reported having had insertive anal sex and in nearly half (47.4%) of these encounters no condom was used. Consistent with recent data from elsewhere in the region, there is an urgent need for additional research on male sex work in South-east Asia in order to properly situate behavioural interventions for male sex workers in this region.

Thailand has traditionally pursued an aggressive enforcement-based anti-illicit drug policy in an effort to make the country "drug-free." In light of this ongoing approach, we sought to assess impacts of enforcement on drug use behaviors among a cohort of injection drug users (IDU) in Thailand. We examined drug use patterns among IDU participating in a cross-sectional study conducted in Bangkok (n = 252). Participants were asked to provide data regarding patterns of drug use in the previous six months, including types of drugs consumed, method of consumption, frequency of use, and weekly income spent on drugs. We also conducted bivariate analyses to identify a possible effect of a reported increase in police presence on measures of drug use and related risk behaviors among study participants. One hundred fifty-five (61.5%) individuals reported injection heroin use and 132 (52.4%) individuals reported injection midazolam use at least daily in the past six months. Additionally, 86 (34.1%) individuals reported at least daily injection Yaba and Ice (i.e., methamphetamine) use. Participants in our study reported high levels of illicit drug use, including the injection of both illicit and licit drugs. In bivariate analyses, no association between increased police presence and drug use behaviors was observed. These findings demonstrate high ongoing rates of drug injecting in Thailand despite reports of increased levels of strict enforcement and enforcement-related violence, and raise questions regarding the merits of this approach.

Afghanistan is widely known and appreciated for its rich history, culture, literature and arts as well as its magnificent landscape. It is also widely known that large numbers of Afghans die, or live wretched lives, because violence is an everyday fact of life. Such violence is not openly condoned but neither is it challenged nor condemned by society at large or by state institutions. It is primarily human rights activists that make an issue of violence including, in particular, its impact on, and ramifications for, women and girls in Afghanistan. The report seeks to put back on the agenda some of the issues pertaining to the enjoyment of all human rights by all Afghan women that are being increasingly ignored. The problems identified in this report require further discussion and public debate, with a view to informing appropriate legal, policy and awareness-raising measures.