Publications

It has been yet another busy and eventful year for the Ministry as it continues to adapt to the challenges of an environment of continual changes. The Report attempts to highlight the Ministry’s performance in delivering services to the people of Fiji contributing to the targeted outcomes set out by the Government. The efforts, commitment and achievements by our staff are therefore reflected in the Report.

About one-fifth of the HIV infections detected in Bhutan are among young women and men between the ages of 15-24 years. Young people are at special risk for STIs including HIV because they lack information, skills, health services and support that they need to need to make informed choices. Furthermore, uniformed personnel have also been seen as at-risk groups as about 13 percent of HIV cases detected in Bhutan so far have been among the uniformed services.  

A seventh round behavioral and serological surveillance found that the HIV epidemic had remarkably increased to 7% among intravenous drug users (IDU) in Central Bangladesh, indicating the urgent need to increase prevention. The main purposed of this study were to find out, by collecting data and the necessary information from sero-surveillances, published reports, and articles, what the prevalence of HIV/AIDS is, and what the acquisition and transmission routes are. In addition, trends in HIV-related risk behaviors among recognized high risk groups were observed, and estimations and projections of HIV transmissions up to the year 2020 results reveal that Bangladesh is a low prevalence country which is turning into one with a concentrated epidemic due to the high HIV prevalance rate of HIV transmission, followed by female sex workers, clients of sex workers, and men who have sex with men. If the transmission rate continues to increase, the situation will be uncontrolled. Therefore, there is an urgent need for a comprehensive prevention program to control the spread of HIV.

The Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) consists of four major island groups forming the states of Kosrae, Pohnpei, Chuuk, and Yap. A total of 35 positive HIV cases were confirmed in FSM as of December 2007 (UNAIDS 2008), and limited data exist on the behavioral dimensions of HIV and STI transmission in FSM. Between 2006 and 2008, six SGS surveys were conducted in FSM across three of the four states (Yap, Pohnpei, Chuuk) in four different population groups (PNC Women, Police, Youth, and Outer Island Communities).

This report presents the findings of the second round of second generation surveillance (SGS) surveys conducted in the Solomon Islands in 2008. As in 2004-05, two population groups were surveyed: antenatal women and youth.

This report presents the findings of the first round of the Integrated Biological and Behavioral Surveillance Survey (IBBS) of wives of migrant laborers in West to Far-Western Nepal. This study is based on surveys of 400 spouses of those migrant laborers in the four districts of Achham, Doti, Kanchanpur, and Kailali who temporarily migrate or had migrated to India to work as laborers. The survey was conducted among the wives or widows of current or ex- labor migrants to India aged 16 years or over, whose spouse had spent at least three months in India and who had returned to Nepal at least once in the last three years. The survey measured the prevalence of HIV among the study population.

This report presents the findings of the second round of Second Generation Surveillance (SGS) surveys conducted in Kiribati in 2008. The first round of SGS was conducted 2004-05 and included two population groups, Antenatal women and Seafarers. In 2008, surveillance included a sexually transmitted infection (STI) prevalence survey (SPS) survey of Antenatal women, Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) surveillance surveys (HSS ) of Seafarers and Policemen and a behavioural surveillance survey (BSS) for youth.

This report includes the findings from the three Second Generation Surveillance (SGS) surveys of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) prevalence and risk behaviour, which were conducted in 2008 in Vanuatu:

• STI Prevalence Survey (SPS) among pregnant women,
• Behavioural Surveillance Survey (BSS) among youth, and
• HIV Surveillance Survey (HSS) in clients attending an STI clinic.

The 2007 Indonesia Demographic and Health Survey (IDHS) is the sixth in a series of surveys undertaken as part of the international Demographic and Health Surveys project. The main objective of 2007 IDHS was to provide detailed information on population, family planning, and health for policymakers and program managers. The 2007 IDHS was conducted in all 33 provinces in Indonesia. The survey collected information on respondents’ socioeconomic background, fertility levels, marriage and sexual activity, fertility preferences, knowledge and use of family planning methods, breastfeeding practices, childhood and adult mortality including maternal mortality, maternal and child health, and awareness and behavior regarding HIV/AIDS and other sexually-transmitted infections.

This report is based on the Vanuatu Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) conducted in 2007 by the Ministry of Health, Government of the Republic of Vanuatu (GoV) with financial and technical support from United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) – Pacific.