Publications

The East Asia and Pacific region has not been spared from the ravages of HIV and AIDS. In 2007 in Asia there were an estimated 4.9 million people living with HIV (PLHIV), including 440,000 people who became newly infected in the past year; approximately 300,000 died from AIDS-related illnesses. Also in the same year, East Asia had an estimated 800,000 adults and children living with HIV, 92,000 adults and children newly infected with HIV, and 32,000 adult and child deaths from AIDS. In responding to the needs of children affected by HIV & AIDS and other orphans and vulnerable children (OVC), UNICEF is committed to minimizing the further spread of HIV in the region and ensuring that the highest possible level of care, treatment and support is available for those already infected. Faith-based organizations (FBOs), regardless of religion or denomination, have particular attributes that can strengthen the HIV & AIDS response and contribute more broadly to the protection, care and support of OVCs.

The UNICEF East Asia and Pacific Region Interfaith Consultation: Children and HIV & AIDS, held from 15-17 January 2008 in Bangkok, Thailand, was aimed at developing an interfaith regional framework to strengthen the role of Faith-Based Organizations (FBOs) in responding to HIV & AIDS and in addressing the needs of children affected by HIV and other vulnerable children. In addition to providing care and support to those infected and affected by HIV & AIDS, many delegates talked about what they saw as room for an even larger role in prevention. They saw scope for expanding activities in such areas as life skills education and outreach programmes targeting most-at-risk adolescents, especially with many of them already working with children’s classes and youth groups.

This is an official submission to the UNAIDS secretariat for the monitoring of progress towards the Declaration of Commitment unanimously adopted in the 2001 UN General Assembly Special Session on HIV and AIDS. This report is presented exactly as submitted by the country, without editing or other alteration. This and other member state submissions will form the basis of the Secretary-General’s report to the General Assembly in June as well as the 2008 Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic which will be launched at the International AIDS Conference in August 2008.

The National Composite Policy Index (NCPI) data submitted by countries was validated for internal consistency and completeness of the response by UNAIDS/Geneva. Illogical values were corrected; countries were contacted in cases of substantial missing data and multiple, non-consolidated NCPI submissions. The PDF files posted contain the validated NCPI data.

This is an official submission to the UNAIDS secretariat for the monitoring of progress towards the Declaration of Commitment unanimously adopted in the 2001 UN General Assembly Special Session on HIV and AIDS. This report is presented exactly as submitted by the country, without editing or other alteration. This and other member state submissions will form the basis of the Secretary-General’s report to the General Assembly in June as well as the 2008 Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic which will be launched at the International AIDS Conference in August 2008.

The first round of the Integrated Behavioural and Biological Assessment (IBBA) was implemented in 29 districts in six states, i.e., Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Manipur, and Nagaland. The IBBA was implemented amidst many logistical challenges, including setting up field sites for interviews and medical examinations in areas convenient to high-risk groups, collecting biological specimens in sometimes remote field locations, and transporting specimens to district and state laboratories under cold-chain conditions. This report summarizes the major findings of the first round of the IBBA among FSWs, MSM, Clients, and IDUs.

The first NBSS on HIV/AIDS 2007, a large population-based survey, obtained statistics on awareness, attitudes, and perceptions about HIV/AIDS and sexual practices among Singaporeans. The survey is self-administered using the Audio Computer-Assisted Self-Interviewing (ACASI) tool that was developed specifically to gather information on sensitive topics such as HIV/AIDS. It provides an extra measure of privacy as, through using ACASI, the survey can be done in the absence of an interviewer.

The purpose of the Behavioral Surveillance Survey (BSS) is to systematically monitor trends in HIV / STI risk behavior over time. Thus, it is imperative to conduct BSS at certain periodicity to track the behavior change systematically. The BSS wave III covered the same seven districts (viz., Mumbai, Thane, Sangli, Solapur, Satara, Aurangabad, and Nagpur), which were included in the previous wave. The wave III covers three new groups in addition to the groups covered in the wave II namely: unmarried female college students, unmarried female slum youth aged 15-19 years, and unmarried female slum youth aged 20-24 years.

Behavioral Sentinel Surveys have been carried out by the National AIDS Program (NAP, now known as NCHADS) in five provinces (Kampong Cham, Sihanoukville, Battambang, Siem Reap and Phnom Penh) since 1997. The first year served to supply baseline data, and in subsequent years, the progression of these variables has been monitored. This publication presents the result of the seventh round of Behavioural Sentinel Survey, which was conducted in 2007. Female (brothel-based female sex workers, beer promoters, karaoke workers, and beer garden workers) and male (moto-taxi drivers) and MSM (short and long hair) were included in this round.   

The overall objective of this study is to gather information for use in planning and evaluation of the national AIDS program and related policies. In the process, a substantial number of the indicators needed by the national program and the international community, are collected and reported based on a nationally representative sample.