Publications

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is supporting a human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and sexually transmitted infection (STI) prevention program, which is being implemented in conjunction with the Western Yunnan Roads Development Project (Baolong Highway) in the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

Worldwide, nearly one million curable sexually transmitted infections (STIs) occur each day, half of them in Asia. Where they are common, STIs are among the major causes of serious preventable conditions such as infertility, ectopic pregnancy, cancer and congenital infections. Millions more incurable STIs add to the heavy burden of morbidity and mortality for women, men and children. Globally, unsafe sex ranks third among the morbidity risk factors, accounting for over 5% of attributable disease burden, and fifth for attributable mortality. For these reasons, interventions to prevent and control STIs are among the most cost-effective public health measures, which moreover contribute to achieving several Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Interviews and focus group discussions with older women carers in three countries – Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam - indicate that they assume multiple responsibilities in caring for people living with HIV and/or orphaned and vulnerable children. Looking after an adult child can involve a range of tasks, from obtaining food, water and medicine to assisting them to eat, bath, and dress. Caring for both affected and infected grandchildren requires them to take on important duties in areas such as health, nutrition, and education. In both cases, older women are key providers of emotional support. The consequences of serving as the main carer in these circumstances are often severe, interconnected, and enduring. Their economic status can be weakened due to direct costs (medical, food, clothing, education) and indirect costs (loss of income support, lack of time to earn money), leading them to sell assets and borrow money. Despite their evident burden, older women carers remain neglected within the response to HIV and AIDS in Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam. Numerous commitments relating to older carers have been made at international level, but national policies guiding the response contain few, if any, specific references to them.

In India, 38.4 percent of the estimated 5.1 million HIV infections are among women (UNAIDS/WHO 2006). Although mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) accounts for a little less than 4 percent of all HIV infections in India, in sheer numbers it is the cause of approximately 56,700 children infected with HIV each year (IAP/NACO 2006, UNICEF 2006). With support from UNICEF, India’s national program for prevention of parent-to-child transmission (PPTCT) of HIV has been underway since 2002. More recently, the government launched a national treatment program that offers antiretroviral therapy (ART) to HIV-positive women, children below 15 years of age, and men. However, since the start-up of the ART program there have been concerns about access to and utilization of these services by women and children. To address these concerns, a comprehensive PPTCT initiative that emphasizes treatment for HIV-positive women and their children was launched in 2004 by the National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) using funds from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. To better implement this initiative, it is imperative to understand the prevention and care needs of the women who are receiving or have received PPTCT services, referral systems between PPTCT programs and other HIV-related and reproductive health services, and linkages between PPTCT programs and community-based organizations and NGOs. 

Male circumcision is one of the oldest and most common surgical procedures worldwide, and is undertaken for many reasons: religious, cultural, social and medical. There is conclusive evidence from observational data and three randomized controlled trials that circumcised men have a significantly lower risk of becoming infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Demand for safe, affordable male circumcision is expected to increase rapidly, and country-level decision-makers need information about the sociocultural and medical determinants of circumcision, as well as risks of the procedure, in the context of comprehensive HIV prevention programming. The aim of this report is to review the determinants, prevalence, safety and acceptability of male circumcision, focusing on sub-Saharan Africa.

The scale above shows the number of people living with HIV and AIDS patients newly reported based on the Infectious Disease Control Law. The people who had already been reported as living with HIV and who had subsequently developed AIDS were excluded from the legal report.

The 8th round of annual HIV surveillance is the result of the combined efforts and contributions of many individuals and organizations. Thanks are due to all those listed below as well as to the many participants who gave their blood and shared some of their personal information.

This report summarises the findings of the 7th round of HIV serological surveillance, which has been carried out during the period from January-June 2006. On behalf of the Government of Bangladesh, ICDDR,B in close collaboration with Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) conducted the surveillance.

The National AIDS Spending Assessment (NASA) is a tool/ method that had been introduced by the UNAIDS Geneva to measure the commitment of a nation in combating a global epidemic disease such as HIV and AIDS. The development of NASA 2006-2007 is a jointly teamwork involved highly motivated senior staffs of the National AIDS Commission, UNAIDS Indonesia, Department of Health and other Sectors at the central level, as well as colleagues from 3 selected provinces.

This report presents the new HIV estimations and its demographic impact analysis based in a workshop that reviewed the data available from the previous HIV estimation workshop, which was held in September 2005 and HIV data for the years 2005 and 2006. The initial discussions were based in the draft estimates produced during the estimates training held in Bangkok in April 2007.