Publications

A new UNICEF publication, Research on Violence against Children during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Guidance to inform ethical data collection and evidence generation, addresses key questions on generating VAC evidence that may arise during the pandemic to guide those considering conducting research and data collection on VAC during COVID-19.

The Global Strategy for Tuberculosis Research and Innovation will support the efforts of governments and other stakeholders to accelerate TB research and innovation, and improve equitable access to the benefits of research.

A participatory research tool was developed collaboratively by Dristi Nepal (hereafter ‘Dristi’), and ITPC to capture and assess the impact of Covid-19. The qualitative survey tool used images and emoticons to encourage participants, regardless of literacy, to relate their experiences of healthcare services as people living with HIV, and to rank their government’s actions on health provisions and human rights both prior to and during the Covid-19 pandemic. Every component of the tool’s development and implementation was collaborative, from the formulation of indicators, to its inclusive design and analysis of findings.

"Sankalak: Status of National AIDS Response" is the evidence-driven flagship report of NACP detailing the national AIDS response towards 2020 fast-track targets and 2030 end of the epidemic goal. 'Sankalak' analyses and reports the robust programmatic and surveillance data generated under NACP for the years 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20. This second edition of 'Sankalak' tells a tale of significant progress together with persisting challenges under the programme.

The Global Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) Programme was developed by UNICEF as an international multi-purpose household survey programme to support countries in collecting internationally comparable data on a wide range of indicators on the situation of children and women. The National Statistical Office of Thailand (NSO) conducted its first MICS, which was part of MICS3 programme, in 2005-06. The current MICS is the fourth round under MICS6 programme. The survey provides one of the most important sources of alternative information to help monitor the progress of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Integrating stakeholder and community engagement in quality of care initiatives for maternal, newborn and child health was developed to guide policy makers and programme implementers on how stakeholder and community engagement can be incorporated into quality improvement initiatives for maternal, newborn and child health. It specifically provides operational guidance through concrete steps and actions on how quality improvement teams at national, district and facility level, can ensure collaborative engagement with relevant stakeholders and communities during in all steps quality improvement implementation.  

The importance of community involvement in the design and development of health policies and programming has been formalised as a key principle within health policy agendas since the 1978 Alma Ata Declaration. A human rights and community empowerment approach has also been promoted as a key enabler for a successful response to the HIV epidemic. Such principles are also the foundation for harm reduction, where the involvement of people who use drugs is described as central to ensuring accessible, effective and responsive harm reduction services.  

A priority for Youth LEAD in 2019 was creating a strong organisational foundation between youth network partners, which led to the development of the Organizational Development and Change manual. The manual will be finalised and rolled out later in 2020. Similarly, the Legal Advocacy Toolkit, TeenGen and NewGen training was carried out in various countries, and more importantly, The YKP Small Grants Programme supported eleven YKP-led organisations in nine countries across Asia and the Pacific.

Youth LEAD, the Asia Pacific Network of Young Key Populations, is one of the recipients of the Global Fund- CRG Strategic Initiative long-term capacity development grant. Within the grant, various YKP-led networks and organizations are supported to meaningfully engage in the GF funding request development process. Youth LEAD Mongolia (YLM) is one of the grantees to have received that support.

The 2020 progress report is the first progress report of the Global Action Plan for Healthy Lives and Well-being for All initiative and covers the first eight months of implementation since its launch at the UN General Assembly in September 2019. In the early implementation phase, the signatory agencies have moved from the four key commitments made in the GAP – Engage, Accelerate, Align, Account – to action, and are beginning to lay the groundwork for sustainable impact and demonstrate progress. Building on existing collaborations, the agencies are also committed to leveraging the GAP to fill gaps in and add value to existing global, regional and national coordination mechanisms in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic.