Tools and Guidelines

This guideline module is for use in caring for patients with TB disease at first-level health facilities (health centres and the clinical team in district outpatient clinics) in countries with high burden of HIV. It addresses the care of both HIV-positive and HIV-negative patients with TB disease. It is based on the STB training course and reference booklet Management of Tuberculosis: Training for Health Facility Staff WHO/CDS/TB/203.a-l and the following WHO normative guidelines issued in 2006: Antiretroviral therapy for HIV infection in adults and adolescents: Recommendations for a public health approach; Guidance for national tuberculosis programmes on the management of tuberculosis in children; and Tuberculosis infection control in the era of expanding HIV care and treatment: Addendum to "WHO guidelines for the prevention of tuberculosis in health care facilities in resource-limited settings", 1999.

This document, an update of the 1998 HIV sero-surveillance protocol, provides guidance on conducting facility-based HIV sero-surveys. The protocol is consistent with internationally recommended best practices. The main purpose of the document is to standardize methodologies for surveillance across multiple sites. Additionally, the document can also serve as a training aid and a reference manual for supervision, monitoring and quality assurance.

This publication is intended to serve as a reference tool for countries with limited resources as they develop or revise national guidelines for the use of ART in adults and postpubertal adolescents. The material presented takes updated evidence into account, including new ART treatment options, and draws on the experience of established ART scaleup programmes. The simplified approach, with evidence-based standards, continues to be the basis of WHO recommendations for the initiation and monitoring of ART. The guidelines are primarily intended for use by national and regional HIV programme managers, managers of nongovernmental organizations delivering HIV care services, and other policy-makers who are involved in the scaling up of comprehensive HIV care and ART in resource-limited countries. The comprehensive, up-to-date technical and clinical information on the use of ART, however, also makes these guidelines useful for clinicians in resource-limited settings. The recommendations contained in these guidelines are made on the basis of different levels of evidence from randomized clinical trials, high-quality scientific studies, observational cohort data and, where insufficient evidence is available, expert opinion.

These revised guidelines on ARV Drugs for Treating Pregnant Women and Preventing HIV Infection in Infants in Resource-Limited Settings are consistent with, and aim to support, the Call to Action Towards an HIV-free and AIDS-free Generation. The document is one of a trilogy of guidelines published at the same time which provide recommendations developed by WHO and its partners in support of the public health approach to antiretroviral therapy (ART) in resource constrained settings. It contains recommendations for the use of ARV drugs in pregnant women for their own health and for preventing HIV infection in infants and young children, and a summary of the scientific rationale for the recommendations. In particular, the publication aims to provide guidance to assist national ministries of health in the provision of ART for pregnant women with indications for treatment, and in the selection of ARV prophylaxis regimens to be included in programmes to prevent mother-to-child transmission (MTCT), taking into account the needs and constraints on health systems in various settings.

Successful scaling-up of antiretroviral therapy (ART) requires rational use of antiretroviral (ARV) drugs. These guidelines are based on the discussions held with health-care workers, researchers and programme managers from South-East Asia during a regional consultation organized by the World Health Organization Regional Office for South-East Asia (WHO SEARO) and the United Nations Children's Fund Regional Office for South Asia (UNICEF ROSA) in New Delhi during 2006. This consultation meeting reviewed the new data, experiences of scaling-up of pediatric ART in the Region and made recommendations for adaptation to the needs in the Region of the global WHO guidelines on Antiretroviral therapy of HIV infection in infants and children in resource-limited settings: towards universal access. To facilitate use at the country level the consultation recommended simplification of the global guidelines.

This document is a training material for a 4-day training course on counselling to support children’s adherence to antiretroviral treatment (ART).

In many countries of East Asia and the Pacific the ‘heart of the community’ is the place of worship, be it a mosque, temple, church or other sacred site. This is certainly true of Buddhist communities in Cambodia, Lao PDR, Mongolia, Myanmar, Thailand, Viet Nam and of Yunnan, the southernmost province of China. It is equally true that in the countries most affected by HIV and AIDS to date, religious leaders have taken a leading role in providing services to those affected, in caring for the ill, for those orphaned and widowed and in reducing community stigma and discrimination. This manual has been designed to help facilitators to conduct workshops with Buddhist monks, nuns, novices, lay teachers and other leaders on the issues of HIV and AIDS. The workshop sessions apply Buddhist teachings to understand the suffering and challenges of communities facing the crisis of HIV and AIDS. It is based on the experience of working with and training Buddhist leaders in countries throughout South and South-East Asia.

This toolkit has been written for anyone that wants to know more about GIPA – the Greater Involvement of People Living with HIV and AIDS. It has been prepared by consultants working for the Asia-Pacific Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS (APN+), with support from the Asia-Pacific Council of AIDS Service Organisations (APCASO) and the Seven Sisters Coalition. With this toolkit, this consortium aims to convince you that GIPA is both important and possible and to provide practical steps to strengthen the involvement of people living with HIV in the creation and implementation of AIDS policy and programs. GIPA is not an end in itself; it is a tool to enable us to achieve our ultimate goals: improving the quality of life of all people living with HIV in this region and preventing further HIV infections. The processes and workshop exercises outlined in this toolkit are written for PLWHA groups and networks and community-based organisations in Asia-Pacific. It can be easily adapted for use by governmental departments and international organisations, too. This is a resource document.

It is now widely accepted that HIV/AIDS is a threat to social and economic development with serious implications not only for the health and well-being of individuals but also for productivity, economic development, the social fabric of communities and national security. HIV/AIDS therefore requires the full commitment of all sectors: public, private and civil society. What might an expanded response to HIV/AIDS, that extends beyond the health sector and calls for the mobilization of all societal resources to combat the disease, look like? A multisectoral approach to HIV/AIDS aims at mobilizing resources – financial and otherwise. Sector-wide approaches provide opportunities for integrated responses to HIV/AIDS, moving away from the traditional vertical approach that addresses HIV/AIDS as a disease specific (biomedical) or a narrowly-defined problem rather than incorporating poverty, development, nutrition, education and other prevalent factors that may help drive the epidemic.

The guidelines for the transport sector look at some of the specific problems facing transport – the emphasis is on road transport but consideration is also given to other transport industries. They then present an overview of initiatives that have been taken, first at the legal and policy level then at the workplace, to address the occupational and behavioural risks associated with transport. It incorporates examples of action and guidance based on lessons learnt. It takes the reader through the code of practice and training manual, and shows where transport sector operators and authorities can find relevant provisions, explanations and advice to help them develop and implement HIV/AIDS programmes.