What's New

These guidelines recommend increasing the offering of HIV testing and counselling (HTC) to couples and partners, with support for mutual disclosure. They also recommend offering antiretroviral therapy (ART) for HIV prevention in serodiscordant couples.  There are many potential benefits to supporting couples to test together for HIV infection and to mutually disclose their HIV status—most importantly, that together they can then make informed decisions about HIV prevention and reproductive health, including contraception and conception. These benefits are relevant for all couples, whether they have the same HIV test results (HIV seroconcordant) or have different results (HIV serodiscordant). The findings of many published studies suggest that people who learn their HIV status are more likely to adopt preventive behaviours than people who are unaware of their HIV status. 

The National AIDS/STD Programme (NASP) of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of Bangladesh, played the role of the main coordinating body through taking leadership in the process of preparing the Global AIDS Response Progress Report, 2012, Bangladesh.

In March 2012, there were 313 new HIV Ab seropositive individuals confirmed by the STD/AIDS Cooperative Central Laboratory (SACCL) and reported to the HIV and AIDS Registry (Table 1). This was 82% higher compared to the same period last year (n=172 in 2011), and the highest number of cases ever reported in the registry [Figure 1].

This study on positive women's access to reproductive and maternal health care and services was conducted in six South and South East Asian countries: Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Nepal and Viet Nam. Countries were selected to include a mix of low and concentrated epidemics and coverage of services that support women to have HIV free babies (usually referred to as prevention of mother to child transmission or PMTCT). The objective of the study is to examine the experience of access to reproductive and maternal health care and services by HIV positive women who have been pregnant in the past 18 months. 

A core principle of the PEPFAR II strategy is to support the long-term sustainability of HIV-related prevention, treatment, care, and support programs and to scale up promising and innovative programs and practices. Breaking the links between HIV infection and GBV requires targeted interventions to foster changes in individual and community norms that perpetuate violence against women and other vulnerable groups. These case studies were developed to help program managers design, plan, and implement strategies to integrate gender-based violence within existing HIV, family planning, or reproductive health services and programs. Analysis of the studies—conducted in Vietnam, Ecuador, and Swaziland—yielded five major findings and eight overarching recommendations.

Fiji is classified as a low HIV prevalence country. The first cases of HIV were identified in 1989, and a cumulative 366 confirmed HIV cases were reported as of December 2010. The main reported mode of transmission was heterosexual (89%), followed by perinatal transmission (6%) and homosexual transmission (3%).

In June 2011, Viet Nam participated in the UN General Assembly High-Level Meeting on AIDS in New York. At this meeting, Viet Nam renewed its commitment to the HIV response and adopted new targets by signing the 2011 Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS: Intensifying our Efforts to Eliminate HIV/AIDS. This report also reflects a national consensus on key achievements and challenges in the HIV response in Viet Nam in the years 2010 and 2011. Viet Nam has also finalized its new National Strategy on HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control to 2020, with a vision to 2030, developed with broad consultation. The targets of the new National Strategy echo those of the 2011 Political Declaration, and illustrate Viet Nam’s commitment to the vision of zero new infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths.

A review of the implementation of the NHSP 2007–2011 was conducted in 2011. An important finding from discussions with a number of partners was that, few, if any of the organisations involved in the HIV response used the NHSP to guide their work. The civil society organisations were usually working in their area of expertise, e.g., counselling or peer education for young people. If their work happened to overlap with an aspect of the NHSP, that was fine. Secondly there was no coordination or monitoring of the work being done by civil society sector and no effort to relate it to what is expressed in the NHSP. A new National Strategic Plan was developed in 2011 for the period 2012-2015, informed by the findings from the review of the 2007–2011 NHSP. This NSP will put into practice the intentions of the HIV/AIDS Decree. This will ensure that the whole population is aware of the importance of responding to the HIV epidemic, and of doing so in ways that adhere to the human rights and governance framework outlined in the Decree.

The adult HIV prevalence at national level has continued its steady decline from 0.41% in 2000 through 0.36% in 2006 to 0.31% in 2009. All the six high prevalence states show declining trend. However, the low prevalence states of Assam, Chandigarh, Orissa, Kerala, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, Jammu & Kashmir, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya show rising trends in the last four years. New HIV infections has declined by more than 50% over the past decade from 2.7 lakh in 2000 to 1.2 lakh in 2009. Of these, six high prevalence states account for only 39%, while the states of Orissa, Bihar, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat together account for 41% of new infections.

In accordance with the requirements set out in the 2012 Global AIDS Progress Report Preparation Guidelines (hereafter referred to as the Guidelines), the Ministry of Health assumed responsibility for organization and preparation of the China 2012 AIDS Response Progress Report (hereafter referred to as the Progress Report), as well as mobilization and coordination of participation of various stakeholders. Representatives from relevant government departments, civil society organizations (CSOs) and people living with HIV (PLHIV) actively participated in the report preparation.