What's New

PMTCT in Nepal - Comprehensive PMTCT service started in Nepal from February 2005. - Government provides free ARV drugs and follow‐up testing for the baby free of cost from 18 months. - There are 17 PMTCT sites, of which 16 sites offer Pediatric ART and 5 sites provide CD4 testing onsite.

Cook Islands are located between French Polynesia and Fiji Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. In 2006, the resident population of Cook Islands was estimated at 11,800 persons. The residential population has been decreasing since 1996, and there has been a population shift from the outer islands to the main population centres in Rarotonga and Aitutaki. In 2005 and 2006 the Cook Islands Ministry of Health, with technical assistance from the Secretariat of the Pacific Community, conducted second generation surveillance (SGS) surveys of antenatal women and youth. This report summarizes the results of the SGS surveys in the two population groups.

This study used household survey data from Cambodia, Thailand and Viet Nam to examine the situation of orphans relative to children in poverty regarding access to essential needs and services, focusing on basic material needs and education outcomes. This study made use of summary statistics and multivariate regression analysis to determine whether poverty accounts for the education gap between orphans and non-orphans, or whether other factors also contribute to the lower education outcomes of orphans. A similar analysis was done on children’s possession of basic materials – namely a blanket, a pair of shoes and two sets of clothes - which exemplify the capacity of families to protect and care for children.

Since the adoption of the Millennium Declaration, total development assistance for health (DAH) has more than doubled and has saved the lives of millions of individuals and protected the livelihoods of their families. But most low-income countries are failing to make much progress towards the child and maternal mortality MDG targets, and the financial crisis threatens to increase infant deaths in developing countries by 200,000-400,000. Progress towards all the health MDGs is impeded by insufficient funding, poor use of resources, and fragmented financing flows. 

This toolkit focuses on TIs for FSW populations. It draws upon almost two decades of experience from programmes implemented by the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Western Pacific and South-East Asia Regions (WPRO/SEARO). While examples and issues specific to FSWs are highlighted, many of these issues would be common to male sex worker (MSW) interventions, and the approaches can be adapted to meet the needs of MSWs. This toolkit aims to demonstrate how a small number of recommended indicators can provide critical information to guide interventions. These tools can be used at different levels of management to track the progress of a programme and focus efforts on achieving targets. Special attention is paid to how data can be used by on-site managers to help them make periodic decisions.

This assessment of HIV prevalence among people injecting drugs in the four cities of Mandi Bahauddin, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala and Sheikhupura was conducted in July-August 2009. This assessment includes city wise mapping for size estimates of people injecting drugs, identification of sites where injecting is prevalent, estimates of HIV prevalence among people injecting drugs through provision of VCCT services (confirmation of reactive samples in the Public sector laboratories) and collection of relevant behavioral data.

The process evaluation of the Stepping Stones (SS) program in Fiji, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Kiribati was conducted throughout June 2009 to January 2010 period. The aims of the evaluation were to; 1) describe and share the lessons learnt on the different processes used to deliver the program in current countries, 2) make recommendations on the future sustainability and strategic direction of the program and 3) to make recommendations on the monitoring and evaluation (M&E) methodologies to ensure accurate and reliable collection of SS data for future outcome orientated evaluations.

The objective of this paper is to give an overview of the potential impact of the current crisis on migrant and mobile populations in Southeast Asia, and assess how the likely increase in unsafe mobility with its accompanying risks and vulnerabilities for HIV transmission will affect the health of people on the move. The economic crisis will have severe consequences for employment and poverty in the region as it often pushes out of the labor market the most vulnerable, such as migrants. Migrant workers vulnerabilities to HIV will likely be exacerbated with increasing deterioration of their economic opportunities. Further, we know that even during the best economic times the combination of social, cultural, linguistic, legal and behavioral barriers affect migrants’ access to information and to prevention, health and social services. These conditions are likely to worsen during the economic downturn.

There are very limited data available on the state of HIV and AIDS in Afghanistan. The number of known cases of HIV infections has been relatively low so far. However, there is a risk of an escalation in HIV prevalence owing to a high and increasing number of injecting drug users in the country. The experience from other countries across Asia suggests the potential for rapid spread of HIV within the drug-injecting population and onward transmission of the virus (Friedman and Des Jarlais 1991; Riehman 1998; Monitoring of the AIDS Pandemic (MAP) 2005; Ohiri 2006). At the same time, opium production in Afghanistan reached record levels in 2007 (IMF 2007b). Keeping HIV prevalence low is one of the development objectives in Afghanistan. An increase in HIV and AIDS also has the potential to complicate progress in the attainment of other key development objectives.

India had an estimated 1.8 – 2.9 million HIV positive persons in 2007, with an estimated adult HIV prevalence of 0.34% (0.25%–0.43%). As the HIV Prevalence among the high risk groups (HRG) is very high compared to that among the general population, India continues to be in the category of concentrated epidemic. The sexual mode continues to be the major mode of transmission, though transmission through injecting drug use and Men having Sex with Men are on the rise in many new pockets. The annual HIV sentinel surveillance covered 1,215 sites in 2008-09. The National AIDS Control Programme (NACP) Phase-III (2007-2012) has the overall goal of halting and reversing the epidemic in India over the five-year period. It places the highest priority on preventive efforts while, at the same time, seeking to integrate prevention with care, support and treatment.