Law and Policy

This analysis was done of the National Composite Policy Index (NCPI) data that 136 countries submitted as part of the 2008 UNGASS reporting round. The NCPI , one of the standardized UNGASS indicators, is an extensive questionnaire that focuses on the strategic, policy and legal frameworks of national HIV responses. It includes questions about civil society involvement, and part of the questionnaire is intended to be completed by nongovernment representatives, including civil society. Data was compiled from all NCPI reports submitted – including 22 from countries in the Asia-Pacific region. In summary, civil society respondents in the Asia-Pacific region were less satisfied with their involvement in their country’s national response to HIV and AIDS as compared to their global counterparts for each indicator assessed.

The HIV epidemic in the Asia‐Pacific region is centred around unprotected paid sex, sharing of contaminated needles and unprotected sex between meni. Indeed, HIV prevalence among sex workers, injecting drug users (IDUs) and men who have sex with men (MSM) is often significantly higher than in the general population, making these groups most‐at‐risk populations (MARPs).