Publications

This WHO Global hepatitis report describes, for the first time, the global and regional estimates on viral hepatitis in 2015, setting the baseline for tracking progress in implementing the new global strategy. The report focuses on hepatitis B and C, which are responsible for 96% of all hepatitis mortality. It presents data along the five strategic directions (strategic information, interventions, equity, financing and innovation) – key pillars of the GHSS to facilitate monitoring of progress in countries, regions and globally, and to measure the impact of interventions on reducing new infections and saving lives between 2015 and 2030.

This policy paper shows how countries and stakeholders can take resolute actions to promote the R&D required to successfully reach the SDG target of ending the TB epidemic by 2030. The paper concludes by recommending steps governments and other stakeholders can take at the national and international levels to create research-enabling environments and increase funding for TB research; namely, the creation of a global strategy for TB R&D and the deployment of innovative, collaborative financing mechanisms.

Tuberculosis (TB) remains the largest cause of death and suffering due to any communicable disease among the most productive groups in the World Health Organization’s South-East Asia Region. Nearly half of global TB cases emerge in this Region, which is home to one fourth of the total population. It is estimated that TB and TB-HIV co-infection caused 3 deaths every 2 minutes in the Region in 2015. These deaths were entirely preventable with proper treatment of all TB patients, including those infected with drug-resistant strains. The WHO End TB strategy and corresponding Regional Strategic Plan to end TB targets reductions to the extent of 90% in deaths, and 80% in TB incidence by 2030. This is in alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to which all countries have committed.

This report highlights the key results achieved over Phase II of the Maternal Health Thematic Fund (MHTF), from 2014 to 2016, structured around the three cross-cutting principles of accountability, equality of access and quality of care, as outlined in the MHTF Business Plan Phase II (2014-2017). The report foregrounds the MHTF’s role in supporting health systems strengthening, and addresses its catalytic nature, its promotion of sustainability and its strong emphasis on advancing innovation. A vision and direction are outlined for the third phase of the MHTF, which will be further elaborated in a forthcoming Business Plan Phase III (2018-2021).

This document provides key considerations on when clinically stable children, adolescents and women who are pregnant or breastfeeding as well as members of key populations (people who inject drugs, sex workers, men who have sex with men, transgender people and people living in prisons and closed settings) can benefit from access to ART services for clinically stable clients, including less frequent clinic visits and multi-month refills for ART and other medications. The guidance provides the rationale and the approach to expand differentiated ART delivery to populations of people living with HIV who previously may not have been considered “eligible” for ART delivery models for clinically stable clients.

When we began this project, we realised that there was little consolidated information on the HCV situation in Malaysia, whether epidemiological reports, patient voices, or the diagnostics and treatment environment. This report seeks to fill that gap and be a useful tool for clinicians, civil society, policy makers, politicians, and other stakeholders working towards access and affordability of HCV diagnostics and medication.

This report provides in-depth technical discussions in areas that have direct implications to the containment of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) as a development agenda. The report is organized in five chapters which served as the technical background documents for the Biregional Technical Consultation on AMR in Asia, 14-15 April 2016.

The primary purpose of antiretroviral therapy is to keep people living with HIV in good health. In the large majority of people living with HIV, antiretroviral medication can be chosen that reduce the amount of HIV in the blood to levels that are undetectable by standard laboratory tests. It can take some months to reduce viral levels to undetectable levels and allow the immune system to begin to recover. Antiretroviral therapy is transformative for people living with HIV. It enables people to regain their quality of life, return to work, enjoy their families and enjoy a future filled with hope.

It is critical in understanding the information in this policy brief, that we recognize the historical and contemporary experiences of marginalization against all women, and that our analyses of these experiences as they relate to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) should not be limited to the relationships or dynamics between cisgender and heterosexual men and women. Recognizing the powerful intersectional dynamics at work here and how the lack pluralistic views on gender and sexual diversity blind advocates and policy makers to the natural pluralistic nature of gender and sexuality. This consequently contributes to the restrictions on women's human rights. This policy brief is based on a desk review of pertinent documents, including state submissions and shadow reports from ASEAN member-states and Timor-Leste. It includes the most recent periodic reports submitted by these countries, as well as the Concluding Observations from the CEDAW Committee, which were published between 2012 and 2017.

The Global Plan to End TB 2016–2020 calls for a paradigm shift in the approach to TB, demanding a scale-up of TB prevention and care services to unprecedented coverage levels. Without this paradigm shift, we cannot see the end of TB. Measuring progress towards the 90-(90)-90 targets will unveil the gaps at each stage of the TB care cascade, exposing the unacceptably high numbers of people who are being left behind and encouraging the mobilization of essential resources for countries to ensure the delivery of quality TB services. This report is the first in a series produced by the Stop TB Partnership. The goal is to assess the status of country TB programmes in terms of the Global Plan’s 90-(90)-90 targets and to provide a baseline for monitoring progress over the next 5 years. Currently, the 30 high TB and drug-resistant TB (DR-TB) burden countries that account for almost 80% of the global burden exhibit the biggest gaps in the areas of diagnosis for TB and DR-TB, and the provision of preventive therapy (PT). Moreover, monitoring the uptake of TB services in key populations remains a challenge due to the limited availability and disaggregation of data.