Publications

The Global Fund's New Funding Model contains a country dialogue process which is a significant opportunity for key affected population including MSM and transgender organizations to meaningfully involve in all the stages, and engage with several Global Fund personalities. However, the complexity of the model poses a challenge to the communities and civil society organizations to know when and how they can best participate. This limited substantial knowledge on the process may create gaps in their engagement. The engagement of key affected population which includes MSM and Transgender was defined by a meaningful participation in an ongoing and consultative process of the country dialogue.

This document is the sixth strategic plan for the Cambodian HIV/AIDS Education and Care (CHEC), representing its sixth cycle of positive intervention in the lives of people living with HIV and AIDS and their families. The CHEC programme currently consists of four projects: the Gender-Based Violence (GBV) Project, Out of School Youth Project, Home-Based Care Project and Nutrition project. Due to the recent shift of funding support from donor countries, and due to the fact that the HIV/AIDS infection prevalence rate in Cambodia has been significantly reduced to 0.6% in 2015, this strategic plan reflects the shift to focus on ongoing life-time support for people living with HIV/AIDS. For CHEC, the period 2016 to 2019 is an exciting time of growth, learning, embracing new challenges, and continuing to positively impact the lives of PLHIV. CHEC can indeed be an 

This is the first progress report of Pacific Women Shaping Pacific Development (Pacific Women), which provides a snapshot of the program’s achievements and challenges in its first three years of operation. All 14 Pacific Islands Forum countries have received some form of support through Pacific Women. While the Pacific region is vast and culturally diverse, Pacific Island countries share common challenges related to gender inequality: violence against women is widespread; women’s participation in political leadership is among the lowest in the world; and there are multiple barriers to economic participation and empowerment of women. Indeed, gender inequality poses a significant development challenge for Pacific Island countries. In response to this challenge, the Australian Government established Pacific Women, a 10 year $320 million initiative that aims to support women – regardless of their income, location, disability, age or ethnic group – in 14 Pacific countries to participate fully, freely and safely in political, economic and social life. Pacific Women supports countries to meet the commitments made in the 2012 Pacific Islands Forum Leaders’ Gender Equality Declaration (refer Annex A). Pacific Women is managed by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs (DFAT) in Canberra and Offices in the Pacific.

An estimated total of 717 million young people aged 15 to 24 live in the Asia-Pacific region, comprising 60 per cent of the world's youth. In Asia and Pacific, HIV epidemics are concentrated within the MSM and transgender communities, and younger counterparts of these communities are more vulnerable. 95 percent of all new infections among young people occur among the most at risk adolescent populations. According to UNAIDS Data Hub, in 2013, 610,000 young people (15-24) are living with HIV in Asia-Pacific. In response to the rising epidemic, UNAIDS 90-90-90 Strategy, specifically discusses the importance of taking specific steps to increase HIV testing among young people, expand treatment options for adolescents, adapt health services to adolescents’ needs, mobilize social support, and empower young people. The game changers introduced for Asia and Pacific in the strategy includes scaling up prevention programmes for men who have sex with men and transgender people, including condoms and PrEP, especially for us – the younger generation.

Over the last two years, countries have made progress in scaling up access to HIV prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. However continued late diagnosis of HIV infection and the unacceptably high proportion of people living with HIV not linked to care result in a low proportion of PLHIV who achieve viral suppression. National AIDS and STI programme managers met in Manila in 2015 to agree on concrete actions towards reaching the 90-90-90 targets and related prevention and stigma targets by 2020.

The aim of the program is to create enabling and empowering environment in the selected countries to enhance the engagement of young key populations in the Global Fund processes at country level, with following specific objectives: (i) To synthesize and generate strategic information in relation to HIV and young people to inform the National Strategic Plan review and Investment Cases; (ii) Ensure youth partners have the skills and knowledge to influence the country dialogue for adequately resourced HIV responses for young people; and (iii) Ensure programmes funded through the NFM targeting young people are designed and implemented in full partnership with young people to ensure programmes are effective. 

This paper sets out the ways in which current drug control efforts are already impacting upon the development sector’s efforts to achieve sustainable development, highlighting specific areas of policy incoherence between drug control and development, as well as recommendations for the way forward, which must be recognised and addressed if we are to fully achieve the new Goals and Targets set out in the Sustainable Development Agenda. The development sector has so far remained largely absent from debates on drug policy reform, but if it is serious about achieving the SDGs it can no longer remain silent.

This National Strategic Plan for HIV and STIs 2014-2018 provides strategic guidance and direction to all individuals, groups, organisations and agencies responsible for contributing to the national HIV and STI response in the Solomon Islands. This plan is based upon the commitments of the Government of the Solomon Islands to its people. The National Strategic Plan for HIV and STIs 2014-2018 has been designed to assist all stakeholders to develop their annual activity plans to meet national strategic priorities. Due to the five year duration of the National Strategic Plan, it is acknowledged that these priorities may change as a result of altered disease prevalence and patterns (perhaps resulting from changed behaviours and practices of some groups and/or improved surveillance and testing).

We have made incredible progress in the global fight against HIV/AIDS. But we are starting to see a dangerous level of complacency which threatens to reverse the real achievements made so far. The world stands at a critical juncture: if we act with urgency in the next five years, we could end AIDS as an epidemic by 2030. But achieving this goal will require $12 billion annually more by 2020, targeted more effectively to reach the most vulnerable. Our new report calls on governments to prioritize support for the Global Fund; leaders in sub-Saharan Africa to invest more domestic resources in health; and the private sector to play a greater role.

Until recently, diagnosis and treatment of HCV was complex. Suitable tools for screening and diagnosis were lacking, and treatment was hampered by limited efficacy and severe side effects. New medicines for the treatment of HCV have revolutionized HCV treatment. Combinations of these new medicines, which are generally well-tolerated and effective, can cure HCV in 12 weeks. This offers a huge opportunity to address HCV, in particularly among HIV/HCV co-infected people, who are more vulnerable as they progress faster to serious disease than HCV mono-infected people.