Publications

The 2013 Report on Tuberculosis Research Funding Trends: 2005–2012 presents eight years of funding data to characterize annual investments by the world’s leading donors to TB R&D. The report compares current spending in six areas of research with the corresponding R&D funding targets outlined in the Stop TB Partnership’s Global Plan to Stop TB 2011–2015 and shows how these levels of investment have changed over time since 2005, the baseline year. The analysis reveals that in all six research categories, actual spending falls far short of the investments required to develop and introduce new tools to fight TB. This is also the first year since TAG began reporting that the global funding total has decreased compared with the previous year—falling by $30.4 million. The $627.4 million spent on TB R&D in 2012 represents just 31.4% of the recommended $2 billion annual investment.

Size estimation of Most-At-Risk Populations is a precursor to effective HIV prevention interventions and epidemic projections in any country. A national study was conducted by the National STI and AIDS Control Program (NSACP), Ministry of Health, Sri Lanka through a consortium of management and technical partners including the Family Planning Association (FPA) of Sri Lanka; University of Manitoba (UoM), Canada; Alcohol and Drug Information Center (ADIC), Sri Lanka. The financial assistance for the study was provided by the Global Fund. The overall goal of the size estimation was to provide accurate information on the size and locations of most-at-risk populations for HIV in Sri Lanka, with a view to helping to improve the scale, quality and impact of HIV prevention programmes among these populations. 

The HIV/AIDS Diagnostics Technology Landscape is published annually and is prepared as part of a broad and ongoing effort to understand the technology landscape for HIV/AIDS. This document is a semi-annual update on the technologies for CD4, viral load, and early infant diagnosis (EID) testing, as well as for the diagnostic pipeline.

United Nations entities, civil society networks and development partners in Asia and the Pacific are joining to urge for a rapid increase of voluntary confidential community-based HIV testing and counseling for key populations at higher risk—including men who have sex with men, transgender people, sex workers and people who use drugs— in the region, to help ensure more people in need are able to access life-saving antiretroviral treatment. Low levels of access to HIV testing and counselling for key populations at higher risk remains a serious cause for concern in Asia and the Pacific. Across the region, less than half of the key populations know their HIV status, which can lead to late diagnosis, late initiation to care and treatment services, and can result in unnecessarily high morbidity and mortality for people living with HIV. This also means the benefits of the prevention impact of antiretroviral treatment are not being fully maximized in the region.

This report provides findings and recommendations from the National Review of Cambodia's legal framework and its impact on access to health and HIV prevention and treatment services for people living with HIV (PLHIV) and most-at-risk populations (MARPs). The National Review was conducted from September – November 2013. The objectives of the National Review were: - to analyze the legal environment (including laws, policies, law enforcement practices and access to justice) and assess its impact on access to and uptake of HIV prevention, treatment, care and support services by people living with HIV and key HIV-affected populations; and - to make concrete recommendations for removing legal and policy barriers to improve the enabling environment for HIV responses.

The HIV Investment Framework (IF) is a model for HIV and AIDS investment and prioritisation for maximum impact. The IF advocates for a short-term increase in HIV funding in order to reduce funding requirements over the long term. IF is aligned to the investment thinking approach to resourcing of the HIV response. This means treating resources for the HIV response as investments that will deliver returns, rather than as expenses that will always have gaps demanding to be filled.

The UNITAID 2013-2016 Strategy includes the treatment of HIV/AIDS and co-infections as one of six strategic objectives. This scoping report focuses on issues, challenges and opportunities related to one of the most important HIV co-infections—Hepatitis C virus (HCV)—and represents UNITAID’s first effort to gather market intelligence on products for the diagnosis and treatment of HCV in individuals co-infected with HIV and HCV. Though preliminary in nature, this scoping report gives an overview of the prevalence and impact of HCV and HIV co-infection, existing medicines and diagnostics as well as those in the pipeline, commodity access issues, and market shortcomings.

This national investment plan is a renewed call for coordinated action from the public and private sectors, civil society and international partners to reduce Nepal’s HIV burden. Drawing on programmatic data and a 2013 review of Nepal’s national response, a 4-month participatory process was undertaken to develop this plan.

Middle-income countries (MICs) are facing a crisis of containing costs for treating people living with HIV. These countries carry a high burden of HIV, and transmission of the virus is often concentrated amongst key populations: people who inject drug (PWID), men who have sex with men (MSM), sex workers (SW), transgender (TG), prisoners and migrants. This policy brief examines the challenges to affordable HIV treatment access in MICs amongst people living with HIV (PLHIV) and key populations.

Myanmar recognizes the HIV epidemic as one of its most serious health challenges: AIDS is one of the priority diseases in the National Health Plan. The country is committed to achieving a series of national and global strategic targets. The second National Strategic Plan on AIDS 2011–2015 (NSP II), which guides Myanmar’s AIDS response, identifies three strategic priorities – HIV prevention, a comprehensive continuum of care for people living with HIV (PLHIV), and mitigating the impact of the disease on PLHIV and their families.