Publications

This report was compiled under the guidance of the Kiribati Country Coordination Mechanism for HIV, Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI) and Tuberculosis (TB) (CCM) and reporting was led by the Government of Kiribati Ministry of Health and Medical Services (MHMS) HIV & STI Unit. Data was collected and validated in a consultative and participative process involving government, non-government and civil society stakeholders. Litmus Ltd. provided technical support to the MHMS HIV & STI Unit throughout the reporting process, including data collection, analysis and validation, and drafting the narrative Country Progress Report.

This report describes the achievement of program implementation on HIV/AIDS and STI prevention, care, support and treatment during the year 2011. The report is intended to aggregate data and information collected from all OI/ART, VCCT, Family Health Clinics, HBC, and PMTCT sites from the whole country to be represented as the National Comprehensive Report for the health sector response to HIV/AIDS and STI in Cambodia. The following sections reported the main three program areas implemented for this year that are including: A) General Report related to Programme management and implementation; B) Results from health service deliveries; C) Financial Report for descript the financial disbursements against the yearly budget plan; D) Procurement of OI/ARV Drugs, E) Challenges etc.

The preparation of country report had begun as early as December 2011. Under the leadership of Ministry of Health Malaysia, series of consultations were convened involving various stakeholders to capture as much of opinions and responses to HIV. Apart from Ministry of Health officials especially from HIV/STI Section, others involved were government ministries and departments, non-government organizations (NGO), civil society, bilateral and international agencies, clinicians and academia.  The first in-country consultative meeting was convened in 15 February 2012 where orientation of report was briefed and indicators were agreed upon. During the meeting, stakeholders were also informed about newly added indicators for 2012 reporting. Good practices were identified and agreed to be included and highlighted in the report. The challenges and remedial actions were also determined in the same manner.

Papua New Guinea, according to the GAR 2012’s National Composite Policy Instrument (NCPI) respondents, has made a significant move forward in the consultation and meaningful involvement of civil society in the national response to HIV. The primary example provided by NCPI respondents from civil society of this transition to more equal engagement, is in the 2010 development of the National HIV and AIDS Strategy for PNG 2011-2015.

Since the UNGASS Afghanistan Country Report 2010, an AIDS situation and response assessment was conducted as part of the Afghanistan National AIDS Strategic Framework (ANSF) II, 2011-2015. New sources of data on AIDS during this period included: the National Drug Use Survey 2010; the Assessment of Drug Use Levels and Associated High Risk Behaviors amongst the Prison Population of Sarpoza Prison, Kandahar; a Knowledge, Attitudes, Behavior and Practices survey carried out among most at-risk adolescents; a review of the Opioid Substitution Therapy (OST) program in place since 2010; and some information resulting from assessments in selected Provinces outside of the capital, Kabul.

The Asia-Pacific High-level Intergovernmental Meeting on the Assessment of Progress against Commitments in the Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS and the Millennium Development Goals was convened in Bangkok from 6 to 8 February 2012.  The Meeting was held in pursuance of ESCAP resolution 66/10 with the following objectives: (a) To assess regional progress against commitments in the Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS and the Millennium Development Goals and efforts to ensure universal access, including follow-up to the outcome of the 2011 High-level Meeting of the General Assembly on AIDS; (b) To promote multisectoral dialogue between the health and other sectors, including justice, law and order and drug control; (c) To identify areas as for regional cooperation, particularly in addressing policy and legal barriers to universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support. The Meeting identified, among other things, measures to support the further implementation of Commission resolutions 66/10 and 67/9 as well as the 2011 Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS, particularly in the context of regional efforts to promote universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support, including multisectoral and regional cooperation to address legal and policy barriers, stigma, discrimination and gender-based violence related to HIV.

The annual HIV Sentinel Sero‐surveillance survey, the systematic and regular collection of information on the occurrence, distribution and trends of HIV infection and factors associated with the infection, has been carried out since 1992. The survey has been conducted among 8 targeted sentinel groups: Pregnant Women attending the antenatal clinics (ANC), New Military Recruits, Blood Donors, newly diagnosed TB patients, Injecting Drug Users (IDU), Men who have Sex with Men (MSM), Female Sex Workers (FSW) and Male patients attending sexually transmitted infection (STI) clinic.

The AIDS Surveillance Committee holds a quarterly meeting on the trends in new cases of HIV infection and AIDS cases in Japan, and are port is published annually that compiles data on new cases based on anonymous reports from all prefectures. Physicians who diagnose HIV infection (without AIDS symptoms) or AIDS patients have to submit the case report to the prefectures. The case report includes the result of HIV testing, major symptoms, and diagnosis, gender, age, nationality, resident area, transmission route and place, date of diagnosis.

Across the world, many countries and legal jurisdictions have adopted HIV-specific laws or invoked general criminal law to prosecute individuals who allegedly fail to disclose their HIV status prior to sexual relations (HIV non-disclosure), expose others to HIV (HIV exposure), and/or transmit HIV to others (HIV transmission). Although the exact number of initiated and completed prosecutions for HIV non-disclosure, exposure and transmission is unknown, the Global Network of People Living with HIV has identified some 600 known convictions for HIV non-disclosure, exposure or transmission, the great majority of which have taken place in high income countries. Over the years, many advocates, human rights and public health experts, and people living with HIV have voiced their concerns about the nature and impact of the criminalisation of HIV non-disclosure, exposure and transmission. Legal criticism against these laws and practices points to the facts that they are often not informed by evidence relating to HIV, disregard generally applicable criminal law principles, and have resulted in disproportionately harsh sentences in several cases. Public health concerns relate to the facts that there is no evidence that the criminal law is an effective tool for HIV prevention, while there is some indication that fear of prosecution discourages people from getting tested for HIV or disclosing their HIV status.

From 1-23 February 2012, the Asia Pacific Community of Practice on HIV, Gender and Human Rights (HIV-APCoP) held an e-discussion on Key Affected Women and Girls in Asia and the Pacific with the primary objective of stimulating dialogue to ensure proper policy attention is paid to key affected women and girls in the context of HIV.