Publications

The 2010 Cambodia Demographic and Health Survey (CDHS) is a nationally representative sample survey of 18,754 women and 8,239 men age 15-49. The 2010 CDHS is the third comprehensive survey conducted in Cambodia as part of the worldwide MEASURE DHS project. The primary purpose of the CDHS is to provide policymakers and planners with up-todate, reliable data on fertility; family planning; infant, child, and maternal mortality; maternal and child health; nutrition; malaria; knowledge of HIV/AIDS, and women’s status.

The behavioural surveillance survey (BSS) research conducted by the National Research Institute at Oil Search Limited provides data for the NDoH National Surveillance System for monitoring behavioural trends with more-at-risk populations over time. The research is also conducted for OSL and the NDoH/ADB HIV Prevention in Rural Enclaves Project, to be used as a baseline for the monitoring and evaluation of their HIV project. The BSS research findings are based on a representative sample of 463 OSL workers and can support further tailoring of the OSL HIV prevention response to minimize the impact of the HIV epidemic on their workforce and their surrounding communities.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) against women is a global public health and human rights concern. Despite a growing body of research into risk factors for IPV, methodological differences limit the extent to which comparisons can be made between studies. We used data from ten countries included in the WHO Multi-country Study on Women’s Health and Domestic Violence to identify factors that are consistently associated with abuse across sites, in order to inform the design of IPV prevention programs. IPV prevention programs should increase focus on transforming gender norms and attitudes, addressing childhood abuse, and reducing harmful drinking. Development initiatives to improve access to education for girls and boys may also have an important role in violence prevention.

This report presents the results of the study entitled Discourses and Representations of HIV in Fiji and their Impact on the Experience of People Living with HIV and AIDS. This study, as originally conceived and described in the research proposal submitted to the Fiji National Health Research Committee, aimed to investigate the discourses and representations of HIV and AIDS in Fiji and how they impact the experience of people living with the virus. This research had three initial objectives: 1) to examine how HIV and AIDS had been presented and represented at the institutional level (government, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), churches) since the advent of the first reported cases in 1989; 2) to explore how the population of Fiji perceived and interpreted the infection; 3) to analyse the biographies of people living with HIV and how they experienced the virus in the Fijian context.

The Nepal Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) 2011 is conducted as a periodic update of the demographic and health situation in Nepal. This is the fourth comprehensive national level population and health survey conducted in Nepal as part of the global Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) program. The primary focus of the 2011 NDHS was to provide estimates of key population and health indicators, including fertility and mortality rates, for the country as a whole and for urban and rural areas separately. In addition, the sample was designed to provide estimates of most key variables for the 13 ecodevelopment regions (stratums).

In low- and middle-income countries, substantial resources for the AIDS response come from the largest bilateral, multilateral, and private philanthropic donors and from a country’s contribution to addressing its own epidemic. There is no reliable indication of what overall proportion of these resources ultimately reaches men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender people. Our objective was to examine major donor investments targeted at these two groups in 2009, but we also recorded relevant information from other years (2008, 2010, and 2011) when available.

This preliminary report is based on the Nepal Multiple monitor progress made over the past decade on children's Indicator Cluster Survey (NMICS), conducted in 2010 by and women's issues. It will also help to identify the regional the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) with technical and geographical disparities that exist within the country financial support from UNICEF. The survey is intended, in and will establish a baseline for some newly developed large part, to fill the data gap that has existed in the Mid-Western and Far-Western regions of Nepal in addition to indicators, the progress status of which can be monitored preparing for the national-level MICS in 2013.

There is now overwhelming evidence that the epidemic among MSM (Men who have Sex with Men) is well established and increasing. While some actions are now being put in place on a regional and country basis to address prevention amongst MSM, there has been very little work done in regards to the issues for MSM who are already positive. To fulfil this gap, community-based organisations of positive people linked to the Asia Pacific Network of People Living with HIV (APN+) through a participatory research methodology, learned to design and implement a study to explore the issues affecting positive MSM in the region. This study provides a timely critique on the lack of community-centred discussions surrounding sex, sexuality, and sexual identity. The ongoing global attention on quantifiable markers to health, universal access to treatment, medication adherence and condom use, while certainly important, only skim the surface of deeper quality of life for positive MSM; which necessarily depends on looking deeper into the meanings HIV has had on the lives and stories of those who have to live with it. Thus, it has been found that positive MSM in the Asia Pacific are left to mend their lives, their sexual identities, and relate anew post-HIV with the world outside, the best they can; in many cases with minimal social or institutional support. This gross injustice needs to be redressed if we are truly serious about being sensitive and responsive to the actual needs of communities affected by HIV. Perhaps only then will we have an enabling environment and politics that are yet to be.

The report is intended to provide an evidence-base for: policy makers working in government, regional and multilateral organizations; parliamentarians; members of the judiciary; civil society organizations; donor agencies; and sex workers and their organisations engaged in advocacy to improve the legal and policy enabling environment for HIV responses. The first Asia and the Pacific Regional Consultation on HIV and Sex Work (2010) highlighted the need to document laws and enforcement practices so as to inform advocacy and programming to address the human rights of sex workers. The study focuses on 48 countries of the Asia Pacific region. The study method involves: review of legislation, cases, published research and grey literature; consultations with sex workers, technical experts and UN agencies; and analysis. This consultation draft relates to the Pacific region, Australian and New Zealand. Separate consultation reports have been prepared for the Asian regions. The study focuses on laws and law enforcement practices affecting adults engaged in sex work. The study does not aim to map laws relating to children who are sexually exploited. Although the study considers the relevance of trafficking laws particularly as it affects adults voluntarily engaged in sex work, it does not map all trafficking legislation in detail.

After peaking at 3.2 percent in 1997, Cambodia's HIV prevalence among men and women aged 15 to 49 had dropped to 0.9 percent; it is expected to decline to approximately 0.6 percent by 2012 (Ministry of Health [MOH] 2007). HIV in Cambodia has evolved from a generalized epidemic to one concentrated among MARPs: men who are clients of sex workers as well as their spouses; people who inject drugs; male, female, and transgender sex workers, and MSM.