Publications

The AIDS Medium Term Plan IV of the Philippines was conceptualized and prepared through a robust and wide consultative process which was inclusive of civil society, different agencies of the government, multi lateral and bilateral agencies as well as corporates. The period of this plan is from 2005 to 2010. The Philippine National AIDS Council is responsible for overseeing the program implementation plan of the country. In this regard, the PNAC commissioned a mid term assessment of the plan in order to draw lessons from the first half of the plan, and to apply these in the second half of the plan i.e. 2009 and 2010. The assessment will also look into the performance of the council, and suggest improvements for the same.

The 2009-2013 Strategic Plan identifies strategies to address these issues and incorporate lessons learnt in the future national response to HIV. The Plan proposes a safer and more resilient Tongan population working together in the treatment, care and support of those living with HIV - and help prevent the spread of STIs, HIV and other communicable diseases so that people can live free and healthy lives in dignity and unity in a peaceful and prosperous Tonga. Its goal is to reduce the spread and impact of HIV and other STIs through a whole-of- country approach, while embracing the groups that are most at risk such as people living with and affected by HIV and Other STIs.

Hong Kong, located in Asia the new burning place of HIV infection, is still having a relatively low prevalence of HIV infection. While sexual transmission is the predominant route of transmission in Hong Kong, an upsurge of infection in injecting drug users is a concern from the experience in other Asian localities. Various public health measures in Hong Kong have kept the HIV prevalence of drug users at low level, as compared with neighbouring cities.

The program described herein has been agreed jointly by the Government and UNFPA. This Country Programme Action Plan, consists of 10 parts wherein the general policies, priorities, objectives, strategies, management responsibilities and commitments of the Government and UNFPA are described, and two Annexes. UNFPA will enter into a formal agreement with the Government in the near future as to its operations in Afghanistan.

Vietnam's HIV/AIDS epidemic is concentrated primarily among injecting drug users, commercial sex workers and men who have sex with men. Outreach workers regularly walk into neighborhoods in Hai Phong City with the hope of reaching these at-risk populations with information about HIV/AIDS and voluntary counseling and testing (VCT). The outreach workers encourage individuals to seek HIV counseling and testing at the Community Health Counseling Center in Hai Phong City. Launched at the end of May, a new communications campaign will help to expand the reach of the VCT program. The campaign targets potential clients with information about HIV counseling and testing and the locations of VCT sites. Billboards and posters encourage clients to talk with counselors to discuss feelings of fear and concern, and to answer questions related to HIV/AIDS. The campaign also emphasizes the importance of testing as a crucial step in improving overall health and quality of life.

The MDG Gap Task Force has assessed the global commitments contained in the framework of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) ratified by Governments at the various international events that followed the Millennium Summit. The United Nations Millennium Declaration emphasized that strengthened global partnerships for development were needed to provide the enabling environment for accelerating progress in reducing poverty, improving health and education, establishing gender equality and ensuring the protection of the environment as defined in the MDGs. The main message of the present report is that while there has been progress on several counts, important gaps remain in delivering on the global commitments in the areas of aid, trade, debt relief, and access to new technologies and affordable essential medicines.

Injecting drug use (opioids and pharmaceuticals) and HIV associated with injecting drug users (IDUs), has diffused rapidly in the South Asian region. Further, the sexual transmission of HIV from the IDUs to their non-injecting sexual partners has been established. Developing appropriate responses to this emerging problem requires a rapid situation and response assessment (RSRA) of drug users and their regular sexual partners. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Regional Office for South Asia (UNODC ROSA) is implementing a regional project RAS/H13: Prevention of transmission of HIV among drug users in SAARC Countries. Through this project, a RSRA of HIV related risk behaviours, adverse health consequences, knowledge and attitudes relating to HIV/AIDS amongst drug users and their regular sex partners was carried out in five South Asian countries, namely, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

In 2007, IDUs comprised the largest share of total HIV cases in at least 20 nations in Asia and the former Soviet Union. The percentage of cases attributed to injecting drug use is over 70 percent in some countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, the region where HIV is growing fastest. In many of these countries, harm reduction has made important inroads—all countries in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union except Turkmenistan had needle exchange programs in 2007. In most, programs remain too small to contain the HIV epidemic. Reports that new HIV cases among drug users have stabilized often reflect trends in testing rather than the impact of prevention.  The challenge for many of the hardest-hit countries, however, lies in translating commitments into practice, without sacrificing protection of human rights.

India is one of the largest and most populated countries in the world, with over one billion inhabitants. Of this number, it's estimated that around 2.5 million people are currently living with HIV. HIV emerged later in India than it did in many other countries, but this has not limited its impact. Infection rates soared throughout the 1990s, and have increased further in recent years. The crisis continues to deepen, as it becomes clearer that the epidemic is affecting all sectors of Indian society, not just the groups – such as sex workers and truck drivers – that it was originally associated with.

The two-decade-old HIV epidemic in Myanmar is largely concentrated among population subgroups with high-risk behaviors. Among reported AIDS cases of the year 2008 with the documented mode of transmission, 73% were due to unsafe sex, 3% due to injecting drug use, 3% from mother-to-child, and 2% due to blood transfusion. The male to female ratio among reported HIV-positive cases is 2.4:1.