Publications

Strong global commitment to end AIDS has driven huge progress. In 2017, around 75% of people living with HIV globally knew their HIV status and 59% of all people living with HIV were accessing treatment. However, new HIV infections are not declining fast enough and too many people are still dying from AIDS-related illnesses despite the availability of high-quality and effective treatment. And with 36.9 million men, women and children living with HIV around the world, there are more people than ever before living with HIV. A quarter don’t even know that they have the virus.

On World AIDS Day 2018, HIV testing is being brought into the spotlight. And for good reason. Around the world, 37 million people are living with HIV, the highest number ever, yet a quarter do not know that they have the virus. Knowing your HIV status has many advantages. It is an essential entry point to HIV treatment, prevention, care and support services. People who test positive for HIV should be linked immediately to antiretroviral therapy to keep them alive and well and, when viral load suppression is reached, prevent transmission of the virus.

Over the past nine years, the programme has increased equitable access to quality maternal and newborn health in 39 countries with the highest burden of death and disability. The programme has done this by supporting governments to build capacity and competence in the areas of midwifery, emergency obstetric and newborn care, maternal and perinatal death surveillance and response, and prevention and surgical treatment of obstetric fistula. It has also introduced targeted programmes focusing on first-time young mothers to build and strengthen care-seeking behaviours among young women and improve their access to sexual and reproductive health services. Overall, the activities supported by the Maternal Health Thematic Fund have contributed to averting an estimated 119,127 maternal deaths since 2008.

Each year, MSF publishes an International Activity Report and an International Financial Report, with details on our activities in each country. The reports provide global financial and operational information, and reflects on the major challenges we faced over the previous year.

The Together for Girls’ Strategy outlines our three-pronged model to address violence against children and youth. The document not only provides background about the partnership’s growth and achievements over the past ten years, but also serves as a road map to guide the years to come.

With the promulgation of the constitution in 2015, Nepal became a federal democratic republic nation. The federal, provincial, and local government have also been already formed and have been functioning as per the constitutional mandate. The organisational reform process is ongoing and further changes and adjustments are needed in various sectors to execute functions as per the constitutional provisions. In this way, the existing policies in the health sector have been reviewed to guide development of health related policies in the changed context. This report critically examines the health related existing policies and their relevancy in future in the federal context.

This report presents 2015 data on the consumption of systemic antibiotics from 65 countries and areas, contributing to our understanding of how antibiotics are used in these countries. In addition, the report documents early efforts of the World Health Organization (WHO) and participating countries to monitor antimicrobial consumption, describes the WHO global methodology for data collection, and highlights the challenges and future steps in monitoring antimicrobial consumption.

‘Taking stock: A decade of drug policy’ evaluates the impacts of drug policies implemented across the world over the past decade, using data from the United Nations (UN), complemented with peer-reviewed academic research and grey literature reports from civil society. The important role of civil society in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of global drug policies is recognised in the 2009 Political Declaration and Plan of Action on drugs, as well as in the Outcome Document of the 2016 United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on drugs. It is in this spirit that the International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC) has produced this Shadow Report, to contribute constructively to high-level discussions on the next decade in global drug policy.

Unfortunately, pregnant women who use drugs face highly stigmatizing and inaccurate perceptions from both health care providers and the public at large, negatively impacting the quality of their care and supportive services. This publication seeks to move beyond the myths and anxieties about drug use during pregnancy to recommend simple approaches to benefit and protect the health of both pregnant women and newborns.

In 2009, the United Nations Office of Drug and Crime (UNODC) produced a report assessing one hundred years of drug control since the 1909 Shanghai Opium Commission. The report identified and recognized the negative ‘unintended consequences’ of drug control policies: the creation of a criminal black market; the shift of policy focus from public health to law enforcement; enforcement in one geographical area resulted to diversion of illicit drug production to other areas; pressure on one type of drug led to the promotion of the use of other alternative drugs; and, the marginalization of and stigmatization against persons who use drugs.