Tools and Guidelines

Key populations — sex workers (SWs), gay men and other men who have sex with men (MSM), transgender people (TG), and people who inject drugs (PWID) — are disproportionately affected by HIV. At the same time, the stigma, discrimination, and threat of criminal prosecution faced by key populations around the world pose serious barriers to their ability to access high-quality, rights-based health care. This implementation guide will be useful for LINKAGES staff members wherever the program is operating, and for organizations that implement the LINKAGES program at the local level ("on the ground"). Although the guide may help partners working with LINKAGES at the country level, such as Ministries of Health, the guide is designed for LINKAGES country programs. The guide is not exhaustive. It does not cover every intervention that could be useful, and it does not go into great detail about every aspect of an intervention. Instead, it aims to give information on the essential elements of the LINKAGES program, and to help standardize country programs based on proven, high-quality interventions from other countries.

Advancing the Human Rights and Inclusion of LGBTI People: A Handbook for Parliamentarians has been jointly produced by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA). This Handbook sets out relevant human rights frameworks and highlights the role of parliamentarians in implementing Agenda 2030, to ensure no one, including LGBTI people, is left behind. It offers practical tips, tools and resources designed to support parliamentarians to undertake legislative, representational and oversight activities that advance the rights and inclusion of LGBTI people. A wide range of diverse examples are presented, each reflecting concrete efforts undertaken by parliamentarians in every region of the world in support of the human rights and inclusion of LGBTI people. These examples provide valuable insights and lessons learned. They vary in approach and style, as the context and strategies employed are context driven. Some of the examples may be relevant in a wide range of countries, while others may have a more limited applicability.

Since the release of the consolidated guidelines in 2015, new evidence has emerged. Consequently, in an effort to further support countries, programme managers, health workers and other stakeholders seeking to achieve national and international HIV goals, this 2016 update issues new recommendations and additional guidance on HIV self-testing (HIVST) and assisted HIV partner notification services.

The objective of this guideline is to provide a framework for the treatment of Filipino HIV patients using an evidence-based approach, with emphasis on locally available treatment. The target audience is not only the infectious diseases subspecialist who treats HIV but also internists, family physicians, pulmonary specialists and other subspecialists who are taking care of or who wish to care for persons living with HIV.

The strategy elaborated the health sectors’ contribution toward a broader, multi-sectoral response to HIV. It is anchored on the 5th AMTP and consistent with the over-all direction of the country’s health agenda as embodied in the Universal Health Care. The major strategic thrust of the Plan is to reduce new HIV infections and improve the quality of life of people living with HIV. The HSP shall be guided by the following key strategic framework.

This guide is designed to assess the ability of a country’s stakeholders (including government, development partners, and civil society) to lead and sustain HIV epidemic control among key poulations (KPs) as donors transition to different levels and types of funding. The guide is a flexible tool that assesses readiness across four domains and focuses on the specific vulnerabilities of KPs.

APCOM has launched a new MSM framework guide for effective HIV service programming at the 21st International AIDS Conference’s MSM Pre-Conference, Action + Access: Rights and Demands of Gay and Bisexual Men in the HIV Response, hosted by MSMGF on July 16 in Durban, South Africa. "Changing Gears: a guide to effective HIV service programming for gay men and other men who have sex with men in Asia", as the new framework is titled, aims to strengthen the on-going national and regional efforts to revive the HIV response for gay and bi men and other men who have sex with men (MSM) in Asian countries. The guide was developed with technical assistance from UNAIDS Regional Support Team for Asia and the Pacific and serves as a resource to design or assess comprehensive HIV services for MSM in Asian cities, territories, regions or countries, incorporating recent innovations and the latest science on what works.

MDR-TB is essentially a human-made problem that develops because of low-quality drugs and/or inadequate treatment regimens, and it is difficult and expensive to treat. The development of migrant-sensitive TB control policies is especially critical given the high mobility of migrants—which increases the likelihood of transmission and treatment default, their lack of access to health-care services, their often dire living conditions and their propensity to inadequately self-treat in the private sector. In formulating such policies, however, policy-makers should note that TB is primarily transmitted within migrant communities, with very limited evidence of transmission from migrant groups into host country populations. This consensus-based document offers a direction for countries to gradually move towards, subject to their existing national laws and regulations. It is the product of a regional consultation of health and immigration officials from 13 Western Pacific Member States conducted 26–27 March 2013 in Manila, 12 of which endorsed the document. One Member State, while recognizing the importance of addressing TB control in migrants, withheld its support until a broader regional consensus on migrant health is reached.

Endorsed, by the UN Secretary-General, this is a comprehensive WHO guideline on routine ANC for pregnant women and adolescent girls. It aims to complement existing WHO guidelines on the management of specific pregnancy-related complications. The guidance aims to capture the complex nature of the issues surrounding ANC health care practices and delivery, and to prioritize person-centred health and well-being, not only the prevention of death and morbidity, in accordance with a human rights-based approach.

Chest radiography, or chest X-ray (CXR), is an important tool for triaging and screening for pulmonary TB, and it is also useful to aid diagnosis when pulmonary TB cannot be confirmed bacteriologically. Although recent diagnostic strategies have given specific prominence to bacteriology, CXR can be used for selecting individuals for referral for bacteriological examination, and the role of radiology remains important when bacteriological tests cannot provide a clear answer. Access to high-quality radiography is limited in many settings. Ensuring the wider and quality-assured use of CXR for TB detection in combination with laboratory-based diagnostic tests recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), can contribute to earlier TB diagnosis and potentially to closing the TB case-detection gap when used as part of algorithms within a framework of health-system and laboratory strengthening.  This document summarizes WHO’s recommendations on using CXR for TB triaging, diagnosis and screening. It also outlines a framework for the strategic planning and use of CXR within national TB programmes (NTP). Moreover, the document provides a brief overview of technical specifications, and quality assurance and safety considerations for CXR.