Tools and Guidelines

The United Nations High Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS (HLM) will take place on June 8–10, 2016 in New York City. The HLM aims to "undertake a comprehensive review of the progress achieved in realizing the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS and the Political Declarations on HIV/AIDS." This important global convening will bring civil society organizations, people living with HIV, governments, and decision-makers together to renew the commitment and engagement of global leaders to accelerate a comprehensive universal and integrated response to HIV. In this document you will find information about the High Level Meeting on HIV/ AIDS (HLM) 2016, including what happens before, during and after the meeting as well as what you can do even if you aren’t able to attend the actual meeting in New York. This document has been prepared by and for young people but is also intended for use by civil society more broadly, who we hope will also find it useful.

Vihaan HIV-TB training module is developed in coordination with NACO and the Central TB Division to build the capacity of the staff of the programme’s Sub Recipient partner organizations who in turn will train the staff of CSCs to address this key health priority. This training module covers the skills and strategies required in Vihaan staff at every level to ensure that HIV-TB co-infection is promptly and properly addressed. While emphasis is made on responding to the needs of clients at service level, the module will also describe coordination mechanisms developed at national, state and district level.

This Operational Framework is intended to accompany the Global Strategy and to serve as a resource for national governments and the wide diversity of stakeholders within countries whose contributions are vital to improving the health and well-being of women, children and adolescents – including civil society, the private sector and development partners. It offers guidance and options for consideration as countries translate the Global Strategy into national and sub-national strategies and plans, starting with the period 2016-2020. These strategies can – and should – build on existing country-level processes and plans already underway. This document is neither a prescriptive nor an exhaustive set of strategies. Instead, it presents objectives to implement the Global Strategy at country level around the nine action areas, including examples of country experiences.

LINKAGES Integrated Technical Organizational Capacity Assessment (ITOCA) and Action Planning: Facilitator's Guide is designed to train LINKAGES’ teams to implement ITOCA. The activities are illustrative, and every facilitator should adapt and adjust his/her content to match the organizational culture and collaboration style, as well as his/her personal preferences for working with groups. This guide covers 14 ITOCA capacity areas. The areas were identified using previous Pact capacity assessments, a review of similar assessments, and with consideration to the work specific to LINKAGES. Each partner assessment should tailor the ITOCA tool to the work of the particular partner. The recommended number of capacity areas for an assessment is between seven and 10. The capacity areas and statements of excellence1 should be reviewed carefully by LINKAGES team members who can together decide which capacity areas to maintain, delete, or reduce in size based on their knowledge of the local partners with whom the ITOCA will be facilitated.

The World Health Organization (WHO) is committed to ensuring that the great success of HIV treatment scale-up is not threatened by HIV drug resistance (HIVDR). Preventing HIVDR is an important part of meeting the 90-90-90 targets by the year 2020. The development of a five-year plan reflects a global consensus that HIVDR in lower and middle-income countries requires a coordinated and resourced response. The Global Action Plan is an agreement by key partners about their respective roles in preventing, monitoring, and responding to HIVDR.

The aim of the Activist Toolkit for Routine Viral Load Testing is to enable and mobilize people living with HIV (PLHIV) and activists to use science and evidence to persuasively and actively advocate to decision makers and service providers for access to, and availability of, affordable routine viral load testing for PLHIV. The purpose of this Toolkit is to provide up to date information that provides the knowledge and skills needed to advocate for access to Routine Viral Load Testing (RVLT). This toolkit aims to inform and show the importance and value of routine viral load testing and to train community activists to passionately advocate about access to viral load testing for PLHIV, including those from key populations.

The field of HCV therapeutics continues to evolve rapidly and, since the World Health Organization (WHO) issued its first Guidelines for the screening, care and treatment of persons with hepatitis C infection in 2014, several new medicines have been approved by at least one stringent regulatory authority. These medicines, called direct-acting antivirals (DAAs), are transforming the treatment of HCV, enabling regimens that can be administered orally, are of shorter duration (as short as eight weeks), result in cure rates higher than 90%, and are associated with fewer serious adverse events than the previous interferon- containing regimens. WHO is updating its hepatitis C treatment guidelines to provide recommendations for the use of these new medicines. The objectives of these WHO guidelines are to provide updated evidence- based recommendations for the treatment of persons with hepatitis C infection using, where possible, all DAA-only combinations. The guidelines also provide recommendations on the preferred regimens based on a patient’s HCV genotype and clinical history, and assess the appropriateness of continued use of certain medicines. This document also includes existing recommendations on screening for HCV infection and care of persons infected with HCV that were first issued in 2014. 

Through this guide, Unzip the Lips aims to promote the engagement of Key Affected Women and Girls, (KAWG) community networks and NGOs with the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process. The goal is to strengthen advocacy for the needs and rights of these groups, and to ensure that their sexual and reproductive health and rights are respected, protected and fulfilled. In this guide, you will learn about the role of the UPR process in advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights. You will also learn about why and how to engage with this important human rights review mechanism. This guide provides concrete information regarding State obligations under the UPR process; it also explains your rights and how to claim them at a national level. 

This manual for developing national action plans to address antimicrobial resistance has been developed at the request of the World Health Assembly to assist countries in the initial phase of developing new, or refining existing national action plans in line with the strategic objectives of the Global Action Plan. It proposes an incremental approach that countries can adapt to the specific needs, circumstances and available resources of each individual country. Details of actions to be taken will vary according to national contexts.

This guidance has been developed to provide advice on the prevention of potential sexual transmission of Zika virus. The primary transmission route of Zika virus is via the Aedes mosquito. However, sexual transmission of Zika virus may also be possible, with limited evidence recorded in a few cases. This is of concern due to an association between Zika virus infection and potential complications, including microcephaly and Guillain-Barré syndrome. The current evidence base on Zika virus remains extremely limited. This guidance will be reviewed and the recommendations updated as new evidence emerges.