What's New

The 2014 edition of the Statistical Yearbook is a reference full of up-to-date and comparable statistics and facts about the 58 regional members and associate members of ESCAP. It includes brief analyses of 32 key features of development in areas as diverse as population and demographics, child and maternal health, school enrolment and spending on education, income poverty and inequality, food security, crime, energy supply and use, disasters, economic growth, international trade, tourism and transport. The 2014 Yearbook is also accompanied by a series of online products, including country fact sheets, and a database containing more than 600 indicators and data visualization options. To ensure comparability across regions, subregions and countries, data at the country level have been obtained from international agencies which follow international statistical standards in compiling and reporting data.

Discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) has been recognized in international law, and developments in recent years have led to increased focus on the prevalence of discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transsexual (LGBT) persons around the world. While some countries have adopted legal provisions prohibiting discrimination against LGBT persons, most countries have not. The International Labour Organization (ILO) commissioned a study to map the patterns of discrimination faced by LGBT persons in Thailand’s world of work. This report reflects the study’s findings and recommendations from Thailand, a country which is considered relatively progressive in advancing the rights of LGBT workers. However, homosexuals and transgendered people are still regarded by some members of the community in Thailand as suffering from a mental illness, even if their classification as “mentally ill” has been removed from the law. However, in practice they continue to face widespread discrimination at work and in life.

The report follows a life-cycle approach, starting with social protection for children, followed by schemes for women and men in working age, and closing with pensions and other support for older persons. It also assesses progress towards universal coverage in health. The report further analyses trends and recent policies, such as the negative impacts of fiscal consolidation and adjustment measures, and urgently calls to expand social protection for crisis recovery, inclusive development and social justice. The World Social Protection Report 2014/15 includes valuable and comprehensive statistical annexes with the latest social protection data.

Countries around the world have committed to a historic ambition: to end preventable child and maternal deaths within a generation. A Common Cause shows why two key movements in global health – maternal and child health, and Universal Health Coverage – need to join forces to make that ambition a reality. The report argues for universal access to an integrated continuum of care for women’s, children’s and adolescents’ health, provided through strengthened primary healthcare and referral systems.

This document represents Thailand’s comprehensive Operational Plan to Accelerate Ending AIDS by 2030, and is focused on the period 2015 to 2019. The actions and interventions outlined here translate the key concepts presented in the current National AIDS Strategy (2014-2016) into an actionable Plan for Ending AIDS in Thailand. This Operational Plan does not replace the strategy document, but rather adds value, by translating new scientific evidence that became available in 2012-2013 into programmatic action. With the aim of fully utilizing this new evidence, the Operational Plan consolidates and refocuses key interventions among key populations (KPs) in high priority geographical sites, with the specific purpose of addressing gaps between the current response and a targeted, optimized response needed to achieve Thailand’s goal of ending AIDS by 2030.

The indicators in this current issue of the monitoring and evaluation of strategy for Health For All have been categorised under the following: a) Social and socio-economic indicators b) Health status indicators c) Specific health problems indicators d) Health services improvement indicators These indicators reflect the national scenario and the derivation and method of computation for some of these may differ slightly from WHO conventional formulae.

A Framework for Media Engagement on Human Rights, Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in South Asia: Regional Framework, Literature Review and Country Case Studies provides direction for how men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender communities should engage with the media, and how the media itself should leverage its influence to reduce stigma and discrimination, educate and raise awareness of human rights issues, and support strategies and programmes that improve the political, social and legal environments for MSM and transgender people in South Asia. The report includes case studies from Bangladesh, Nepal and India and provides recommendations for actions by programme managers working in South Asia for both managing media and for empowering communities to work more effectively with media.

Being LGBT in Asia: the Indonesia Country Report provides an overview of LGBT rights in Indonesia including the effects of laws, policies, culture and social attitudes, and religion, based on research, consultation and the National LGBT Community Dialogue that was held in Bali in June 2013. This overview is followed by an examination of the Indonesia experience of protecting the rights of LGBT people under seven different areas:employment and housing, education and young people, family affairs and social/cultural attitudes, media and ICT, law-human rights and politics, the special case of Aceh, and capacity of LGBT organizations, using the same methodology as described above.

This report reviews the legal and social environment faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in Thailand. It encompasses the findings of the Thailand National LGBT Community Dialogue held in March 2013 in Bangkok, Thailand and additionally includes findings from a desk review, additional interviews, and analysis of published literature on LGBT issues in and about Thailand.

The Annual Report 2013-2014 of the Department of AIDS Control (DAC), Government of India, reviews the progress made under the National AIDS Control Programme (NACP) during the current financial year 2013-2014 in scaling up intervention services for HIV prevention, treatment, care and support across the country through regular monitoring and reporting. This report reflects the commitment of DAC and identifies both achievements and gaps in response to the HIV epidemic.