UNAIDS Asia-Pacific 
Monthly Archives: April 2020
COVID-19 is a serious pandemic, unprecedented in our lifetime. The Interagency Task Team (IATT) on Young Key Populations (YKPs) in Asia and the Pacific, concerned about the welfare of young key populations and young people living with HIV and the possibility of severe disruption to HIV prevention, testing, treatment and other related services during COVID-19 outbreak, launched a rapid survey to contribute to mitigating the impact of this pandemic. This survey assesses… Read More
It was a rainy night when Asghar Satti, the National Coordinator of the Pakistan Association of People Living with HIV (APLHIV), went home after spending a busy day at the office. That day, he had received a call from a man in Karachi, Pakistan, who is living with HIV. He was worried that he was running low on his supply of antiretroviral therapy, with only nine days of treatment left. That call… Read More
The winter of 2019/2020 in Wuhan, China, will remain with Xiao Yang for the rest of his life. During 60 days working in a makeshift hospital as an emergency nurse, he saw life and death, happiness and sorrow, tears and laughter. Mr Xiao volunteered to go to Wuhan from his home town, Beijing, to save lives. “Saving life is the responsibility of every medical worker,” he said. This commitment is deeply rooted… Read More
Press Release New Delhi, India, 23 April 2020 — In India, the UNAIDS Country Office has partnered with Reckitt Benckiser (RB) by joining forces to distribute over a million bars of soap to people living with HIV and key populations. The soaps are being distributed through networks of people living with HIV, civil society organizations and community-based organizations as part of the national response to the COVID-19 epidemic. They have reached people… Read More
Although difficult for everyone, the COVID-19 pandemic has had severe impacts on key populations, many of whom are experiencing economic hardship and anxiety about their health and safety. Rito Hermawan (also known as Wawan), the Advocacy Coordinator of the Network of Sex Workers of Indonesia (OPSI), explained that the places that sex workers work in Indonesia have been closed down. Since, for their own safety, sex workers are avoiding working on the… Read More
When the Vietnamese Government introduced social distancing mid-March 2020 to respond to COVID-19, Binh Nam (not his real name), already on distance learning from his college since February, lost his part-time job at a small company. He decided to leave Ho Chi Minh City, which had a cluster of confirmed COVID-19 cases, to settle back in his home town, about 300 kilometres away.
Sitting near her broken window, Ashee Malik (not her real name), a transgender woman who lives in Punjab Province, Pakistan, is counting her earnings, realizing that her income has fallen sharply. Her only source of money is dancing, begging and entertaining her clients, but since the lockdown imposed on 20 March to stop COVID-19, she hasn’t been able to leave her home. Her bright clothes are in her wardrobe, as is her… Read More
The COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown imposed by the Government of the Philippines to curb the spread of the disease are impacting the lives of people living with HIV across the country, creating a serious challenge to accessing life-saving antiretroviral therapy. To help address those challenges, civil society organizations have come together to support people living with HIV to access treatment.
UNAIDS Asia-Pacific 