UNAIDS Asia-Pacific 
Andrew Tan from Malaysia, was diagnosed with HIV in 1994. He was 34 years-old at that time and didn’t expect to live beyond his thirties. Today he is 55 years-old and open about his status and being a gay man. As another World AIDS Day is marked, UNAIDS speaks with Mr Tan about his many personal struggles and triumphs which in many ways have mirrored the wider developments taking place in the response to HIV. Read More
As part of World AIDS 2015, UNAIDS Pakistan and partners published Positive Diaries, which is a collection of photographs and interviews with men and women living with HIV in Pakistan. One of the people featured is Nazir Masih, the CEO and founder of the New Lights AIDS Control Society. The organization was the first in Pakistan to work with people living with HIV and their families.
When the organization was founded in 1999 there was no proper treatment center for people living with HIV, but New Lights worked to raise awareness and empower HIV positive people to face their challenges and build the skills they needed to live a quality life. It was the first organization to introduce antiretroviral medicine in Pakistan to its members in 2003. UNAIDS conducted the following interview with Nazir Masih.
The international motor racing star, Dilantha Malagamuwa displayed a red ribbon on his car at the Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo World Championship Final, which was held at the Sebring International Raceway in Florida, USA just prior to World AIDS Day on 1 December. The Sri Lankan champion also participated in “Test Today”, an event held in Colombo to mark the day and raise awareness around HIV testing.
There is much to celebrate on this World AIDS Day.
Almost 16 million people are on life-changing HIV treatment worldwide and in 2014 new HIV infections had fallen by 35 percent since the peak in 2000. Read More
Home to the third largest number of people living with HIV in Asia and the Pacific, Indonesia is a country critical to ending the AIDS epidemic in the region and on this World AIDS Day, we are at a defining moment. Only three decades since HIV arrived in this country, we can begin to close the chapter on one of modern history’s worst epidemics. In September, Indonesia was one of 193 United Nations member states to adopt the Sustainable Development Goals and commit to ending the AIDS epidemic as a public health threat by 2030.
On 1 December, World AIDS Day, the Network of Thai Women Living with HIV registered as a Thai Foundation with the Thai government and pledged to use the funds raised by UNAIDS to build up its organization.
25 November is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against women. Meirinda Sebayang from Indonesia is a role model for many women in her community.
She was recently elected as chairperson of the National Secretariat of the Positive Indonesian network, a national network for people living with HIV and continues to work at Spiritia Foundation which is a non-profit organization that works to improve the quality of life for people living with HIV and their families. She is also a mother of two children and expecting her third child. UNAIDS spoke to Ms Sebayang who prefers to be called May.
Pham Thi Hai lives with her husband and young son in Thu Thanh commune, which is nestled in the mountainous region of Thanh Hoa province in central Viet Nam. Her remote hamlet is 30 kilometers away from the district hospital and separated from the commune health clinic by the great Ma river.
UNAIDS Asia-Pacific 