From March 4 to 6, UNAIDS hosted ten multidisciplinary Asia Pacific country teams in Bangkok to strengthen their ability to plan, implement and optimize the National AIDS Spending Assessment (NASA) and other relevant resource tracking methodologies. Participants included communities living with, and affected by, HIV and representatives of Health Ministries, National AIDS Programmes and development partners. The participating countries were Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Thailand and Viet Nam. Over three days, they shared their experiences in using resource tracking data to influence policy decisions, bolstered their HIV resource tracking planning skills and learned how evidence from these assessments can be better leveraged to build more effective, efficient and sustainable HIV programmes.  

A health- and rights-focused paradigm is needed to address the needs of people who use drugs

GENEVA/BANGKOK, 29 February, 2024—Commemorated on March 1st, Zero Discrimination Day was established by UNAIDS ten years ago to advance equality and fairness for all regardless of differences including HIV status, age, ethnicity, gender and sexuality. This year’s theme—”to protect everyone’s health, protect everyone’s rights”—stresses the link between human rights and public health. Countries are encouraged to create legal and policy environments that support evidence-informed and rights-based HIV responses for all people. This includes addressing stigma and discrimination in all settings.

PORT MORESBY, 22 February 2024— Ahead of Zero Discrimination Day, commemorated annually on March 1, UNAIDS Regional Director for the Asia Pacific and Eastern Europe Central Asia Regions, Mr. Eamonn Murphy, visited Papua New Guinea. The mission aimed to raise awareness, mobilize action, and advocate for urgent measures to address the country’s growing HIV crisis.