UNAIDS Asia-Pacific 
“Drugs were a way to escape from reality. But because of it, I have faced a lot of discrimination,” said Yukusna Kurumbang. “After a while I had no one around me. No friends I could contact. I have my family but they do not trust me. I am trying to improve.”
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At the Ozone Foundation clients talk about their drug use with as much openness as they discuss their jobs or families. In the yard of their Bangkok drop-in centre we sit under the cannon ball tree. Prapat Sukkeang shares his story first.
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At his previous factory job, Tom Wang (not his real name) says coworkers gossiped about his sexuality and made fun of him. When he visited a public health facility for an HIV test, the nurse peppered him with questions like “Why do you need it? Have you been sleeping with many partners?”
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VIENTIANE/BANGKOK, June 13, 2023—ASEAN member states have taken a critical step forward in the implementation of the 2022 ASEAN Leaders’ Declaration on Ending Inequalities and Getting on Track to end AIDS by 2030. During a two-day meeting hosted by Lao PDR in Vientiane, representatives from ten ASEAN member states recommended updates to the existing workplan to reflect the renewed commitment.
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Stigma and discrimination aren’t just buzz words for Elena Felix.
When she first learned that she was living with HIV in 1994 an employer in Dubai told her she was “unfit to work”. In 2006 a hospital in her native Philippines refused to perform a surgery because of her HIV status. At another hospital a nurse shouted across the ward “she has AIDS”. Her children were bullied at school. And once, during an interview, a reporter demanded to know how many men she’d slept with.
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NADI, April 28, 2023—This week Pacific Heads of Health were encouraged to jointly address the region’s growing HIV vulnerability through investments in proven prevention, testing, treatment and care approaches. Health Ministry senior advisers learned of rising AIDS-related deaths across the region, along with increasing new infections in Fiji and Papua New Guinea which put the entire Pacific at risk. The challenge calls for bold and coordinated action to scale up prevention for young people, reduce new infections among key population communities, eliminate mother-to-child transmission and expand access to antiretroviral therapy for people living with HIV.
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On April 14th members of the Cook Islands rainbow community assembled at parliament with colourful flags and cautious optimism. It turned out to be the day they’d been working toward for the last twelve years. Parliament removed laws prohibiting consensual sex between men, striking out sections of the Crimes Act that had been on the books since the turn of the 20th century.
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Jokapeci Cati is the Program Manager and founder of the Fiji Network for Positive People (FJN+). This is her self-told story of how she became the first person living openly with HIV in Fiji.
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UNAIDS Asia-Pacific 