Credit: Sonke Gender Justice

A new documentary film following the lives of four people in Africa aims at challenging patriarchy, end men’s violence against women and promote gender equality. Produced by Sonke Gender Justice and MenEngage, the film titled A Way to Justice: Engaging Men for Women’s Rights and Gender Transformation focuses on gender, HIV and human rights issues.

“We need to build creative initiatives, to transform gender norms and break through cultural barriers to create new masculinities. By fostering women and men’s leadership for gender equality, we can succeed in creating safer, more just societies and stopping violence against women and girls.” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS.

In the film individuals speak about the difficulties they confronted and transcended. David Tamba, a Sierra Leonean fleeing from civil war whose wife was gang-raped by rebels, began working with other men in refugee camps. “All men were viewed as bad men. But there were also men who were peaceful, who equally suffered, so the way to turn the story around was to start talking to our colleague men and go out and campaign for gender equality and empowerment of women,” said Mr Tamba.

Violence and the threat of violence hamper women and girls’ ability to adequately protect themselves from HIV infection and assert healthy decision making. The prevalence of forced first sex among adolescent girls younger than 15 years ranges between 11% and 45% globally. Adolescent girls and young women are among the most vulnerable groups to HIV infection.

UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé (right) met with H.E. KIM Sung-Hwan, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade in the Republic of Korea, on 29 August in Seoul.

In an official meeting on 29 August with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade in the Republic of Korea, H.E. KIM Sung-Hwan, UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé commended the Korean Government for its emerging global and regional role in the AIDS response. 

“The Republic of Korea is increasingly showing leadership in the international response to both HIV and broader health and development goals,” said Mr Sidibé. “UNAIDS counts on countries like yours to accelerate a new wave of progress towards Zero new HIV infections, Zero discrimination and Zero AIDS-related deaths.”

The Republic of Korea has low HIV prevalence, with an estimated 7000 people living with HIV. Over the past decade, Korea has partnered with a number of international development agencies on a range of projects focused on AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. In his meeting with the Minister, Sidibé underscored that Korea could strengthen its contribution to global development by sharing technology and technical expertise with resource-poor countries.

During the meeting, Mr Sidibé thanked Korea for convening the 10^th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP) — a gathering this week in Busan of more than 2000 AIDS experts and activists from across the Asia Pacific region. He also noted that Korea will host a High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness later this year.

The UNAIDS Executive Director expressed appreciation for the steps that the Korean government has taken in the past years to remove restrictions on entry, stay and residence that have blocked HIV-positive people from living and working in Korea. He noted that foreigners living with HIV are now eligible to obtain all types of visas to visit Korea.  “Many people living with HIV from across the region participated in the ICAAP conference — a sign that the Republic of Korea, in practice, is taking this issue very seriously,” he said.

Mr Sidibé and Korea's Minister of Foreign Affairs said they looked forward to a strengthened partnership between UNAIDS and the Republic of Korea.

JYJ do the Love Always sign on the launch date of the campaign.
Credit: Korean Herald/H.Park

Newly appointed UNAIDS Regional Goodwill Ambassadors, Korean pop group JYJ joined UNAIDS to launch a social media campaign, that has taken the Twitter world by storm.

Inspired by JYJ hit song lyrics, the “LoveAlways” campaign encouraged fans to download a specially designed Twibbon heart icon to their Twitter profile, and to tweet messages to break down HIV-related stigma and discrimination such as: “Be the one—stop HIV discrimination with JYJ and UNAIDS. Show you LoveAlways.”

The campaign ran from 26-30 August 2011, coinciding with the 10^th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific which was held in Busan, Republic of Korea and where JYJ were officially announced as UNAIDS Goodwill Ambassadors on the opening day.

At the launch of the campaign, the three members of JYJ—Jae joong, Yuchun and Junsu—all tweeted messages to their personal Twitter accounts, grabbing the interest of their collective 1.4 million followers on Twitter.

In the six days of the campaign, more than 32 500 fans showed their support via the Twibbon application; followers of the UNAIDS Twitter account nearly doubled.

So rapidly successful was the campaign that the Twibbon site itself both tweeted and posted on Facebook that the LoveAlways campaign was one of their “fastest-ever growing campaigns.” This message went out to some 1.1 million people on Facebook and Twitter, and LoveAlways has been featured on the Twibbon site since.

“The impact of this campaign with JYJ’s involvement has been just amazing,” said Steve Kraus, Director of the UNAIDS Regional Support Team for Asia and Pacific. “The reach JYJ have is extremely important in supporting our global goals of ending stigma and discrimination and we are delighted to have JYJ as our Goodwill Ambassadors for the region.”

The LoveAlways campaign has seen JYJ fans being creative and motivated through their tweets and messages. Many have pledged solid support to JYJ and UNAIDS to help eliminate HIV-related stigma and discrimination and encourage other young people to be more aware about HIV.

JYJ underlined their appreciation for their fan’s commitment: “We want to thank our fans for their great support for this campaign—they are showing that they LoveAlways and are ready to stop HIV discrimination. Their action makes us proud,” said band member Jae joong. “We hope our fans will continue to support us as we work on important AIDS issues with UNAIDS. This is a great start to our work and we are looking forward to more activities where we can speak out about AIDS,” he added.

Credit: UNAIDS/Kim Doo Ho

Serving its theme "Different Voices, United Action", the 10th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP) brought together voices and perspectives of more than 2 000 delegates from 65 countries towards the development of greater joint action for AIDS.

The biennial conference that took place in Busan, Republic of Korea, ended on 30 August after five days of symposia, skills-building workshops and satellite meetings – 131 sessions took place in total. Discussions entered on a number of central themes including: the evolving epidemiology of HIV in Asia and the Pacific; advances in basic and clinical services, meeting the challenges of reaching universal access, building and supporting leaders and advocated, engaging communities for effective responses and overcoming human rights, legal and policy barriers.

Recalling a number of key and emerging issues covered during the Congress, such as pervading stigma and discrimination in the region, access to affordable treatment and hepatitis C-HIV co-infection, Geoffrey Manthey of the UNAIDS Regional Support Team for Asia and the Pacific said, “These issues are real and need our immediate action. Although progress has been made, HIV is still a significant challenge for the region. Not only do we need measurable progress by the next ICAAP, we need to see a full commitment to non-discrimination against people living with and affected by HIV.”

The objectives of ICAAP10 were to create an opportunity to enhance AIDS responses to at the local, regional and global levels. The conference was cosponsored by the AIDS Society of Asia and the Pacific (ASAP) and UNAIDS.

Thanking participants for their participation, Local Organizing Committee co-chair, Chul-soo Kim encouraged everyone to work towards ‘Getting to Zero’, “ Let’s work even more, for a world free of HIV!” 

ICAAP is the second largest forum for HIV in the world and encourages the release and discussion of scientific, programmatic and policy developments in the global response to AIDS. It offers a platform where different voices from diverse counterparts across the Asia and the Pacific region can assemble to deliver a united action.

Dr Subhasree Sai Raghavan of the International AIDS Society summed up some of the challenges that were highlighted during the congress, including TB-HIV and the implementation of new PMTCT guidelines, saying that “our region needs to do better — we have no excuse.” 

All the speakers at the closing ceremony welcomed the fact that young people, especially from key populations at higher risk, were present in significant numbers — at least 95 delegates were under 25, as were most of the many Korean volunteers — and were taking an increasing leadership role through organizations such as YouthLEAD and Youth Voices Count, as well as through new social media initiatives.

HIV figures in Asia and the Pacific

In 2009, an estimated 4.9 million people in Asia were living with HIV, including 360 000 who became newly infected that year. The overall trends in this region hide important variation in the epidemics, both between and within countries. In many countries in the region, the epidemic is concentrated in a relatively small number of provinces. Injecting drug users, men who have sex with men, sex workers and their clients and transgender people have accounted for most of the new infections.

The HIV epidemic in the Pacific region is small, but the number of people living with HIV in this region nearly doubled between 2001 and 2009 — from 28 000 to 57 000. However, the number of people newly infected with HIV has begun to decline from 4700 in 2001 to 4500 in 2009. The HIV epidemics in the region are mainly driven by sexual transmission.

“HIV-related stigma is pervasive in the lives of people living with HIV. Stigma marks people as different and as disgraced... Stigma manifests in discriminatory and sometimes violent treatment of people living with HIV, their families and others affected by HIV.”

These are the opening words of the report entitled the People Living with HIV Stigma Index: Asia Pacific Regional Analysis launched on the fourth day of the 10th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP), held in Busan, Republic of Korea.

Although data in the analysis often differs widely depending on country context, the analysis shows that stigma and discrimination remain rife across the region as a whole and are evidenced in many environments, including family and community life, as well as employment and health care.

For example, the study found that high percentages of people living with HIV had lost jobs or income in the last 12 months based on their HIV status: from 16% of those surveyed in Fiji to 50% in Cambodia. Elsewhere, people have experienced being refused the opportunity to work – from 9% in Bangladesh to 38% of those surveyed in the Philippines.

“Stigma and discrimination based on HIV status, sexual orientation or lifestyle choice is unacceptable and hampers the AIDS response,” said Michel Sidibé, when sharing some of the findings at an earlier session of ICAAP. “The Stigma Index is an important initiative to increase the evidence base that will enable governments and civil society partners to work more effectively to reduce HIV-related stigma and discrimination,”

Nine-country analysis

The report is a synthesis of nine country studies conducted across the Asia and the Pacific region — Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Fiji, Myanmar, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Thailand — and provides the first large-scale regional comparison of standardized HIV-related stigma indicators.

Across the nine countries, discrimination in health care settings is documented as a recurring issue. Across countries in the analysis, data shows that many people living with HIV avoided clinics and hospitals for fear of being discriminated against because of their HIV-positive status. In health-care settings, confidentiality and involuntary testing for HIV were also cited as issues of concern.

The report shows discrimination is a reality for all ages. Up to 35% of people living with HIV in China under the age of 25, for example, reported that teachers were discriminatory to them based on their HIV status.

A pervading issue across the nine-country analysis was the incidence of verbal insults and threat felt by people living with HIV: in Myanmar up to 45% of those surveyed said they had experienced such discrimination.

Even when study respondents had not experienced direct discrimination, they had a generalized fear of discrimination and modified their behaviour accordingly, the report suggests.

The analysis examines how ‘self’ stigma is also an issue for people living with HIV. According to the country reports analysed, over a third of people living with HIV in Thailand decided not to marry. In Bangladesh this figure is even higher — to up to 77% — with 85% of people living with HIV in the country also deciding not to have any more children because of their sero status.

At the launch of the analysis, Positive Women’s Network youth coordinator Sangeeth Dolapihilla underlined how such stigma is common for people living with HIV.  “The Stigma Index showed that people living with HIV have a lot of internal stigma — we feel we can’t have sex, we can’t have kids,” she said. “What is it going to take for our needs to be addressed, and get rid of this internalized stigma?”   

Evidence for action

With the aim of documenting HIV-related stigma and discrimination and providing a mechanism to compare experiences in different settings and across time, the analysis findings will be used to inform national HIV responses. The studies can also act as a baseline against which progress on decreasing stigma and discrimination can be measured.

The report includes recommendations for countries, such as ensuring that stigma remedies are embedded in cohesive national HIV policy and programmatic responses, improving legal and policy responses to HIV-related stigma and discrimination and strengthening policy and practice to reduce HIV-related stigma and discrimination in health-care settings.

The Stigma Index initiative is a collaboration between the Global Network of People Living with HIV, the International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS, the International Planned Parenthood Federation, and UNAIDS.

The initiative is important not only in findings but also in process: the Stigma Index employs a wholly participatory approach where the research strategy and data collection is led by organizations of people living with HIV with support of domestic and international partners.

Fiji's President Ratu Epeli Nailitikau reads the report Secret lives, other voices at the launch.
Credit: UNAIDS/Kim

At the 10th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific a new study called Secret lives, other voices was launched. It explores sexuality, gender identity and HIV transmission risk in Fiji, and represents the first research of its kind to be conducted since 1998 among men who have sex with men and transgender people in the country.

The launch was attended by Fiji's President Ratu Epeli Nailitikau.

With more than 200 respondents, the research project engaged staff members and volunteers from the AIDS Task Force of Fiji's Amithi Project and the AIDS Council of New South Wales.

Conceived with the aim to inform the HIV response and the development of community-based activities, the research was conducted by members of the community.  Research staff included men who have sex with men and transgender people, from a variety of social and ethic background, who were involved in each stage of the process including planning, data collection, analysis and reporting.

The report found that men who have sex with men are at high risk of HIV in Fiji. Only 21.6% of respondents consistently used condoms during anal sex with a male or transgender partner in the previous six months. More than one in five reported never using them.

Although there are high levels of knowledge about HIV, with over 66% of respondents answering questions correctly about transmission, the knowledge is not translating to behaviour.

The study also explored transactional sex and found that two thirds of the respondents reported giving or receiving money, gifts or favours in return for sex, making this a common experience.

Of the respondents only 10% had taken an HIV test in the preceding 12 months and knew the results. Barriers to testing included confidentiality and privacy issues as well as respondents reporting judgmental attitudes by clinic staff.

Many of the study participants had experienced some form of stigma and discrimination. About two thirds felt unsafe and uncomfortable expressing their sexuality or gender. About 57% reported experiencing verbal abuse and a third had been physically hurt in the previous six months.

The report recommends that HIV prevention and health interventions should be culturally appropriate and focused on reaching different groups within the men who have sex with men and transgender community, many of whom self identify in different ways. Access to HIV testing that is friendly should be scaled up and health care workers need training to best support the needs of men who have sex with men and transgender people, according to the authors.

In addition, the report recommends a concerted effort to challenge stigma and discrimination and increase psychosocial and support services. Men who have sex with men and transgender people are also encouraged to develop mobilizing skills to make sure their voices are heard.

"With technical support from UNDP and ACON we were able to show that civil society has the capacity to complete in-depth research projects to a recognizably high standard," said Niraj Singh, Project Manager with the AIDS Task force of Fiji and co-author of the report.

"The AIDS Task Force of Fiji has a very clear vision of the priorities leading from research to action. We now have a baseline which will help us to design and implement effective programmes to reach a diverse range of men who have sex with men and transgender people in Fiji. This study represents a valuable contribution to ongoing national and regional efforts to ensure that these communities are better served and better protected," he concluded.

The Secret lives, other voices project was funded by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

While the number of people living with HIV receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART) in Asia and Pacific almost tripled from 280 000 in 2006 to 739 000 in 2009, coverage remains low and only one in three people living with HIV had access to treatment in the region that year.

Early and equitable access to treatment in is hampered by stigma, discrimination and inaccessible service delivery. Limited use of rapid diagnostic and poor linkages between HIV testing and counseling and treatment results to delayed initiation of treatment. Funding constraints also hamper scale up and sustained access to ART.

With 4.9 million people living with HIV in the region, six courtiers account for over 90% of people eligible for treatment: China, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Thailand and Viet Nam.

Treatment 2.0: the next phase of ART

Against this backdrop, the World Health Organization and UNAIDS Regional Support Team in Asia and Pacific, together with the Asia and Pacific Network of People Living with HIV Working Group (ANP +) organized a session to explore the critical components Treatment 2.0, an innovative approach to treatment on the second day of the 10^th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific.

Treatment 2.0 is an initiative coordinated by UNAIDS and WHO to catalyze the next phase of HIV treatment scale-up, grounded in public health and human rights. The approach aims at universal and sustained access to antiretroviral treatment through radical simplification and innovation of treatment regimens, renewed commitment and resources, with a focus on decentralized delivery systems and greater involvement of communities. 

“Substantial gains can be achieved through appropriate task-shifting and community-based delivery systems,” said Dr Iyanthi Abeyewickreme, HIV/STI Regional Advisor at WHO Regional Office for South-East Asia. “Decentralized services will help to leverage scarce resources to maximize their effect.”

Human and economic benefits

With 60% of people eligible for treatment in the region still not yet able to access it, need for scale up is urgent. There is ample evidence of the human and economic benefits of antiretroviral therapy for people living with HIV. In China, for example, it is estimated that the provision of free antiretroviral therapy has lead to a 64% drop in AIDS related mortality.  A resent study has also shown that the risk of transmitting HIV to an uninfected sexual partner can be reduced by as much as 96%, when people living with HIV receive timely and effective antiretroviral therapy.

John Rock, of APN +, stated that enhanced understanding of the life-saving benefits of treatment is needed: “In our region some people living with HIV do not even know that HIV can be treated,” he said. He also warned that treatment access needs to be safeguarded against terms of free trade agreements that could affect affordability and availability. Treatment scale up in the region necessitates increased and sustained financing. But experts at the Treatment 2.0 session underlined that investment now will ensure savings in the future.

What is needed to scale up treatment?

Dr Bob Verbruggen, of the UNAIDS Regional Support Team in Asia and Pacific said, “Funding is critical to take advantage of the multiple new opportunities and developments within the treatment arena. Implementing Treatment 2.0 will require important short-term funding from both international and domestic sources, but will yield huge savings in the medium and long term if we simultaneously invest in high-impact HIV prevention programmes.”

The session highlighted country experience and key steps to roll-out Treatment 2.0 in the Asia and Pacific region, and preliminary results from pilot countries such as Viet Nam. Some of the recommendations made included combined action of optimizing drug regimens, advancing point-of-care and other simplified platforms for diagnosis and monitoring, reducing costs, adapting delivery systems, and mobilizing communities and protecting human rights.

Dr Nafis Sadik, United Nations Secretary-General Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS, Dr Kent Buse, Senior Advisor at UNAIDS and Dr Werasit Sittitrai, Thai Red Cross on the panel of “Thinking Politically.”
Credit: UNAIDS/Kim

Activists, academics and HIV programme implementers met in Busan, South Korea at the 10th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP 10) to explore and debate the political complexities of HIV responses. The event, entitled ‘Political Sciences and the Politics of HIV in Asia and the Pacific,’ shed light on the often highly contested nature of responses to the epidemic.

This satellite was part of a global initiative spearheaded by UNAIDS and the International AIDS Society, ‘Thinking Politically about HIV.’ The initiative seeks to strengthen the capacity of people engaged in the response to understand and influence politics in a more systematic way in order to foster an enabling environment for effective AIDS responses.

Panellists shared experiences of effective political analysis which have been used to identify strategic opportunities to move the agenda on HIV in a positive direction in countries across the region.

“When I began my work in reproductive health, I found enormous suspicion and ignorance, even among highly educated people. A great deal of that negativity has disappeared,” said Dr Nafis Sadik, United Nations Secretary-General Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS. “Political leaders came to understand that they had more to gain than to lose by responding to the enormous latent demand for reproductive health services, especially among women — and the same holds true for HIV.”

A number of countries in the Asia-Pacific region have shown impressive political responses over the last ten years. Thailand is one of the heralded ‘success stories’ in the 1990s resulting in dramatic declines if new HIV infections from 143,000 new infections in 1991 to 29,000 in 2000. Speaking at the session, Dr Werasit Sittitrai of the Thai Red Cross explained how that these results were achieved through a transformation of the political landscape, driven by evidence-based advocacy and civil society pressure. “One of the most successful strategies was advocating the potential economic consequences of inaction to political leaders,” he said.

While the region has much to progress to celebrate, the HIV response is at a crossroads. Programmes are buffeted by donor fatigue and many countries retain laws and policies that effectively prevent people living with HIV and key populations at higher risk from access to life saving services. In this context, a better appreciation of the politics of the challenges is critical to continued success — particularly by the next generation of leadership.

According to Dr Kent Buse, chair of the session and Senior Advisor at UNAIDS, “the AIDS response is particularly political because some of the behaviours that put people at risk of HIV — sex, sex work, and drug use — are taboo in many societies. People living with and affected by HIV have therefore continuously challenged the values and ideologies of leaders and the international community.”

Additional speakers at the event included Professor Dennis Altman, of La Trobe University, co-chair of the Advisory Group for Thinking Politically and Dr David Stephens of RTI International.

Discussion at the session will feed into broader debates and events for the 2012 International AIDS Conference (Washington DC, United States). A special issue of Contemporary Politics, featuring case studies on successful political responses to HIV in a number of countries, is being prepared for publication ahead of the 2012 Conference.

Ngan is living with HIV. She gave birth to her son, who was born free of HIV, because Ngan had access to PMTCT services.
Credit: UNAIDS/ Mott

One of the key goals of the global AIDS response is the elimination of new HIV infections among children by 2015 and keeping their mothers alive. In Asia and the Pacific, both Thailand and Cambodia are on track to reach this goal. However, overall, coverage of prevention of mother-to-child transmission is well below global averages, with very wide variations across the region.

During a symposium held on August 27 during The 10th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific, experts explored how the 2015 elimination goal could be best achieved in Asia and the Pacific and what immediate concrete steps need to be taken. Organised by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Health Organisation (WHO) and UNAIDS, the session also reviewed progress on prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and discussed opportunities and challenges.

The event was intended to build on both the Global Plan towards the elimination of new HIV infections among children by 2015 and keeping their mothers alive,  launched in June 2011, and a regional UN Task Force framework on the issue developed in November last year.

Participants heard that improved coverage of prevention of mother to child HIV and congenital syphilis services, better monitoring of mothers living with HIV and their children and greater coordination among health services in the region are critical to eliminating new infections in children.

“To reach the goal of zero new infections among children by 2015, national health services and communities need to work together,” said Steven Kraus, Director of the UNAIDS Regional Support Team for Asia and the Pacific in conjunction with the session. “By coordinating efforts, not only will lives be saved and HIV transmission to children be halted, but national health systems will be strengthened as well.”

Anupama Rao Singh, UNICEF Regional Director for East Asia and the Pacific, maintained that while countries in the region are working to scale up the elimination of new HIV infections among children, there was a need  increase monitoring. “A lack of critical monitoring means they do not know how many children born to HIV-positive mothers are free of HIV and how many are infected,” she added, “Improved monitoring, especially through strong data management and follow-up, will go a long way towards our ultimate goal of having zero new infections among the region’s children.”

Without proper follow up systems, many of the children infected with HIV at birth or through breastfeeding will not be treated and about half will die before their second birthday.

The need to scale up antiretroviral (ARV) therapy was also highlighted. 

"Technologies like the WHO 2010 recommendations for ARV drugs for treating pregnant women and preventing HIV infections in infants exist and we know what needs to be done. Now we have a new strategy to do it more efficiently and effectively in ways that also contribute to stronger health services,” said WHO South East Asia Regional Director, Dr Samlee Pliangbanchang. “The vision for a new generation free from HIV is within our reach."

By providing high-quality, coordinated, antenatal care and family planning services, identifying and treating pregnant women living with HIV and syphilis, and providing follow-up treatment for children, countries in the region can achieve the goal of zero new infections among their children and keeping their mothers alive, the participants concluded. 

UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé and President Ratu Epeli Nailitikau engage in discussion during ICAAP 10.
Credit: UNAIDS/Kim

In a meeting with the President of Fiji on 27 August, UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé commended the Fijian leader and his Government for recent amendments to the country’s 2011 HIV/AIDS Decree. Officially endorsed on 25 August, the amendments remove HIV-related travel restrictions and ensure greater protection for the rights of people living with HIV.

“Mr President, the United Nations salutes the bold and clear decision of your Government earlier this week to lift all travel restrictions for people living with HIV,” said Mr Sidibé. “People around the world need a voice like yours. I want to sincerely thank and recognize your efforts in the global response to AIDS.”

Calling AIDS “a great humanitarian challenge,” President Ratu Epeli Nailitikau said he was committed to not only preventing new HIV infections but also to working with people living with HIV and their families.

“I don’t see any nobler cause than AIDS,” said President Nailitikau. “In the history of Fiji, we lost a third of our population due to measles; whole generations of the community perished. The flu had the same devastating effect. With a population of just 800 000, we cannot afford to lose any more of our population. That, for me, is the driving force of my engagement.”

The UNAIDS office in the Pacific is currently working with the Government of Fiji to translate the recommendations from the June 2011 UN General Assembly High Level Meeting on AIDS into action. Key areas of focus include eliminating new HIV infections among children, ensuring HIV services for key affected populations are available, and implementing the newly-amended Fijian HIV/AIDS Decree.

According to government figures, coverage of services to prevent new HIV infections in children in Fiji is low. Though there has been progress in expanding HIV services for populations at higher risk of HIV infection, stigma and discrimination remain major barriers to access.

While at ICAAP 10, the President of Fiji chaired a session focused on the AIDS response in the Pacific region. Participants addressed the role of faith-based organizations and young people in the HIV response, as well as the importance of providing an enabling legal environment to protect the rights of people living with and affected by HIV.