The National AIDS Authority in Viet Nam (VAAC) has introduced the possibility for facilities distributing opioid substitution therapy to provide take-away dosages of methadone and buprenorphine to ensure continuity of services in the context of COVID-19. Methadone maintenance therapy (MMT) can be prescribed up to 7 days and Buprenorphine up to 10 days for clients who are quarantined at home or at mandatory quarantine facilities.

UNAIDS and UNODC provided policy and technical support for an innovative pilot project to provide take-home methadone maintenance therapy in Viet Nam. The approval of the pilot by the Ministry of Health facilitated the introduction of the current flexibilities in the provision of opioid substitution therapy in the context of COVID-19.

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 coronavirus pandemic. 

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UNAIDS and the Pan American Health Organization have designed a set of postcards providing information on COVID-19 to people living with HIV in the Latin America and the Caribbean region.

The postcards, which are intended to be distributed on social media, provide information and advice on a wide range of issues including how to prevent COVID-19 infection as well as how to stay healthy living with HIV during COVID 19.

How to stay healthy if you are living with #HIV during #COVID19?
1/3 pic.twitter.com/LOguw9xzTH

— ONUSIDA Latina (@OnusidaLatina) April 21, 2020

The Interagency Task Team (IATT) on young key populations (YKPs) in Asia and the Pacific—a regional platform composed of UN agencies and networks of YKP, co-chaired by UNAIDS, UNDP and the Asia Pacific Council of AIDS Service Organizations (APCASO)—has launched a survey to assess the needs and ability of young key populations in accessing information, medication and other HIV services during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The results of the survey will be used to inform countries as they develop their contingency plans to ensure continued access to HIV and other services for vulnerable and key populations while responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The outcomes of the survey are also expected to help advocate for local solutions, lead by young people from key populations and young people living with HIV, that are specifically designed to meet the needs of young people.

The survey can be accessed here

In Papua New Guinea, people infected with COVID-19 have raised concerns about how certain media stories and other individual comments on social media platforms are disregarding their right to privacy by disclosing personal information that is generating a climate of stigma and discrimination against them.

In order to help the media to tell stories about COVID-19 in a way that does not harm people infected, UNAIDS has created a set of social media postcards with tips on how to report responsibly. The cards highlight the importance of anonymity, avoiding the use of sensationalist language, reporting accurate information and using language that does not discriminate and stigmatize people who have tested positive for COVID-19.

UNAIDS also created a postcard for people talking about COVID-19 on social media. The card emphasizes the need to share accurate information and not rumours, to challenge myths and stereotypes, and to never reveal a person’s identity without their consent. 

Here are tips on how to report through the media or to share on social media in a way that spread FACTS not FEAR #COVID19 #PNG @UNAIDS_AP @UNAIDS pic.twitter.com/TW99GuatOE

— UNAIDS PNG (@unaidsPNG) April 15, 2020

UNAIDS Regional Support Team for Eastern and Southern Africa and Reckitt Benckiser have today joined forces to distribute more than 195 000 “hygiene packs” to people living with HIV in the eastern and southern African (ESA) region. Twenty-five thousand additional packs will be supplied to Nigeria and Egypt.

The packs consist of a three-month supply of Dettol soap and Jik surface cleaner and will be distributed in 19 ESA countries through UNAIDS Country Offices and networks of people living with HIV as part of efforts to reduce exposure to the impact of COVID-19 among people living with HIV.

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The UNAIDS regional support team for Asia and the Pacific has received several requests for help from non-nationals living with HIV in Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia and Sri Lanka through social media platforms.  Many of them are tourists who were unable to return to their countries or students and all were running out of HIV treatment and unable to refill their medicines due to the COVID-19 situation.

The UNAIDS Asia-Pacific office connected these individuals to civil society organizations or local clinics in each of these countries where they were able to access the antiretroviral medicines.

UNAIDS Cambodia, in collaboration with community organizations of people living with HIV such as ART Users Association (AUA) and the Cambodian People living with HIV Network (CPN+), launched a rapid survey on 15 April 2020 to understand the actual situation of people living with HIV in the country in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic and to assess their needs in terms of information, access to antiretroviral treatment, medical care or other social services.

The results of the survey will inform the national HIV programme and key partners on the barriers that people living with HIV are currently facing and will help identify actions to mitigate the impact of the pandemic.

The survey can be accessed at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/5SWTDZL

Winnie Byanyima, UNAIDS Executive Director, said  that "to fight COVID-19 and win, we must challenge inequalities. That's how we can sustain recovery."

She is pressing leaders to act on three important actions, including protecting and rewarding health workers fairly, and ending user fees. "We won't stop Covid-19, if some people can’t afford testing or treatment," she added. Thirdly, remove the burden of debt that still binds the hands of developing countries, not just by shifting repayments to next year but through cancellations.

Most low-income countries are already highly-indebted. Africa’s debt has been increasing every year and is now about 60% of the continent’s gross domestic product. "It is immoral to push highly-indebted countries to take more loans to fight an existential threat that the whole world is facing. A broad and coordinated debt relief process is urgently needed not only to respond to the Covid-19 crisis but to shorten the recovery period and create conditions for growth."

On 17 April, the President of Myanmar agreed to release more than 25,000 prisoners, including drug users arrested in possession of a limited amount of drugs or who did not report to drug treatment services as required by law.

UNAIDS is following up with the Ministry of Health and Sports and the nongovernmental organizations who are involved in the provision of health information and referral for care to those released, including for people who use drugs and for people living with HIV who are on Antiretroviral Therapy (ART). The latter are being provided up to 6-months antiretrovirals (ARV) to reduce the need for them to go to treatment centres in the coming period with stay home or lock-down orders for the whole population or for certain regions-states.   

Earlier in the month, civil society organizations and the United Nations had sent letters to the President calling for the decongestion of detention facilities in response to COVID-19.

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Read civil society call to action

Read UN letter to the President