The report highlights key trends and developments in laws affecting people living with HIV and key populations in Asia and the Pacific over the five-year period 2014–2019. It updates the legal and policy review conducted in 2016 for UNAIDS, UNDP and the United Nations Economic and Social Commissio...n for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). A database of laws of the 38 Member States of ESCAP was created as part of this review. The database identifies laws that are either punitive or enabling for people living with HIV and key populations in Asia and the Pacific.
more
Focusing on preventing and mitigating COVID-19 related risks, the standards aim to protect the health and safety of personnel, while ensuring that organizations continue to deliver on their mandates. Attention is paid to non-discrimination and ensuring that all personnel, regardless of nationality o...r contractual type is equally covered and protected by the minimum standards in the COVID-19 context. It is acknowledged that the implementation of such standards may entail additional costs for organizations, for which a dialogue with donors may be warranted.
more
Estimates of government spending and development assistance for tuberculosis exist, but less is known
about out-of-pocket and prepaid private spending. We aimed to provide comprehensive estimates of total spending on
tuberculosis in low-income and middle-income countries for 2000–17.
7 Febr. 2021
As COVID-19 continues to wreak havoc in countries – decimating people’s livelihoods, and leaving health systems struggling to provide healthcare and vaccines for the entire population - governments and donors should look to the Church as a partner. The essential Church networks, tr...usted and rooted in local communities, can reach the most vulnerable people and remote places where governments often struggle to reach. DR Congo is among several countries where the Catholic Church is the main provider of community health services, particularly in more remote areas.
more
Excecutive Summary.
The failure to protect the people most vulnerable to climate change is especially alarming given the steady increase in the number of climate and weather-related disasters. According to the World Disasters Report, the average number of climate and weather-related disasters per d...ecade has increased nearly 35 per cent since the 1990s.
Over the past decade, 83 per cent of all disasters were caused by extreme weather and climate-related events such as floods, storms, and heatwaves. Together, these disasters killed more than 410,000 people and affected a staggering 1.7 billion people.
more
To assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on health and HIV expenditure, UNAIDS carried out a modelling study on fiscal space for health and HIV. From a sample of 28 countries, three countries—the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Jamaica, and Lesotho—were selected to capture health and HIV ...expenditure impacts across countries with especially marked differences in burdens of disease (including HIV prevalence), HIV donor dependency, level of economic development, and geographic location. While the three-country sample is too small to permit findings to be generalized to other countries, these analyses are useful for informing UNAIDS’ work to identify some policy positions to minimize the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on the HIV response.
more
This Portal aims to facilitate collective learning around the Syria crisis in order to improve international emergency response.
The first section highlights knowledge and questions regarding security incidents, trends, and causes of violence, including around causes and motives for attacks, and tensions between individual and collective responses. The next section then explores the role of the humanitarian principles, and th...e perceptions of humanitarian actors, in affecting their security in the field. Building on this, the final section examines the protection of humanitarian action under international law, and the impunity gap resulting from effective implementation or enforcement of the law.
more
Almost eight years of active fighting have had profound consequences on the lives of millions of people in the conflict-affected Donetska and Luhanska oblasts of eastern Ukraine. An estimated 2.9 million people are projected to need humanitarian assistance in 2022, with some 55 per cent living in th...e non-Government controlled area (NGCA).1 1 According to the national Ukrainian legislation, such areas have been defined as the temporarily occupied territories of Donetska and Luhanska oblasts.
more
Japan has been implementing projects of global extension of medical technologies under an official development assistance policy to improve public health and medicine by promoting Japanese medical technologies worldwide. The current work examines the impact and goals of implementing this new scheme.... The scheme has involved dozens of projects that sent Japanese experts to partner countries and that invited their counterparts to Japan to showcase Japanese medical technologies. Approximately 50 projects have been implemented in 24 countries over 5 years, and 19,638 individuals have been trained. As a result, the introduced technology was adopted in national guidelines in 4 projects and the introduced equipment was procured in the partner country in 17 projects. In total, 912,334 individuals have benefitted from the introduction of these medical technologies. The concept of "creating shared value" (CSV) could help promote project success by both creating economic value and encouraging social progress. However, the sustainability of that business model remains in question in terms of the internationalization of CSV. Several successful projects improved medical care and led to new business opportunities.
more
In 2015, member states of the United Nations adopted the ambitious Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which included 17 global goals that targeted economic and social development.1 Goal 3, “to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages,” targets specifically marked progre...ss in universal health coverage; improved access to safe, effective, and affordable medicines; and the end of the HIV, malaria, and tuberculosis epidemics by 2030. Although these goals can spur innovation, social and political commitment, and a drive to achieve greater health gains for less money, financial support is necessary to achieve them.
more
In responding to the health crisis in Venezuela, the United States and the international community can consider several options: they can encourage the Venezuelan government to fulfill commitments to protect the population's health and access to essential medicines; and they can support civil societ...y organizations and professional groups providing analysis about the health sector. Strengthening the potential of public health professionals within Venezuela, as well as in the diaspora, to develop plans for reforming the health system and addressing current public health challenges should there be a political opening for them to do so will be important, as well.
more