Leaving no one behind in the Asia-Pacific HIV response

UNDP
Original Article:  bit.ly/15XksIH

Bangkok, Thailand – Government delegates, leading civil society voices and UN partners gathered in Bangkok this week to review progress in responding to the HIV epidemic in the Asia Pacific region.

The Asia Pacific Intergovernmental Meeting on HIV and AIDS,  currently being held at the UN Conference Centre from 28 to 30 January, has been convened by the UN Economic and Social Commission on Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) with support from UNAIDS, UNDP and other UN agencies.

The meeting is reviewing progress towards commitments made by Member States in the 2011 Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS and in ESCAP Resolutions 66/10 and 67/9, which call on states to address punitive laws and practices that hinder responses to the AIDS epidemic.

The meeting will produce a new regional framework of cooperation reaching beyond 2015, including measures to enhance the financial sustainability and effectiveness of HIV responses, and to ensure affordable access to life-saving medicine and diagnostics.

In his opening remarks, Nicholas Rosellini, Director of UNDP’s Bangkok Regional Hub, highlighted that the HIV epidemic in Asia and the Pacific continues to be concentrated among key populations who face the burden of being marginalized not only socially but also through counter-productive legal frameworks.

Full text of article available at link below:  bit.ly/15XksIH