Asia Pacific Civil Society and 2008 UNGASS on HIV and AIDS Twenty-five countries from Asia and the Pacific submitted their country's 2008 AIDS Progress Report. APCASO's publication 'Asia Pacific Civil Society and 2008 UNGASS on HIV and AIDS' provides not only a review of these reports, but also other related literature and key contacts' feedback. The regional report is a summary analysis of processes and outcomes from the UNGASS 2008 Country Reports. The aim of the review is to provide (a) a general overview of civil society's participation in national responses and in the compilation of the reports and (b) as assessment of the accuracy /gaps of each report in terms of civil society experience and knowledge of national responses. To download the regional report, please click here

HIV Advocacy from the Ground Up: A Toolkit for Strengthening Local Responses As the culmination of phase one of APCASO's Community Advocacy Initiative, APCASO is pleased to launch its latest publication: HIV Advocacy from the Ground Up: A Toolkit for Strengthening Local Responses. Click here to download the toolkit.

9th ICAAP The 9th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (9th ICAAP), will be held in Bali, Indonesia from 9-13 August 2009. The theme of the 9th ICAAP is "Empowering People, Strengthening Networks" There are four Congress Tracks and Cross-Cutting Themes: Track A: Understanding the Epidemic and Strengthening Prevention Efforts Track B: Strengthening Partnership for Treatment, Care, and Support Track C: HIV/AIDS in Context: Understanding and Addressing Socio-Cultural, Economic and Political Determinants Track D: Leadership and Broadening the Response Cross Cutting Themes Listed below are the proposed cross cutting themes issues: Empowering and Networking Inequity and Vulnerability Sexual Diversity and Gender Identities Stigma and Discrimination Regular registration closed on 14 June 2009. Late registration is between 15 June to 8 August 2009. Check www.icaap9.org for the latest updates. APCASO, together with its project partners, will have a number of sessions at the 9th ICAAP. Hope to see you at our sessions. Click here for more details.

CALL For ACTION In conjunction with the High Level Event to review the progress of the Millennium Development Goals, the communities affected by HIV and AIDS demand more action from our governments. Millennium Development Goal 6 commits the world to halt and reverse the global AIDS epidemic by 2015. The push towards universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support by 2010 represents an important step on the road to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals by 2015.The response to the HIV epidemic, while specifically linked to Millennium Development Goal 6 on reducing the burden of the epidemic, also supports the achievement of most of the other Goals. However lack of commitment and the ever-increasing funding gap is undermining progress toward universal access by 2010. The 2008 Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic has revealed that the global epidemic is still growing at an unacceptably high level. Even in countries with low HIV prevalence, populations most at risk are experiencing an exceptionally heavy burden of disease, including substantial numbers of new HIV infections. Treatment access has steadily expanded in recent years but efforts to ensure robust HIV prevention services have lagged. While 87% of countries with targets for universal access have established goals for HIV treatment, only slightly more than half have targets for key HIV prevention strategies. Scaling up in focused HIV-prevention strategies in countries with concentrated epidemics, where infections are clustered among key populations, such as drug users, sex workers, men who have sex with men and migrant workers is essential in halting and reversing the global HIV epidemic by 2015. Human rights must be at the centre of all responses to HIV. States, reaffirmed at the United Nations High Level Meeting on HIV and AIDS in 2006 and 2008, the full realization of all human rights and fundamental freedoms in meeting the global response to HIV and AIDS. In light of this, laws criminalizing transmission, sex work, sexual practices and carrying syringes and needles must removed for key populations to come forth to access HIV testing, prevention services and information and treatment. APCASO urges governments, the UN system and all stakeholders to take the following actions: Universal access by 2010 requires comprehensive, non-discriminatory access to prevention, treatment, care and support for all regardless of nationality, ethnicities, geographic location and gender identities. It is critical that women's rights are central to the goals of halting this pandemic. Universal access must include comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services. Monitoring of progress in implementing the commitments must be improved by reporting data disaggregated by age, gender and sub-population and including appropriate qualitative indicators. Governments of high-income countries, especially the G8, to fulfil their commitment of contributing 0.7 per cent of their gross national product to official development assistance. The epidemic continues to outpace the response. A stronger and more broad-based leadership across all sectors of society will be required to halt and begin to reverse the global AIDS epidemic by 2015 and meet the overarching goal to reduce world poverty.

In 2000 governments around the world set targets to improve the lives of fellow men and women These 8 targets, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), represent the most ambitious international commitments to addressing the overarching goal of reducing poverty and improving the lives of our fellow men and women. These targets are documented here UN has set up a blog to reach out to a broader audience to participate in discussions on the MDGs prior to the 25th September High-Level Event on MDGs. To read APCASO’s alert click here

Civil Society Support Mechanism APCASO is part of a coalition of community organizations that set up a Civil Society Support Mechanism (CSSM) at the end of 2007, with the support of UNAIDS. The aim of CSSM is to provide communication, consultation, and coordination support for civil society to be meaningfully involved in the review of the implementation of the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS (2001) and the Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS (2006). Further information on CSSM is available here

Asia Pacific Civil Society Preparatory Forum for 2008 AIDS Review One of the deliverables of the Asia Pacific Civil Society Preparatory Forum for 2008 AIDS Review, Bangkok, held on the 3rd and 4th of May 2008; was a document capturing the region's key advocacy messages. 45 participants from 21 countries conferred and deliberated over the region's key advocacy issues. A 3-person drafting committee which was strengthened with the inclusion of volunteers from the Forum worked in the afterhours of the Forum to prepare the first draft that was then presented back to the participants on the second day. The document has since then underwent several rounds of review and edit before it was submitted by email to the Forum's participants for final comments. The document detailing the Forum's key advocacy messages was shared with the joint UNESCAP and UNAIDS Expert Group Meeting on "Progress on International Commitments on HIV/AIDS in Asia and Pacific region" and Seven Sisters network members. It was also presented to Dr Nafis Sadik, Special Envoy of the Secretary- General for HIV and AIDS in Asia during her visit to Malaysia towards the end of May 2008. Participants from Cambodia and Philippines have also adapted the key advocacy messages for their country's civil society's needs. We are pleased to share the Forum's 'Asia Pacific Civil Society Key Advocacy Messages' document with you here If you are interested in the Forum's advocacy points or the first draft of the document, please write to admin@apcaso.org

Redefining AIDS in Asia - Crafting an Effective Response At the recently concluded Asia Pacific Civil Society Preparatory Forum for 2008 AIDS Review, Bangkok, 3-4 May 2008, Mr JVR Prasada Rao, Director, UNAIDS Regional Support Team for Asia and the Pacific as well as Secretary of the Commission on AIDS in Asia; and Ms Frika Iskandar, member of the Commission presented the findings and recommendations of the Commission's report "Redefining AIDS in Asia: Creating an effective response". The links to the report as well as the presentations of both Prasada Rao and Frika Iskandar at the forum are available here: The Commission's report "Redefining AIDS in Asia: Creating an effective response" Mr JVR Prasada Rao's presentation Ms Frika Iskandar's presentation For more information on the independent Commission and its reports please click here

2008 AIDS Review For more information on the 2008 UNGASS reporting and the High-Level Meeting on HIV. Click here for more details

Readiness for Microbicides Advocacy The Asia Pacific Council of AIDS Services Organizations (APCASO) in partnership with the Global Campaign for Microbicides (GCM) undertook a mapping of the HIV/AIDS advocacy landscape in selected countries in Southeast Asia, in order to prepare and assess the readiness of civil society for microbicides advocacy. The project's findings from the mapping have been disseminated at a workshop in Bangkok for participating countries and in various other fora such as Microbicides 2006 in Cape Town, South Africa, in April 2006, and the XVI International AIDS Conference, Toronto, August 2006. For more details see the project summary handout entitled 'Preparing civil society for microbicides advocacy in Southeast Asia', accompanying factsheet 'Microbicides: A "MUST HAVE" for women in Southeast Asia' and poster 'Can microbicides really work when gender inequality and unequal power dynamics continue to dominate sexual relations?', presented on 16 August 2006 at the XVI International AIDS Conference, Toronto, August 2006. .

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis & Malaria

The purpose of the Fund is to attract, manage and disburse additional resources through a new public-private partnership that will make a sustainable and significant contribution to the reduction of infections, illness and death, thereby mitigating the impact caused by HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria in countries in need, and contributing to poverty reduction as part of the Millenium Development goals. Read more by following this link