APCASO’s initial involvement with Universal Access (UA) was as a civil society representative on the Global Steering Committee tasked with identifying barriers and making recommendations on actions to scale up UA. Participation in other regional consultations followed.

In 2008 APCASO was active on UNGASS in a variety of activities to prepare and enhance civil society participation in national and regional UNGASS processes. Chief among these were the Preparatory Forum and the Civil Society Support Mechanism, both described below.

APCASO also participated at the Civil Society Pre-High Level Meeting and facilitated the Asia Pacific Caucus session. While at the HLM, APCASO assisted G8 civil society networks with advocacy activities to mobilise support for Global Action Framework on Health and sign-ons on HIV/AIDS.

Preparatory Forum

The Asia Pacific Civil Society Preparatory Forum for UNGASS Review (Prep Forum) was held in May 2008 in a prelude to the High Level Meeting (HLM) on HIV the following month. One of the objectives of the Prep Forum was to identify advocacy opportunities and formulate action.

An important outcome of this forum was a civil society statement reflecting the pressing issues and priorities of communities vis-a-vis the five thematic issues of the HLM. This statement was circulated at several meetings including the HLM.

Another outcome was sub-regional roadmaps for the 2010 UNGASS review. Forum participants worked in groups representing the 6 sub-regions of Asia Pacific.

A challenge from this forum was how few participants could identify opportunities for advocacy from the UNGASS review process.

The Prep Forum brought together 45 civil society leaders from 21 countries in the region. It was supported by UNAIDS Regional Support Team Asia Pacific.

Civil Society Support Mechanism & Regional Review

APCASO, in its role as the Asia Pacific host for the Civil Society Support Mechanism (CSSM), mobilised civil society participation in their national reporting through its country contacts, e-networking and other mechanisms.  APCASO commissioned a regional review “Asia Pacific Civil Society & 2008 UNGASS on HIV/ AIDS” which was published and disseminated in October 2008.

As of end March 2008, 25 countries in Asia Pacific submitted their Country Progress report on AIDS, about 67% (25/38) of countries in the region.

The review looked at pertinent issues such as constraints to participation, human rights, access to treatment, care and support, policy and law and the concept of custodial settings. It also considered gender, mobile populations, and injecting drug users.

Although the 2008 experience was an improvement from the previous round, it is clear that many challenges remain to be addressed before civil society participation in UNGASS is adequately strengthened.

Asia Pasific Civil Society and 2008 UNGASS in HIV and AIDS.

Twenty-five countries* from Asia and the Pacific submitted their country's 2008 AIDS Progress Report. In our capacity as the Asia Pacific host for the CSSM in 2008, APCASO commissioned a regional review to provide:

1. A general overview of civil society participation in national responses and in compilation of the reports.
2. An assessment of the accuracy and gaps of each report in terms of  civil society experience and knowledge of national responses.

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.

Among the major findings of the review were:

• Knowledge and use of the Declaration of Commitment by policymakers and community sector is generally low.
• Political leadership is still lacking in most countries.
• Participation by community sector in the development, implementation and monitoring of national strategies remains very limited in many countries.
• Most developing country governments are spending a very small proportion of national budget on HIV/AIDS.
• There is little connection between the legally guaranteed right to health and actual access to health especially for the most vulnerable groups.

To download the regional report, please click here