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The 11th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific | 1823 November 2013 | Bangkok, Thailand Queen Sirikit National Convention Center (QSNCC)

11th ICAAP Opening Ceremony

Issue 2/20 November 2013

Marriage between TG and MSM:

On the rocks?

p.3

My husband is HIV-positive, and I live with

him. Why not?

p.4

Stigma within health care facilities blocks

access to services for MSM and TGs

p.5

Good. Safe. Sex.

p.6

Fighting AIDS belongs in the future,

not the past

p.7

Tweet of the day

p.8

Uraiwan S.

Accepting change, learning from good practices and translating science into innovative action:
all crucial if countries in Asia and the Pacific
are to achieve the triple zero goal. How it can
be done is the challenge facing 3000 delegates
from 80 countries as they gather in Bangkok to
discuss progress towards zero new infections,
zero AIDS-related deaths and zero stigma and
discrimination.
According to Dr NM Samuel, President of the
AIDS Society of Asia and the Pacific, lives of key
populations like MSM, sex workers and injecting
drug users could be saved if countries in the region
followed the United States and France lead of providing early ART instead of basing it on a CD4

threshold. Dr Samuel asked why it was so hard to

accept what had already been shown to work.

Jeanne Hallacy/ICAAP11

By Swapna Majumdar

Countries need to accept that the lives of people

living with HIV are more important than economics, he said.
These sentiments were echoed by the keynote
speaker Mr Mechai Viravaidya, Chairperson of
the ICAAP local host organization, The Population and Community Development Association:
Learning from nongovernment organizations
not to take no as an answer had helped Thailand
to tackle the issue more effectively, he said.
We have won some battles. But to win the war
it is imperative to put youth at the heart of future
strategies.

The Thailand Public Health Minister, Dr Pradit

Sintavanoror, announced that ART would soon
be available to all people living with HIV in the
country. Thailands current 70% ART coverage is already much higher than in most countries
of the region. The conference is an opportunity
to better our response to reach the goal of triple
zero, he added, speaking on behalf of the Thailand Prime Minister.

Intellectual property and decriminalization:

We dont have to wait for laws to be changed
by Bobby Ramakant

Anand Grover is a lawyer from India who is

known for his legal activism in Indian law
relating to HIV. He is a co-founder member
of the Lawyers Collective and has been UN
Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health
since 2008.

States have not used TRIPS1 flexibilities to

increase access to essential and affordable
medicines. So what prevents us from using
all the flexibilities that are available under the
TRIPS? Some countries have started to change
their laws, but we need to use all the flexibilities

available such as filing pre-/post-grant patent

oppositions, counter pleas etc, said Mr Grover.
Promotion of domestic drug production and
pooled procurement are key to unlocking more
equitable access to essential and affordable
medicines.
Continued on p.2

Host

Co-Host

Convener

Co-Convener

Organizing Partners

02 | 20 November 2013
Continued from p.1

Asia-Pacific countries, especially the

larger countries, should pool their resources
and try to procure commonly used generic
antiretroviral therapy (ART) drugs from a
common source. This common source can be
any country that can provide these drugs, so
that they have a market with a large access.
That will facilitate Asia-Pacific regional
companies to come up. India can do it for
some time but we need other companies also,
in other countries. For example, countries like
India, China and Thailand should do drug
procurement together. Then they will actually
be able to have a large market, and essential
drugs can be purchased cheaply.

used optimally. Any pressure against using

flexibilities must be resisted. Compulsory
licensing should be made available, without
any pressure from the developed countries.

laws on sex work. We should make sure that

people practising these behaviours are not
subjected to prosecution and criminal action
by the police.

Another major issue is the criminalization

of key populations affected by HIV. We need
to think of decriminalization of same-sex
relations, possession and/or consumption of
drugs, as well as sex work.

Anand Grover will be one of the ICAAP plenary

speakers in the session entitled Challenging
discrimination against key populations in
Asia and the Pacific on Friday).

Drugs for treating hepatitis C such as

the pegylated interferons are not readily
available at affordable prices. We need to
use compulsory licensing, or pre-/postgrant opposition procedures to block patents
being granted, and allow flexibilities to be

Good things have happened in terms of

law changes: In India, Hong Kong and Fiji
for supportive legal policies towards people
who are practicing same sex behaviour. In
Singapore they are thinking of legal reforms
in relation to drug use. Indonesia is rethinking

social medicine.org

When essential drugs are not made available

in large quantities or at affordable prices by
multinational companies then governments
should issue a compulsory license, Mr Grover
argues.

There are certain measures that can be taken

immediately without changing the law, such
as harm reduction measures. We also need to
push for changing the laws at a suitable level.
Even if we do not decriminalize, for the sake of
health the law will allow delivery of services
to key populations. All health services should
be availed without any interference from the
government and we need to empower the
communities so that they can fight for it.

1 TRIPS = Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of

Intellectual Property Rights

Migrants want equality and dignity

By Ishdeep Kohli

Many countries in Asia and the Middle East

rely on migrant workers to keep their economies
functioning. Migrants send back valuable
remittances to their own countries and contribute
to the economies of the destination countries.
But migrant populations are also vulnerable to
violence, discrimination and lack of social and
health care services. In some countries the
policy and practice of mandatory HIV testing for
migrant workers is discriminatory and violates
human rights.
Mara Quesada-Bondad, Executive Director,
Action for Health Initiatives (ACHIEVE), Inc.
speaking on behalf of migrant workers said,
One of the biggest issues we are facing is
the slow movement of legal reforms related to
mandatory HIV testing and related deportation
among migrant workers. In many contexts,
migrant workers are excluded from laws and
policies that allow them to access health services
in general and HIV treatment in particular.
Elena Felix, a woman living with HIV from the
migrant community, is from the Philippines and
was working in the Middle East, once diagnosed
with HIV she was deported. We were once

considered as the New Heroes as were bringing

back money to our country, but now face stigma
discrimination. All I want is to live with equality
and dignity.
In Thailand, there is a new health insurance
policy for migrants but the insurance premium
is costly, making service providers reluctant to
provide services. For the Malaysian Government
the health issues of migrants are considered a
threat. Migrants are registered and tested, but
then deported if found to have HIV or when
women migrants are discovered to be pregnant.
Male workers from other countries are stopped
and questioned at immigration in Hong Kong if
they carry condoms, making them reluctant to
carry condoms in the future. Women working
as domestic workers are most vulnerable in
Singapore as pregnancy and HIV are causes for
deportation.
Some 2.5 million Burmese migrant workers live
in Thailand about half of whom are estimated
to be undocumented Burmese sex workers
cannot use condoms because their employers do
not want them to do so. In hospitals they face

discrimination. The health care providers treat

the Thai patients first. Even with health insurance
they only get limited medicines regardless of
their health condition. For migrant workers who
are able to access antiretroviral drugs, the system
is too bureaucratic and difficult to navigate.
ICAAP delegates also explained the intersections
of mobile people and other populations: there are
migrants who are also MSM, people living with
HIV, sex-workers, young people, transgenders
and women who inject drugs.
The migrant community at ICAAP 11 is discussing
some key issues and recommendations to
promote HIV prevention and treatment services
for migrants. There should be no termination
from work and deportation on the basis of HIV
infection as it violates right to work and right to
move and stay. Rather access to HIV prevention,
treatment and care should be provided. Any
health testing should be based on the 3Cs
(counselling, consent and confidentiality), and
should be connected to treatment.

20 November 2013 | 03

Marriage between TG and MSM: On the rocks?

By Shobha Shukla

According to Lakshmi Narayan Tripathi, a

hijra (TG) from India who runs Astitva An
Organization for Support & Development of
Sexual Minorities, TGs are the only sexual
minority that are so very evident and yet treated
as invisibles by mainstream society. They often
face greater problems in accessing health care,
education and jobs as compared to MSMs. If they
become HIV+ their problems are compounded.
Working under the same umbrella, their problems
are overshadowed by those of MSMs.
It is not an unhappy marriage but perhaps one
that might have gone wrong and is in need of some
counselling, Lakshmi believes. Both partners of
the marriage need to be treated with dignity and
enjoy equal rights. We do not want the marriage

Shobha Shukla

The complexity in addressing sexual orientation

and gender identity in the HIV response has
marginalized the issues and needs of transgenders
(TGs). While HIV programming in the Asia and
the Pacific has scaled up considerably, TGs do
tend to get subsumed under the MSM (men who
have sex with men) category. Calls to separate
programming and resource allocation to address
their specific needs and concerns are growing
louder.

to end in a divorce but we do want the MSMs

to respect the fact that TGs are a different entity
altogether. We need to work as equal partners in
our whole activism. We do not want to break this
partnership but we do want to have our own space
and our own budget to run the family.
Shale Ahmed of the Bandhu Social Welfare
Society of Bangladesh agrees that MSMs and
TGs are different groups, with different needs,
issues and concerns. But there are also some areas
of common interest, such as advocacy issues
around stigma and discrimination where both
can work together. But sexual and reproductive
health issues of TGs are very different from those
of MSMs and have to be dealt with separately,
he said. But still we can coexist.

Rani Ravudi, from the Survival Advocacy

Network of Fiji, demands that TGs should not
be deprived of the right to life nor subject to
violence because of their gender identity. They
should be respected for what they are and enjoy
all legal rights. States should design all facilities
and services to meet needs of all its citizens
regardless of their gender identity.
Kate Montecarlo Cordova, founder of the Association of TG in the Philippines, believes that
both MSMs and TGs are marginalized and
fighting for the same cause: human rights. So
that makes for a happy marriage. Of course TGs
do have different needs to address from MSMs,
and so the issues have to be combined together carefully.
Pavitra, a TG from Nagpur in India, does not
want a marriage between the two as it spoils
life for both of them. MSMs are able to access
health issues much more easily than TGs, she
argued. Doctors dont want to examine hijras,
so very often they do not go to seek health care.
We can reduce this through advocacy and creating awareness and by having more interaction
between general population and TGs to mainstream them with society, she concluded.

USAID Regional Development Mission for Asia

Office of Public Health
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) regional office in Bangkok
currently provides support to improve
regional responses to reduce the spread
of infectious diseases including HIV, malaria,
tuberculosis, avian influenza, and emerging
pandemic threats.
Under the HIV and AIDS program, USAID
implements broad-ranging interventions
for key affected populations, especially men
who have sex with men (MSM), transgender
women (TG) and male sex workers
(MSWs). USAID has achieved significant
progress in expanding the delivery of socially
marketed services, scaling up outreach and
peer education activities, using improved
research techniques to inform program
implementation, actively working with the
national HIV and AIDS program to reduce

stigma and discrimination, promoting an

enabling environment for an effective HIV
response, and improving the quality of
service delivery for national AIDS strategies.
USAID provides technical assistance to
community based organizations specializing
in HIV-related services. Capacity building
efforts focus on five key programmatic
and operational areas: strategic planning;
financial management; strategic information
and monitoring and evaluation; quality
service provision; and communications. For
example, USAID training programs aim to
improve the quality of case management for
MSM and TGs living with HIV to ensure that
those who test positive are able to access
care and treatment services.
In 2013, USAID programs provided over
13,000 people at risk for HIV infection
with critical HIV prevention messages and

education, condoms and lubricant, and

voluntary counseling, testing and treatment
of sexually transmitted infections. USAID
provided technical and organizational
support to community-based organizations
China, Laos, Thailand and Burma. A
comprehensive package of services model
for those key affected populations made it
easier to access the full range of prevention
and treatment services for key affected
populations.
To address low HIV testing and treatment
rates among key affected populations, USAID
continues to support the development and
implementation of new service delivery
models. In the coming year, USAID will
explore incentivized case finding techniques
for HIV, HIV test and treat services in
community based settings, and the use of
social networking resources to better reach
key affected populations.

04 | 20 November 2013

In-depth
My husband is HIV-positive, and I live with him. Why not?
By Le Nguyen

Le Nguyen

Visitors to Halong Bay one of Viet Nams UNESCO-recognized Natural

Heritage sites rarely choose a tour to visit the islands of Van Don, even
though they were among Asias most prosperous harbours for hundreds of
years. In the early 2000s, Van Don was hit by a storm of HIV infections.
The rates of new infections were among the highest in the country, driven
mostly by drug injection with shared needles.
In Quan Lan, one of Van Dons biggest and most populated islands, local
women go to work every early morning, digging the sandy beach for sa
sung, a kind of marine worm and a local delicacy. Sa Sung digging brings
a good income. Dressed in work clothes with sun hats, gloves and rubber
boots, they use trowels and baskets for their catch. Inside the baskets, there
are water bottles, not for their normal drink against thirst, but for their antiHIV medicines to be taken on schedule. Most of these women got infected
with the HIV virus from their husbands or partners. A few are still HIVnegative, thanks to luck rather than active preventive measures.
Diep Thi Hang is one such woman. Her husband had been using drugs
for a long time and was living with HIV, but she dared not go for the
tests. Hang recalled her old stories, saying that her neighbours turned away
from her when they came to know that her husband was HIV positive.
They argued that if the husband got infected, then the wife and even their
children would be too. Even Haang thought it was her destiny and accepted
to live with her infected husband.
But then members of the Bright Future Group advised her to go to the
clinic for HIV testing, and Hang followed their advice. Results of the first
test showed she was negative. She did not believe it was true, so she took
three more tests all with negative results. Her husband was very happy,
and since then she took more care of preventive measures against HIV.
Hang told me: My husband is on ART now and we use condoms.

Hang shows us that without encouragement from peer educators, fear of

stigma would have prevented her from seeking testing in time. But not
everyone is as lucky as Hang. Another local woman, named Thuong
acquired HIV from her husband.
Together, women like Hang and Thuong established self-support groups
such as Green Hope, Bright Future, and Negative Partners to support
one another in minimizing the risk of acquiring HIV. They reach out to
the negative partners, giving out information about efficient prevention
methods.
Hang said: We accept our destiny and continue to live and support one
another. We encourage others to go for tests and treatment in time. In this
way we have helped many people in the risky group to avoid getting
infected. In the beginning our relatives did not support our activities. But
now, slowly we have gained their sympathy and also of other local people,
including those living with HIV.

Parade delegates speak

By Le Nguyen

Ms Joley Jollen, a transgender from the Tonga

Leitis Association
The congress and this parade make us feel free and happy as
transgenders thats why we dance all the time at the NCC and
along the Bangkok roads.

Uraiwan S.

Ms Satiya Kuanknam, from the Raks Thai

Foundation in Chiang Mai, Thailand
Im a straight woman, I love men. I work with many LGBT and
I love them too. About HIV, I think it cannot lower human value
and dignity.

Mr Bernd, Brother of Perpetual Help, Thailand

Uraiwan S.

I am from Germany and Ive been working for a long time in

Thailand. These issues about HIV are global, in Europe as well
as in Asia and the Pacific. We dont have many parades like this
in Europe. Im happy to join the ICAAP and this lively parade.

20 November 2013 | 05

Inspire
Stigma within health care facilities blocks access to services for MSM and TGs
By Shobha Shukla

Medical curricula need to be re-evaluated to

address the health needs of all marginalized
communities including MSM and transgenders.
If you look at the treatment of STIs there is no
training in the curricula that is appropriate to
the needs of MSM and transgender populations.
If you look at the mental health curricula there
is no training around addressing stigma and
discrimination as a key element in addressing
mental health problem. There is no education
for the families arising from having gay sons and
[lesbian] daughters.
Human beings irrespective of their sexual
identities should be treated with dignity.
Families, medical fraternity, police, bureaucrats,
politicians, it is the whole of society which you
must engage in improving health responses for
MSM and transgender populations.
My message for the conference is that the key
vulnerable communities in Asia and the Pacific
to HIV are MSM and transgender populations.
Unless there is clear recognition from all
governments that these populations are engaged
in designing, developing and providing services,
HIV is never going to be resolved in terms of
reducing the level of HIV in our parts of world.

projectbolo.org

The inaugural address in the Shivanand Khan

Lecture Series will be held in Hall F on 20th
November (12.15pm)
Born in 1948 in India, Shivananda Duncan
Khan migrated to the UK when he was ten years
old. In 1988 he founded an organization for
South Asian LGBTs in London called Shakti,
followed by health support groups for MSMs
across India, Bangladesh and other South Asian
countries. After losing a close gay Muslim friend
to AIDS in the early 1990s, Mr Khan became
active in the AIDS response and founded the
Naz Foundation International based in London
and Lucknow. Mr Khan campaigned to bring
greater attention to the challenges and strategies
needed to address HIV among men who have
sex with men and transgender people. Mr Khan
was the central figure in the development of the
Asia Pacific Coalition on Male Sexual Health
(APCOM), serving as its Chair from 20092012.
In recognition of Mr Khans work with men who
have sex with men and transgender people in
Asia and globally, he was awarded the Order
of the British Empire in 2005.This committed,
passionate, inspiring and visionary activist
passed away on Monday, 20th May 2013.

Following are excerpts from an interview he

gave at the previous ICAAP in 2011:
Stigma within health care settings blocks
access of men who have sex with men (MSM) and
transgender populations to existing services to
an alarming level. The Asia Pacific Coalition on
Male Sexual Health (APCOM) has been looking
at this issue of stigma within health care settings,
which prevents people from accessing services
and in fact kills people if nothing else. So NFI
and APCOM are engaging more with the UN,
the WHO, and other stakeholders to improve
quality of education for the health sector, to
engage in issues around health sector reforms
and to improve services at grassroots level.

SCAN ME!

Zero new HIV infections. Zero discrimination. Zero AIDS-related deaths.

Implement the ILO Recommendation on HIV and AIDS (No. 200)

www.ilo.org/zero

Anand Panyarachun

We need to ensure that the legal environment

protects the rights of people living with HIV,
including in the workplace. By reforming
national laws and policies, we can
end stigma and discrimination,
and promote greater access to
HIV services, particularly for key
populations at risk.

Anand Panyarachun
Former Prime Minister of Thailand

06 | 20 November 2013

Good. Safe. Sex.

By Sumita Thapar

Bobby Ramakant

A man is not a financial plan, a

website advises young women in the
Philippines. Babies are not blessings
it further asserts. Through active use of
social media and mobile phone apps
the web site sexandsensibilities.com
reaches out to young, middle class girls
with positive notions about sexuality.
Sexuality is about self-identity, selfworth, it is our divine right it is part
of being human, asserts Ana P Santos,
the journalist and sex educator who runs
the site.
The Philippines has the highest rate of teen pregnancy in the ASEAN
region. There has been a 70% increase in teen pregnancy in the country
in the past decade. Talking about sex more openly, Santos argues, is the
only way out. Helping girls to engage with information on sexuality and
talking to them about the consequences of sex is important, she says. The
project aims to empower girls with information and skills to be safe. They
should know they can say no to a boyfriend if they feel they are not ready
for sex yet.

Santos spoke about the challenges of talking about sex in a prohibitive

Catholic environment.
In the Philippines, we talk about sex in the context of family planning
and reproductive health, but not in context of pleasure, she said. This
excludes young people and does not tell them what choices they have. To
change the way we view sex we have to change the way we talk about it.
Sexandsensibilities.com has found an interested audience in young people
and mothers of adolescents who are looking for help in talking to their
children about sex. The portal has now evolved into a movement for sexual
health rights. The project also does offline activities like sex education
workshops for young, middle class girls. Santos admits it is hard to talk
about sex, and yet research shows that talking about sex to children and
young people promotes safer sex and delays age of first sexual encounter.
Please encourage parents and educators to talk to children about sex, she
emplores, adding that if you are ashamed to talk about it they will take the
cue from you.
Santos was speaking at an ICAAP satellite session intriguingly entitled:
How can we say yes to good sex if we dont know how to say no to bad
sex? organized by The Pleasure Project .

Integrated TB and HIV care gives hope in Myanmar

by Bobby Ramakant

are offered integrated HIV

care, including ART. So
far, over 12,000 patients
have benefited from this
kind of integrated HIV
care (IHC).

Geahard Joren

It is widely recognized that tuberculosis (TB)

and HIV care should be integrated, particularly in high-burden settings. For several years, TB
and HIV care services have been increasingly
integrated at different levels of the health system
in Myanmar, with support from the International
Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease
(The Union) and partners.
Dr Sandra Hla Myint, TB Unit Manager recounted: We began working on integrated HIV care
for TB patients living with HIV (IHC) in 2005.
Our concept of integrated care entails offering
HIV testing and counselling to people registered
for anti-TB treatment through the national tuberculosis programme. This service is also offered
to their family/household contacts, including
children, as appropriate. If they are found to
be HIV positive, TB patients and their contacts

Dr Philippe Clevenbergh,
Director of The Union in
Myanmar, is credited with
having influenced IHC
on the ground in Myanmar. The IHC project has
helped secure significant
political commitment for
collaborative TB/HIV activities, offered routine HIV counselling and testing for TB patients,
increased TB screening among people living
with HIV, and provided standardized HIV treatment regimens and regular patient follow-up.
The Union is also supporting four ART sites and
1012 decentralized ART sites in Mandalay.
ART is not initiated at these decentralized ART
sites, but trained health workers provide chronic
care. All necessary investigations such as CD4,
viral load, among others are available.
Isoniazid preventive therapy (IPT) is an important intervention for reducing active TB in
communities affected by HIV. The IHC project also provides IPT for people living with
HIV who do not have active TB disease. Since
2009, over 1,500 people have received IPT for
six to nine months and all IPT patients are also

provided with cotrimoxazole for longer-term TB

prevention.
The majority of people with HIV first come
to the Mandalay General Hospital with a CD4
count much lower than 500, usually between 100
and 150. Many come long distances and are given three months of ART medication at a time.
The project is increasing the demand for and
access to TB diagnosis, which is driving the
number of TB cases diagnosed in the project
area upwards. As community knowledge about
TB the project increases the project also recognized the need to help facilitate the People
affected with TB Network (PAWTN).
A male member of PAWTN said that he earlier
worked as a volunteer with the Red Cross before
getting involved with The Union project. He
believes that knowledge is power and raising
awareness about TB in the community will help
strengthen TB control and care. He also helps
people who may have presumptive TB to get to
the right TB centre.
There is more than adequate evidence for the
benefits of promoting TB screening of people
living with HIV and HIV screening of TB
patients. Integrating these two, often vertical
services, not only increase case detection but
also retention and adherence rates of people who
are receiving care for the dual epidemic of TB
and HIV.

20 November 2013 | 07

Fighting AIDS belongs in the

future, not the past

Platinum Sponsors

Gold Sponsors

By Hara Mihalea and Bobby Ramakant

Signalling an essential shift away from

tokenistic participation of young people in
HIV programming to encouraging genuine
leadership by them was given strong
emphasis at the first ICAAP media briefing
ahead of the opening ceremony.
We should put the responsibility of
fighting AIDS in the hands of people who
have a future, rather than in hands of people
who had a history, declared Mechai
Veravaidya, Chairperson of the ICAAP
local host organization, The Population and
Community Development Association.
Echoing his own role in the history of the
AIDS response, the popularly named Mr
Condom in Thailand recounted how HIV
rates in the country plummeted 90% from
1991 to 2003 as a result of prevention
campaigns.
How many times do we see HIV prevention
messages on the roads of Thailand now? We
need to up HIV prevention programming
again he said. HIV prevention needs to
enter our minds first as sex too happens
there not down below, he added.
Referring to the need for political
commitment and funding, Mechai added:
Money talks! Financial commitment from
the government is very important. But no
government can do it all alone.
As of today though, our governments are
asleep at the wheel, he concluded.
And he may well be right. According to the
new UNAIDS report released during the
briefing, the number of new HIV infections
in Asia and the Pacific has remained constant
at around 350,000 per year since 2008.

We are instead getting to zero change

commented Malu Marin of the Coalition of
Asia Pacific Regional Networks on HIV/
AIDS (7 Sisters). Only half of the people
living with HIV in Asia and the Pacific
who need antiretroviral therapy are getting
it, even though the region continues to be
a drug warehouse of ART for the entire
world.
The Republic of Fiji was the first country
among the Pacific islands to decriminalize
same-sex behaviour in 2010. Another
major legal reform that recently took place
in Fiji was to remove HIV positive status
as a legal hurdle for those seeking to live or
work in the country.
Punitive legal environments impede
implementation of HIV programmes,
especially for key populations such as
men who have sex with men, transgender
populations, sex workers, people who use
drugs, prisoners, young people, and women
and girls, said the President of Fiji, H.E.
Ratu Epeli Nailatikau. That is why legal
reforms for supportive health policies are
crucial for fighting AIDS.
The President shared that the country
had been challenged due to legal barriers
preventing key populations, such as MSM,
accessing HIV care services.
Incarceration of MSMs made it even
harder to reach out to the community. That
is why it was important to change laws, he
added. The benefits of legal reforms have
already started materializing in the form
of increased HIV service coverage for key
populations.

Co-Sponsors

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Vinai Dithajohn/UNAIDS

(Left to right): Wilas Lohitkul (Chair, ICAAP11 Local Organizing Committee); Professor N.
M. Samuel (President, AIDS Society of Asia and the Pacific); Mechai Viravaidya (Chairman,
Population and Community Development Association); Steve Kraus (Director, UNAIDS
Regional Support Team for Asia and the Pacific); Malu Marin (Regional Coordinator, Seven
Sisters); H.E. Ratu Epeli Nailatikau, President of Fiji.

Bronze Sponsors

ministry of industry

Senior Writers: Bobbie Ramakant

Shobha Shukla

Citizen News Service

www.citizen-news.org
@bobbyramakant

Editor:
Tim France
Coordinator: Baralee Meesukh
Designer: Benya Rattanawichai
www.iniscommunication.com
@InisCom

08 | 20 November 2013

New regional training package

The Time Has Come

#ICAAP11 on Twitter
Scarlet Alliance @scarletalliance
Steve Kraus @UNAIDS at #ICAAP11 commits to get
community statement to Michel Sidebe incl need for
#sexwork decriminalisation @UNAIDS_AP

HIV affects men who have sex with men

(MSM) and transgender people in much
greater proportions than the general population.
Projections of Asian HIV epidemics indicate
that by 2020 close to half of all new annual HIV
infections will be among MSM. In many Asian
cities, MSM already comprise the majority of
new infections.
Stopping the spread of HIV in these key populations requires improved
access to health care and prevention services, and the full recognition of
other basic, individual rights.
To offer practical guidance in this area, the United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP) and the World Health Organization (WHO) are using
the opportunity of ICAAP to launch a new regional training package: The
Time Has Come: Enhancing HIV, STI and other sexual health services for
MSM and transgender people in Asia and the Pacific.
The package focuses specifically on skills training of health care providers
and HIV/STI related services for MSM and transgender people, and the
reduction of stigma in health care settings.
Download The Time Has Come here: www.thetimehascome.info and
hear more about it at the ICAAP session on Capacity building of health
care providers to address prevention, care and treatment of STI/HIV among
MSM and Transgender People on Friday, 22 November 2013 at 12:15pm.

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AIDS Society of Asia and the

Pacific (ASAP)

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Tim Amstutz @TimAmstutz 19Nov

Almost all #AIDS ARV drugs r produced in Asia Pacific region, yet
only half of those living w/ AIDS in region have access to them.
#ICAAP11
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hunting-cool @hunting_cool 19Nov

Looking forward to #YouthLEADs session on Social Media at
#ICAAP11 with support from our own @mike_nedelko. pic.twitter.
com/ekXrZqHKB2
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Gloria Lai @GloriaLai

19Nov
#Thailand Health Minister says he is considering adopting harm
reduction. But it should be a done deal already! #ICAAP11

ICAAP 11







3000 80

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19Nov

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John Hyde @JohnHydePerth

19Nov
@MechaiV making a big impact on @AFPPD MPs & Ministers
#ICAAP11 on educating, media on #hiv/aids @UNAIDS_APpic.
twitter.com/YQuFWGYHAr
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@ICAAP11

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