TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The World Health Organization (WHO) along with the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS), said through its' 2013 Global Report that marginalized groups - such as sex workers and their clients; men who have sex with men (MSM); and drug users - are 13, 19 and 22 times, respectively, more likely contract the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) than the general population, while women in Southeast Asia account for around one-third of all HIV/AIDS cases.
These most-affected groups are also more likely to have difficulties accessing the health and support services.
The disproportionate risk faced by these marginalized group, has pushed the WHO and UNAIDS to call on the international community - including the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) - to ensure that HIV/AIDS treatment and services remain a major policy and programmatic issue in the development agenda, and to foster ongoing, dynamic cooperation among a broad coalition of stakeholders in order to address the issue from blowing up further.
Recent data released by UNAIDS showed that out of approximately 1.7 million people living with HIV and AIDS (PLHA) in Southeast Asia, only 43 percent are eligible for anti-retroviral treatments, yet only 57 per cent of them are receiving antiretrovirals (ARV) on a regular basis, which suggest that there are flaws within the region's healthcare structures, which needs to be addressed.
In response to the calls, ASEAN has heeded WHO's calls to focus on five key areas in their approach to the issue - which includes political support from the government, multi-sectoral support from multiple stakeholders, public health surveillance and monitoring, the provision of prevention, care and support, as well as the delivery of health services.
"Sustained financial, political and scientific commitment is key to ensuring that all relevant stakeholders play their part in coordinated efforts to expand HIV prevention and treatment interventions; integrate HIV/AIDS into broader health services; increase funding and improve human rights across vulnerable population, including reducing stigma and discrimination," said ASEAN through a statement released in Jakarta, onMonday, December 1, 2014. (*)
