APCOM Calls for Increased Investments by Key International Organisations in the MSM & HIV Response in Asia and the Pacific

APCOM calls upon four key international organisations working in the field of HIV – UNAIDS, the World Health Organization (WHO), PEPFAR and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria– to increase investments in the MSM and HIV response in Asia and the Pacific. Investments and international political attention for MSM and HIV in Asia and the Pacific are sharply declining, while the HIV epidemic grows at a worrying rate, especially among young MSM. Only increased international political and financial investments in regional and national community-led and owned programmes can turn the tide of the HIV epidemic among MSM in Asia and the Pacific.

Reports indicate that by 2020 50% of all new HIV infection in the region will occur among MSM. New international policies and strategies indicate that the gaps left by international funders should be filled for 45%-95% by domestic sources by 2020. According to APCOM, an unrealistic and impossible target without a proper financing transition plan. The proposed plans seriously threaten the sustainability of the HIV response for MSM and will for sure mean that Asia and the Pacific will not reach the internationally agreed targets on HIV and the promise of an AIDS-free generation by 2030.

Current policies and strategies of the aforementioned international organisations focus mainly on the situation in Africa. While there is absolutely reason to invest heavily in the HIV-response in Africa, this should not mean that other regions are left with little international financing. New international policies and strategies specify that the financing for HIV and MSM work should come from domestic sources for 45%-95% of the total budget in middle-income countries by 2020, depending on the GDP.

These targets have been agreed in the Addis Ababa Action Agenda in July 2015 at the United Nations Third International Conference on Financing for Development. APCOM has noticed since the agreement that appropriate domestic funding transition plans for MSM and HIV have not been developed in the majority of countries in Asia and the Pacific. It means that the HIV response for MSM will be limited or completely vanish. Many of the gains made in recent years will be lost. While the epidemiological evidence points at the opposite: only increased and sustained investments in the HIV response for MSM will lead to an end of the epidemic in Asia and the Pacific. The four major international organisations – UNAIDS, World Health Organization, PEPFAR and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria- are key in adjusting the current agreement and targets.

APCOM proposes to increase investments in regional and national community-led and community owned MSM & HIV programmes. Nineteen of the forty eight countries in the region criminalise male to male sex and/or prostitution and MSM are often subjected to human rights violations. Strong community organisations on both a regional and national level can hold national governments accountable on human rights issues and support governments in designing policies and rights frameworks, including the desired funding transition to domestic resources, for increased impact and a higher return on investment on their budgets dedicated to MSM & HIV work.

+ Click here to read our advocacy letter to The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria

+ Click here to read our advocacy letter to U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator & U.S. Special Representative for Global Health Diplomacy

+ Click here to read our advocacy letter to UNAIDS

+ Click here to read our advocacy letter to World Health Organization

For more information or if you would like to co-sign: APCOM, Matthew Vaughan, Communications and Campaigning Manager. Tel. +66 2 255 4410. E-mail: [email protected].