New steps ease access for more affordable medicine

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has played a pivotal role in the Asia-Pacific region in addressing the needs of national governments to secure access for their citizens to affordable medicines.

Recent years have seen increases in intellectual property protection and enforcement measures in free trade and investment agreements that go beyond the level required by the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) administered by the World Trade Organization. These developments threaten efforts by countries in the region to achieve effective, sustainable and affordable universal health coverage. They also hamper responses to rapidly growing epidemics of chronic non-communicable diseases like cancer and cardio-vascular disease.

First International Meeting on Human Rights and Gender Identity in Bolivia

On 7 and 8 October 2013 the First International Meeting on Human Rights and Gender Identity was convened in Cochabamba, Bolivia with the participation of 60 parliamentarians, government authorities from the local and national level, international donors and diplomats, as well as civil society representatives including transgender people. This event, which aimed at promoting the respect and recognition of the right to gender identity as a human right for transgender people, was organized by MTN (Mesa de Trabajo Nacional) in partnership with Red TREBOL (Red de Mujeres Trans in Bolivia) with the support of amfAR, UNFPA, UNDP and UNAIDS.

Toolkit: Scaling Up HIV-related Legal Services (Spanish Language version)

A Spanish language version of the Toolkit: Scaling Up HIV-related Legal Services has been released. The Toolkit has been adapted to the Latin American region, and includes a Foreword to the Spanish version by Ms. Ana Helena Chacón-Echeverría of Costa Rica, a former Commissioner of the Global Commission on HIV and the Law.

From Despair to Hope: A UNDP Film

UNDP Thailand has released a new documentary which tells the story of Apiwat, a man living with HIV. It’s the extraordinary story of an ordinary man, who goes through difficult personal trials—lost love, learning to live with stigma and discrimination—and through a journey to hope, as a leader in Thailand’s HIV/AIDS community.

Mission by Senior UNDP Policy Advisors to Jamaica Yields Positive Engagement...

Senior UNDP policy advisors on Parliamentary Development and HIV, Health and Development, including Charles Chauvel, former Commissioner of the Global Commission on HIV and the Law, recently completed a joint mission to Jamaica as part of follow up work on the recommendations of the Global Commission on HIV and the Law. The mission was conducted to promote and build on efforts already underway in the country on parliamentary implementation of legal reform as well as to contribute to development of a strategy to strengthen parliamentary engagement on HIV and the law, which is due to be completed within this year.