While the absolute number of persons aged 65 or over globally in 2019, is projected at 703 million, Central and Southern Asia contributed to 119 million persons (17%), and Eastern and Southern Asia contributed to 260.6 million persons (37%). These demographic shifts have implications related to health, health care systems, health workforce, health care technologies, […]

There is an estimated 37.9 million (32.7 million – 44.0 million) people living with HIV globally in 2018. Close to 18% of these persons, or 5.9 million (5.1 million – 7.1 million) live in the Asia and the Pacific region, making the region home to the second largest HIV burden after Africa. Mirroring the global […]

The ICPD PoA acknowledges that adolescents have sexual and reproductive health (SHR) needs that must be addressed. It urges the governments to address adolescent SRH issues, including unwanted pregnancy, unsafe abortion and sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS, through the promotion of responsible and healthy reproductive and sexual behaviour, including voluntary abstinence, and the provision of […]

This thematic brief seeks to anchor the morbidity and mortality due to reproductive cancers as a problem of social inequity and of unfulfilled rights of women in Asia and the Pacific. It reports on the burden of reproductive cancers in this region, and the lack of population-based registries and vital registration systems that precludes the […]

Maternal mortality continues to remain unacceptably high, in many countries in the world, including in the Asia Pacific region, and every day in 2017, approximately 810 women died from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. While progress has been made with a 38% reduction in the global maternal mortality ratio (MMR) since 2000, with […]

2012 marked the 20th anniversary of the Rio Earth Summit, and during the preparations that led up to it, saw a resurgence of the ‘population control’ discourse, and a strong push towards increased access to contraception. Although the demographic transition has been considered successful in the Asia-Pacific region, generally, most of the reduction in numbers, […]

Safe abortion is a necessary component of reproductive health services, though some parties continue to contest the issue. In the ICPD, Paragraph 8.25 speaks of the need to reduce the recourse to abortion through contraception; pre-and-post abortion counselling; where abortion is not against the law, such abortion should be safe; and that at the very […]

This Guide is addressed to SRHR advocates and seeks to facilitate advocacy to ensure that what has been achieved on paper translates into action on the ground, through monitoring progress on gender equality and SRHR and holding governments accountable. The Guide is divided into two parts. The introductory section provides a brief overview of the […]

Universal Health Coverage is firmly embedded in the discourse and interventions that recognize health as a fundamental human right. This essentially means that ensuring health is a key component of wellbeing. To do so countries need to ensure that access is equitable and that a recognition of marginalization within the population is factored into the […]

This series of briefs consolidate the outcomes of the 2017 Pre-Asia-Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development (APFSD) Youth Forum and the evidence base related to the SDGs and young people, with a focus on ensuring their sexual and reproductive health. It also recommends action to address the challenges faced by young people within the context of […]