Center researchers and consultants Tim Brown, Wiwat Peerapatanapokin, Jiajian Chen, and Minja Kim Choe work closely with national partners in almost every country in Asia and with colleagues from other regional and international agencies, including the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the World Health Organization (WHO), Family Health International (FHI), the Health Policy Initiative, and the Futures Institute. Every year, Center training activities involve 50 or more regional counterparts who are working to address HIV in their home countries and organizations. Work focuses on four project areas:
1. Analysis and Advocacy—the A2 Project
Active in four countries, the A2 Project promotes an inclusive and collaborative approach to conducting HIV policy analysis and effectively translating analysis into policies and programs that produce effective responses. National counterparts in Bangladesh, China, Thailand, and Vietnam have formed A2teams of HIV specialists who work with local partners to gather data, use data to build models of the local HIV situation, develop policy scenarios that explore the costs and impact of alternative responses, and then use this information as the basis for actively promoting improved responses. The project has played a contributing role in adopting a national prevention goal in Thailand, refocusing the HIV action plan for maximum impact in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, adopting programs for men who have sex with men (MSM) in Yunnan and Guangxi, China, and focusing attention on at-risk populations in Bangladesh. The project will explore the possibility of expanding to Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Nepal.
Support for the A2project comes from USAID and Family Health International's Asia-Pacific Division (FHI APD).
Tools for modeling and policy analysis—the Asian Epidemic Model (AEM) and the UNAIDS Estimation and Projection Package (EPP)
The East-West Center produces the two models of the HIV epidemic most commonly used in Asia and around the world. The Asian Epidemic Model (AEM), patterned after the HIV situation in most Asian countries, allows countries to build locally tuned models that accurately represent their situation. Through links to the GOALS model, developed by the Futures Institute, AEM can be used to conduct policy analyses that explore the impact of program choices and resource allocations. The East-West Center is also developing the UNAIDS Estimation and Projection Package (EPP) under the guidance of the UNAIDS Reference Group on Estimation and Projection. EPP plays an essential role in preparing global estimates of HIV. It is used in almost all African countries for estimation and projection and is increasingly applied in countries with low-level and concentrated epidemics, such as those in Asia and Latin America.
Support for development of these two models has been provided by a number of partners including UNAIDS, USAID, FHI APD, WHO, the World Bank, and others.
Training to build effective national and regional responses
The East-West Center provides training on analyzing HIV policy, conducting HIV-related behavioral studies, especially for youth, improving national responses through analysis and advocacy, and other areas of concern. Workshops are held both in Honolulu and in regional or national settings depending on the specific goals of each training activity. Recent workshops have included: an AEM Update Training for A2Teams; From Analysis to Action: Improving HIV Responses in Asia; Regional Trainings on Policy Analysis with AEM; and support for the UNAIDS Regional Trainings on Estimation and Projection for the Asia-Pacific Region.
Knowledge and attitudes related to HIV/AIDS in China
Researchers at the East-West Center worked closely with the Information, Education, and Communication (IEC) Department of China's National Population and Family Planning Commission (NPFPC) to assess knowledge of HIV transmission and prevention and attitudes towards people living with HIV/AIDS. This research analyzed the results of a baseline survey conducted in 2000 and a follow-up survey conducted in 2003 after the NPFPC had conducted an IEC campaign. Results of this research were presented at an International Seminar on HIV/AIDS: Social Behavior, Stigma, and Discrimination, which was held in Beijing on 6–9 July 2004. These results were also published in English and Chinese in a "Report of survey and evaluation on HIV/AIDS prevention project." Presentations at the Beijing seminar and at other conferences have been published in international HIV/AIDS-related journals.
In addition to these four project areas, the Center provides technical support to HIV estimation, projection, and analysis activities across Asia and the Pacific, regularly working with many national programs in the region.
RELATED PUBLICATIONS
Chen, Jiajian, Minja Kim Choe, Shengli Chen, and Shikun Zhang. 2007. The effects of individual- and community-level knowledge, beliefs, and fear on stigmatization of people living with HIV/AIDS in China. AIDS Care 19(5): 666-73.
Brown, Tim. 2006. HIV/AIDS in Hong Kong: Living on the edge. Hong Kong: Red Ribbon Centre-UNAIDS Collaborating Centre for Technical Support, Centre for Health Protection, Department of Health. Downloadable at http://www.info.gov.hk/aids/pdf/g175.pdf.
Brown Tim, N. Grassly, G. Garnett, and K. Stanecki. 2006. Improving projections at the country level—the UNAIDS Estimation and Projection Package. Sexually Transmitted Infections 82(Supplement III): iii34-40.
Gouws E., P. White, J. Stover, and Tim Brown. 2006. Short-term estimates of HIV incidence by mode of transmission: Kenya and Thailand as examples. Sexually Transmitted Infections 82(Supplement III): iii51-ii55.
Brown, Tim and Werasit Sittitrai. 2005. Making the right choices—protecting Asian-Pacific children and youth from HIV. In G. Foster, J. Williamson, and C. Levine, eds. A Generation at risk: The global impact of AIDS on orphans and vulnerable children. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Chen, Jiajian, Minja Kim Choe, Shengli Chen, and Shikun Zhang. 2005. Community environment and HIV/AIDS-related stigma in China. AIDS Education and Prevention 17(1): 1-11.
Diaz, T., Kevin De Cock, Tim Brown, Peter D. Ghys, and J. Ties Boerma. 2005. New strategies for HIV surveillance in resource-constrained settings: An overview. AIDS 19(Supplement 2): S1-8.
Pervilhac, C., J. Stover, E. Pisani, Tim Brown, R. Mayorga, O. Mugurungi, M. Shaukat, F. Lu, and P. Ghys. 2005. Using HIV surveillance data: Recent experiences and avenues for the future. AIDS 19 (Supplement 2): S53-S58.
Brown, Tim. 2004. Tackling the HIV/AIDS Epidemic in Asia. Asia-Pacific Population and Policy No. 68 (January 2004). Honolulu: East-West Center.
Brown, Tim. 2004. The generation game: How HIV affects young people in Asia. In Elizabeth Pisani and Hein Marais, eds. AIDS in Asia: Face the facts: A comprehensive analysis of the AIDS epidemics in Asia. Bangkok: Monitoring the AIDS Pandemic (MAP) Network.
Brown, Tim. 2004. What next? Epidemic dynamics in the Asian context. In Elizabeth Pisani and Hein Marais, eds. AIDS in Asia: Face the facts: A comprehensive analysis of the AIDS epidemics in Asia. Bangkok: Monitoring the AIDS Pandemic (MAP) Network.
Brown, Tim and W. Peerapatanapokin. 2004. The Asian Epidemic Model: A process model for exploring HIV policy and program alternatives in Asia. Sexually Transmitted Infections 80(Supplement 1): i19-i24.
Chen Shengli, Zhang Shikun, and Sidney B. Westley. 2004. HIV/AIDS awareness is improving in China. Asia-Pacific Population & Policy No. 69 (April 2004). Honolulu: East-West Center.
Chen, Shengli, Zhengyu Xiao, and Jiajian Chen (consultants), Shikun Zhang (chief editor), Faming Gu, Liming Zhang, Lixia Mo, and Minghua Zhang (associate editors.), Sidney Bohanna Westley, Miguel Babatunde Richard Savage, Pingan Liu, and Xingzheng Feng (English editors). 2004. Report of Survey and Evaluation on HIV/AIDS Prevention Project (in Chinese and English). Beijing: China Population Press.
Ghys, P., Tim Brown. N. C. Grassly, G. Garnett, K. A. Stanecki, J. Stover, and N. Walker. 2004. The UNAIDS Estimation and Projection Package: A software package to estimate and project national HIV epidemics. Sexually Transmitted Infections 80(Supplement 1): i5-i9.
Grassly, N., M. Morgan, N. Walker, G. Garnett, K. Stanecki, J. Stover, Tim Brown, and P. Ghys. 2004. Uncertainty in estimates of HIV/AIDS: The estimation and application of plausibility bounds. Sexually Transmitted Infections 80(Supplement 1): i31-i38.
Mills, S., T. Saidel, R. Magnani, and Tim Brown. 2004. Surveillance and modeling of HIV, STI and risk behaviours in concentrated HIV epidemics. Sexually Transmitted Infections 80(Supplement II): ii57-ii62.
Ruxrungtham, K., Tim Brown, and P. Phanuphak. 2004. AIDS in Asia. Lancet 364:69-82.
Chen, Jiajian, Shengli Chen, and Minja Kim Choe. 2003. Who has correct information and knowledge about HIV/AIDS in China? Asia-Pacific Population Journal 8(4): 25–38.
Chen, Jiajian, Shengli Chen, and Minja Kim Choe. 2003. Who had correct information and knowledge about HIV/AIDS in China? In Shikun Zhang, Jason Hsia, and Lixia Mo, eds. Waking up: Reports on data analysis of Baseline Survey for HIV/AIDS Prevention. Beijing: China Population Press.
RELATED EVENT
Summer Seminar on Population: Workshop on Responses to HIV in a Funding-Constrained Environment: The Case of Asia, June 2011, East-West Center, Honolulu,