中国性工作者网络青岛培训有感
By Zhang Lan and Li Man
From January 14-16,
2010, the Chinese Sex Workers’ Network held its second national training
workshop for sex work NGOs in Qingdao. The purpose was to help build the
capacity of staff at sex work NGOs, as well as targeted training for staff on
project management, institution building, project expansion, and so on.
2010年1月14日—16日，中国性工作者网络在青岛举行了全国性工作者机构的第二次培训，这是对机构工作人员的能力建设，同时也有针对性的培训工作人员一些关于项目管理/机构建设/拓展项目/法律问题等等。
by Ami Evangelista Swanepoel
Earlier this week we returned to an area in Santa Lourdes called Purok Matahimik, which means “quiet place”. It is also known as “Pulang Lupa” or red earth because of the color of the soil, or simply known as “Dumpsite” because of the community’s proximity to the Puerto Princesa landfill. This community is a top runner for where we might begin our services as it is quite isolated and very poor, with high numbers of malnourished children.
By Shiwei Ye
The high cost of medicines essential for the prevention, treatment and cure of many diseases makes them inaccessible to millions of patients who need them. The World Health Organization estimates this to include a third of the world’s population. In parts of Asia, the percentage may be even higher.
One of the key factors making medicines unaffordable is the current intellectual property right (IPR) regime and its prominent place in many free trade agreements. There is a dire need to reform the current international trade framework in order to provide correct and adequate incentives that can lead to need-based medical innovations and that can ensure that public health is prioritized over commercial interests.
“International experience has shown that nongovernmental organisations are critical to the fight against HIV/AIDS. But in practice, and despite the public promises of many world leaders, AIDS NGOs often face obstacles on the ground. In Cambodia, a proposed new law risks making it harder for these groups to do their work. NGOs need regulation, but not regulations so burdensome as to entangle them in bureaucracy and drive them underground – as is threatening to happen in other parts of Asia.”
Read the full text of our World AIDS Day op-ed in the Phnom Penh Post.
Kudos to our colleagues at Thai AIDS Treatment Action Group (TTAG) for new research on police mistreatment of drug users. According to today’s report in the Nation, drug users arrested in Thailand report being forced to pay bribes to avoid arrest, and report being framed with drug plants. According to the report, which is based on interviews with 252 Thai drug users by TTAG and the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, police may be struggling to meet quotas for drug arrests imposed by the government as part of its “war on drugs”.
