Southeast Asia Regional Program/Health Equity

In the Greater Mekong Sub-region, as in other parts of the world, there is growing awareness that migrants and refugees moving across borders and upland ethnic communities living in exploited environments and border areas are particularly vulnerable to disease because of poverty, lack of access to health information and services, and their marginalized status in society.

In an effort to contribute to the reduction of avoidable and unfair differences in the health status of the population, LAB, in collaboration with the Health Equity theme, links sub-regional and national policy efforts to experimental health interventions in border areas. To strengthen national and sub-regional capacity in disease surveillance, support is provided to the Mekong Basin Disease Surveillance (MBDS) program, a collaborative arrangement among the Greater Mekong ministries of health, to exchange epidemiological data across countries.

Particular emphasis is being put on HIV/AIDS in view of the rapid spread of the epidemic. To reduce HIV vulnerability among underserved mobile and ethnic populations in the Greater Mekong Sub-region, this initiative supports activities that raise public awareness, promote participatory research and its dissemination, and encourage community resilience to HIV/AIDS through experimental intervention models.

 

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