HIV Prevention and the Infrastructure Sector

ADB-AusAID Partnership: Mitigating Risk in the Greater Mekong Subregion (RETA 6467)

The Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) is one of the world's fastest-growing subregions in economic development. Investments in infrastructure, especially transport corridors, are improving physical connectivity and regional integration, while cross-border agreements are facilitating the movement of goods and people across borders. Improved connectivity and regional integration also mean increased vulnerability to the spread of HIV, especially along newly developed transport corridors, in cross-border areas and new economic corridors.

Recognizing the links between connectivity and the potential spread of HIV, ADB approved a regional technical assistance (RETA 6467): HIV Prevention and Infrastructure: Mitigating Risk in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS), 2008. The TA aims to support HIV prevention programs in ADB-financed infrastructure projects in the GMS: Cambodia, Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) and Viet Nam.

The outcome will be a reduced incidence rate of HIV transmission and prevalence of other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in communities and population groups directly affected by ADB-financed road corridor development projects.

The key outputs expected include:

• enhanced leadership support and institutional policies for addressing HIV risks in the context of infrastructure projects;
• increased awareness of HIV, AIDS and STI among key target groups in the infrastructure settings;
• improved access to HIV and STI prevention commodities;
• reduced incidence of HIV risk behaviors among key target groups;
• expanded ccess to HIV and STI treatment and testing; and
• enhanced surveillance and associated knowledge products.

The RETA is jointly-financed with AusAID and will be implemented from June 2008 until December 2011.

The TA is comprised of two main components:

Component 1: A set of 10 subprojects associated with the pre-construction, construction and post-construction phases of ADB-financed infrastructure projects in the GMS; and

Component 2: Activities focusing on monitoring and evaluation, knowledge dissemination, and regional coordination

See the regional TA paper [ PDF: 118kb | 22 pages ].