In 2015, 193 United Nations Member States agreed on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This included a goal of ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 and leaving no one behind through a multisectoral, rights-based, people-centred approach that addresses the determinants of health. Despite these commitments, laws and policies that perpetuate stigma, discrimination, violence and other rights violations remain significant barriers. Legal and policy obstacles continue to undermine an effective HIV response among vulnerable populations, limiting access to prevention, testing, treatment and care services.  

This report is the product of a desk review conducted by UNAIDS and UNDP in 2019. It describes the legal and policy developments from 2014 to 2019 in Asia and the Pacific. It gives the reader a better understanding of laws and policies that hinder an effective HIV response in Asia and the Pacific, and aims to provide the evidence that will lead to the reform of harmful laws and policies, the structural barriers essential to ending AIDS by 2030.