Political Commitment

AIDS Society of Asia and the Pacific

Edith Villanueva, former Philippines Congresswoman, outlined the role of NGOs in pushing through the most advanced HIV legislation in the region and indicated that NGOs at local level had managed to extract resources from local governments for their programs. It was pointed out by others that the strength of civil society in the Philippines has been a major determinant of its low level of HIV prevalence, but is not as widely recognised internationally as is the experience of Thailand and Cambodia in reversing the epidemic.