appearance that corresponds to the gender with which they identify. Provide all students, including transgender and intersex students, with access to safe toilets and bathroom facilities. Develop policies and practices to support transgender students who transition while at school, including by ensuring their rights to privacy, dignity, and respect, and enabling their name and sex or gender details to be amended on school records. Provide educational resources for parents of LGBTI children Nepal's Education Board has implemented information about sexual and gender diversity in the curriculum of grades 7-9 (age 13–15), making Nepal the second Asian country, after Mongolia, to implement this. Universities also possess courses about LGBT issues. However, many LGBT children still face discrimination and are unable to complete their education due to "threats, bullying, and neglect from fellow students and teachers alike." Furthermore, transgender Nepalis face severe gender-based violence and are unable to receive a proper education, especially in rural areas. Politics There has been an increased level of participation in the political arena by openly LGBTI politicians such as Sunil Babu Pant, the first openly gay parliamentarian in Asia. Pant served in the Federal Parliament from 2008 to 2012. Pant was also one of the 27 experts at the meeting consolidating the Yogyakarta Principles. The Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist made several homophobic statements during the Civil War. Until 2007, party members had described homosexuality as "a production of capitalism" that "doesn't exist under socialism", and LGBT people as "social pollutants." However, since 2008, with the end of the insurgency and the beginning of a multi-party democracy, the Maoist Party has supported LGBT rights. Health The HIV/AIDS epidemic affects LGBTI Nepalis across the board. 2009 estimates showed that about 3.8% of men who have sex with men (MSM) in Nepal were HIV-positive; an increase from 3.3% in 2007. In 2007, MSM in Nepal were 9.2 times more likely to acquire HIV infection than heterosexuals, notably lower than neighboring China (45 times more likely) or India (17.6 times more likely). Lesbian couples are also denied access to vitro fertilization (IVF). Across the country, there is a severe lack of access to comprehensive health care as well as a lack of research on the mental, physical, and reproductive needs of LGBT Nepalis. COVID-19 is thought to have had an impact on the mental health of LGBT; "27.1 per cent said they suffered excessive stress, while 21.6 per cent said