Asia could become the next sub-Saharan Africa if it doesn't get a quick handle on the rising number of people infected with the AIDS virus, a top official from the UN health agency says.
More resources and drugs must reach affected people and prevention campaigns have to be stepped up to keep Asia from a public health crisis, said Dr. Jack Chow, World Health Organization assistant director-general.
"Asia is at a tipping point in confronting the epidemic," he told reporters in an interview ahead of today's start of an international congress in Kobe, Japan, on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific.
PHOTO: AFP
"If the collective response does not match or surpass the pace of the epidemic, we could very well see rates of acceleration matching that of sub-Saharan Africa," he said.
Health workers face many obstacles in wrangling the disease that's being spread largely through sex workers and injection drugs.
India already has 5.1 million people living with HIV, second only to South Africa which has 5.3 million infections, according to UNAIDS estimates for 2003.
And while a little less than 1 million in China have the virus, that number could balloon to 10 million over the next five years if the epidemic is left unchecked there, UNAIDS has warned.
Numbers and responses to the AIDS epidemic vary wildly by country.
Cambodia has the highest percentage of people infected in the region -- 2.6 percent -- but it has made great strides in confronting the epidemic, with infection rates dropping sharply among brothel-based sex workers, according to the UNAIDS.
Meanwhile, countries that were largely off the radar, such as Vietnam and Indonesia, are now teetering on the brink of widespread epidemics, fueled mainly by dirty needles and prostitution, UNAIDS found.
And while the disease often feeds on poverty and lack of knowledge, rich and highly developed countries are not immune.
Among Japan's 127 million people, the government estimates only 11,000 people have HIV, but health experts have warned that number could quadruple over the next five years as more youth become sexually active and less prone to use condoms.
"In the second-largest industrial country in the world there continues to be a need to educate citizenry, to provide care for those within the country as well as to contribute to the global campaign," Chow said.
The social stigma and discrimination also are major challenges in a region where sex and diseases are often not openly discussed.
Chow said that can be minimized over time only by involving those infected with the virus in the public campaigns and with help from national leaders who openly interact with people with AIDS.
Chow said more funding needs to be devoted to the epidemic in Asia and that access to cheap or free drugs also must be made available to more areas.
He also noted that those infected with the AIDS virus are at risk for tuberculosis and malaria. He said the upcoming AIDS conference, being held in Kobe, will focus largely on how to prevent co-infections and keep TB and malaria outbreaks from exploding.
There are currently 7.4 million people living with HIV in East Asia, South and Southeast Asia, compared to 25 million in sub-Saharan Africa, according to UNAIDS estimates from 2003.
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