Health workers face many obstacles in wrangling the disease that is 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 per
cent - 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, fuelled
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.
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 minimised 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 cheap or
free drugs 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.
