If you ever thought AIDS was just a homosexual, African, or Caucasian thing, now it¡¦s quickly becoming an Asian thing.
According to Asian Journal, ¡§public health experts predict that the AIDS epidemic in Asia will ultimately dwarf what is now happening in Africa...the spread of the epidemic has been explosive.¡¨
So far, the statistics taken from the Joint United Nations Program on AIDS (UNAIDS) for people living with AIDS as of the end of 1999 are: India (3,700,000), China [report includes Taiwan] (500,000), Indonesia (52,000), Philippines (28,000), Japan (10,000), and Korea (3800), out of a handful of Southeast and East-Asian nations.
The UNAIDS reports that the four hardest hit countries are India, Thailand (755,000), Myanmar[Burma](530,000), and Cambodia (220,000). Those countries are considered in danger because their percentage of people inflicted is high, as opposed to countries which simply have a larger population.
Compared to the global numbers, the AIDS crisis in Asia is a worrisome percentage. The total people HIV-positive and living in the world by the end of 2000 was 36.1 million, according to UNAIDS. The total of asians in that category is about 6 million. As of December 2000, 910 thousand in Asia have been newly infected with HIV. According to studies from University of California San Francisco, the total AIDS deaths in 1999 was 3 million. The total asians in that category was 1,937,678. So about 65% of people who died from AIDS was Asian.
The main reasons for an fast-spreading AIDS epidemic in Asia are drug injections (unclean or reused needles), commercial sex, and sex between men. But in certain provinces of mainland China such as Hubei, Yunnan, and Shangcai, up to a fifth of the total infected people became HIV-positive by selling blood and being infected by dirty needles or being reinjected with mixed blood, according to a recent article in the Washington Post by John Pomfret. One big factor that is driving the outbreak is the population mobility in and about country borders in all of Asia. With all these factors, Asia has the potential of seeing a surge in HIV in the near future.
Two countries that have been particularly devasted by AIDS are Cambodia and Myanmar.
¡§Cambodia continues to have the worst AIDS epidemic in Asia, and this is a serious issue, ¡§ said Bill Pigott from the World Health Organization. With already 220,000 infected, officials say Cambodia has yet to reach a peak with 50% of sex workers already infected and 60% of Cambodian men and youth still visiting brothels on a regular basis. An official from Medecins sans Frontieres warns, ¡§It really has to sink in that this country is facing a major emergency.¡¨ Campaigns to educate Cambodian youth about sex education and adequate condom use have been launched.
Myanmar is considered a pulse in Asia¡¦s AIDS crisis due to widespread drug use and a military dictatorship that thrives on the heroin market and does not support AIDS education and prevention within the country. Asian Journal reports that ¡§Burma is now the world¡¦s leading heroin producer, and has become the epicenter of an out-of-control AIDS epidemic that is penetrating deep into India, China, Central Asian, and Eastern Europe.¡¨ Over 60% of Burmese teenage drug-users are HIV-positive. The military regime suppresses efforts to implement programs directed at rallying for AIDS awareness and controlling growing infection rates in Myanmar.
The AIDS crisis in Asia may seem like a problem on the other side of the Earth to us in the United States. However, ¡§AIDS does not know any border. It doesn¡¦t respect visa or passport,¡¨ warned Peter Piot, executive director of UNAIDS. ¡§If one country is not doing enough or is having a major problem, then that means that there is a problem for everywhere and for everyone.¡¨
Who is most at risk?
People at increased risk for contracting HIV include:
¡P anyone (heterosexuals, bisexuals or homosexuals) who has multiple sex partners;
¡P IV drug users who share needles;
¡P hemophiliacs who have received clotting factor preparations between 1977 and April 1985, when screening donated blood was initiated;
¡P anyone who received a blood transfusion before April 1985;
¡P a newborn whose mother is HIV-positive; and,
¡P anyone who has unprotected sex with an HIV-positive person.
(www.mayohealth.org)
Sources:
http://www.hivinsite.ucsf.edu/social/un/2098.4793.html (HIV/AIDS Estimates and Data, 1999)
www.unaids.org/wac/2000/wad00/files/WAD_epidemic_report (Full length journal on AIDS as of 2000)