Aids crisis in Asia
Asian governments at make-or-break point in fight against the disease,
says UN

Tor Ching Li
chingli@newstoday.com.sg

IT'S an invisible epidemic. More and more people worldwide are
contracting Aids — an increasing proportion of them women. And Asia is
at a make-or-break point in the battle against the disease.
.
Unless Asia's leaders can arrest this spreading problem within the
next three years, the region could become a crisis zone worse than
sub-Saharan Africa, now home to some 25 million of the estimated 38
million people infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)
and full-blown acquired immune deficiency syndrome (Aids).
.
This was United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Kofi Annan's stark
warning to some 17,000 delegates at the 15th International Aids
Conference, a six-day event which he opened in Bangkok yesterday.
.
"Here in Asia, HIV/Aids stands at a turning point," he said. "How you
address this challenge will impact on the very future of the region."
.
Last week, UNAIDS, a joint UN programme on HIV/Aids, reported that if
the deadly virus were to take hold in India, China and Indonesia —
which together account for some 40 per cent of humanity — the economic
consequences could be disastrous.
.
Already, more than seven million people in the Asia-Pacific region
live with HIV/Aids. Some 500,000 people a year die from the immune
system-wrecking disease.
.
The cost to Asia in 2001 was a whopping US$7.3 billion ($12.4
billion).
.
According to UNAIDS analysis, China could see 10 million people
infected with HIV within the next six years. It currently has 840,000
diagnosed cases.
.
Echoing that concern, China's Premier Wen Jiabao told the People's
Daily on Saturday that Aids, while inflicting only 0.1 per cent of the
population, has indeed "spread to every level of Chinese society".
.
Even in Thailand, said to have one of the world's most effective
anti-Aids programme, one HIV-infected person dies every 10 minutes,
according to the latest UNAids report. The annual death toll of its
600,000 HIV-infected population is around 53,000.
.
Just before the start of the bi-annual conference themed "Access for
All", the UN blasted Thailand for "complacency". It said the country
faced a "nasty surprise" if it did not revitalise its anti-Aids
campaign. The rates of new HIV infection are higher in Thailand's gay
community and for the city's intravenous drug users than for sex
workers.
.
At the conference yesterday, Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra
promised to provide treatment for everyone in the country with
HIV/Aids.
.
"There is no time for complacency," he said.
.
Earlier, some 1,000 people gathered outside the conference venue to
protest against the failure of leaders and big business to deal with
the Aids crisis.
.
What is worrying Aids workers in Asia is the fast growing incidence of
Aids among monogamous married women.
.
In Cambodia, for example, seven monogamous housewives are being
infected by their husbands everyday.
.
They account for 42 per pent of all new HIV infections.
.
Ms Lucita Lazo, regional director of the UN Development Fund for Women
(Unifem), cited an Asian culture of "silence around Aids", and the
perception that "good" women should not be seeking information on sex
as reasons for the rising numbers.
.
Asian government budgets for Aids awareness campaigns were cut
following the 1997-89 Asian financial crisis. The cuts, said an UNAIDS
researcher, could mean some 10 million new infections, 750,000 annual
deaths and an estimated loss of some US$17.5 billion per year by 2010.
.
Last year, an all-time high of five million new Aids cases were
diagnosed globally, the highest spike in any one year since the
epidemic was detected in 1981 among a group of homosexuals in the
United States.
.
In what is seen as a protest against Thailand's advocacy of condom
usage, the pro-abstinence Bush administration cut — at the last minute
— this year's US delegation to the biennial conference from 236 in
2002 to 50 this year.
.
Funding for the delegation was slashed from US$3.6 million to about
US$500,000.
.
The Bush administration has been criticised for its reluctance to
support the Global Fund to fight Aids, tuberculosis and malaria, a
multilateral agency over which Washington does not exercise complete
control.
.
"It's another, and particularly deadly, example of his unilateralism,"
said Salih Booker, executive director of Africa Action, a
Washington-based group.
.
While contributions to fighting Aids will reach more than US$5 billion
by the end of the year, the Global Fund is still short of an estimated
US$20 billion needed by 2007.
Asian governments at make-or-break point in fight against the disease,
says UN

Tor Ching Li
chingli@newstoday.com.sg

IT'S an invisible epidemic. More and more people worldwide are
contracting Aids — an increasing proportion of them women. And Asia is
at a make-or-break point in the battle against the disease.
.
Unless Asia's leaders can arrest this spreading problem within the
next three years, the region could become a crisis zone worse than
sub-Saharan Africa, now home to some 25 million of the estimated 38
million people infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)
and full-blown acquired immune deficiency syndrome (Aids).
.
This was United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Kofi Annan's stark
warning to some 17,000 delegates at the 15th International Aids
Conference, a six-day event which he opened in Bangkok yesterday.
.
"Here in Asia, HIV/Aids stands at a turning point," he said. "How you
address this challenge will impact on the very future of the region."
.
Last week, UNAIDS, a joint UN programme on HIV/Aids, reported that if
the deadly virus were to take hold in India, China and Indonesia —
which together account for some 40 per cent of humanity — the economic
consequences could be disastrous.
.
Already, more than seven million people in the Asia-Pacific region
live with HIV/Aids. Some 500,000 people a year die from the immune
system-wrecking disease.
.
The cost to Asia in 2001 was a whopping US$7.3 billion ($12.4
billion).
.
According to UNAIDS analysis, China could see 10 million people
infected with HIV within the next six years. It currently has 840,000
diagnosed cases.
.
Echoing that concern, China's Premier Wen Jiabao told the People's
Daily on Saturday that Aids, while inflicting only 0.1 per cent of the
population, has indeed "spread to every level of Chinese society".
.
Even in Thailand, said to have one of the world's most effective
anti-Aids programme, one HIV-infected person dies every 10 minutes,
according to the latest UNAids report. The annual death toll of its
600,000 HIV-infected population is around 53,000.
.
Just before the start of the bi-annual conference themed "Access for
All", the UN blasted Thailand for "complacency". It said the country
faced a "nasty surprise" if it did not revitalise its anti-Aids
campaign. The rates of new HIV infection are higher in Thailand's gay
community and for the city's intravenous drug users than for sex
workers.
.
At the conference yesterday, Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra
promised to provide treatment for everyone in the country with
HIV/Aids.
.
"There is no time for complacency," he said.
.
Earlier, some 1,000 people gathered outside the conference venue to
protest against the failure of leaders and big business to deal with
the Aids crisis.
.
What is worrying Aids workers in Asia is the fast growing incidence of
Aids among monogamous married women.
.
In Cambodia, for example, seven monogamous housewives are being
infected by their husbands everyday.
.
They account for 42 per pent of all new HIV infections.
.
Ms Lucita Lazo, regional director of the UN Development Fund for Women
(Unifem), cited an Asian culture of "silence around Aids", and the
perception that "good" women should not be seeking information on sex
as reasons for the rising numbers.
.
Asian government budgets for Aids awareness campaigns were cut
following the 1997-89 Asian financial crisis. The cuts, said an UNAIDS
researcher, could mean some 10 million new infections, 750,000 annual
deaths and an estimated loss of some US$17.5 billion per year by 2010.
.
Last year, an all-time high of five million new Aids cases were
diagnosed globally, the highest spike in any one year since the
epidemic was detected in 1981 among a group of homosexuals in the
United States.
.
In what is seen as a protest against Thailand's advocacy of condom
usage, the pro-abstinence Bush administration cut — at the last minute
— this year's US delegation to the biennial conference from 236 in
2002 to 50 this year.
.
Funding for the delegation was slashed from US$3.6 million to about
US$500,000.
.
The Bush administration has been criticised for its reluctance to
support the Global Fund to fight Aids, tuberculosis and malaria, a
multilateral agency over which Washington does not exercise complete
control.
.
"It's another, and particularly deadly, example of his unilateralism,"
said Salih Booker, executive director of Africa Action, a
Washington-based group.
.
While contributions to fighting Aids will reach more than US$5 billion
by the end of the year, the Global Fund is still short of an estimated
US$20 billion needed by 2007. Asian governments at make-or-break point
in fight against the disease, says UN

Tor Ching Li
chingli@newstoday.com.sg

IT'S an invisible epidemic. More and more people worldwide are
contracting Aids — an increasing proportion of them women. And Asia is
at a make-or-break point in the battle against the disease.
.
Unless Asia's leaders can arrest this spreading problem within the
next three years, the region could become a crisis zone worse than
sub-Saharan Africa, now home to some 25 million of the estimated 38
million people infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)
and full-blown acquired immune deficiency syndrome (Aids).
.
This was United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Kofi Annan's stark
warning to some 17,000 delegates at the 15th International Aids
Conference, a six-day event which he opened in Bangkok yesterday.
.
"Here in Asia, HIV/Aids stands at a turning point," he said. "How you
address this challenge will impact on the very future of the region."
.
Last week, UNAIDS, a joint UN programme on HIV/Aids, reported that if
the deadly virus were to take hold in India, China and Indonesia —
which together account for some 40 per cent of humanity — the economic
consequences could be disastrous.
.
Already, more than seven million people in the Asia-Pacific region
live with HIV/Aids. Some 500,000 people a year die from the immune
system-wrecking disease.
.
The cost to Asia in 2001 was a whopping US$7.3 billion ($12.4
billion).
.
According to UNAIDS analysis, China could see 10 million people
infected with HIV within the next six years. It currently has 840,000
diagnosed cases.
.
Echoing that concern, China's Premier Wen Jiabao told the People's
Daily on Saturday that Aids, while inflicting only 0.1 per cent of the
population, has indeed "spread to every level of Chinese society".
.
Even in Thailand, said to have one of the world's most effective
anti-Aids programme, one HIV-infected person dies every 10 minutes,
according to the latest UNAids report. The annual death toll of its
600,000 HIV-infected population is around 53,000.
.
Just before the start of the bi-annual conference themed "Access for
All", the UN blasted Thailand for "complacency". It said the country
faced a "nasty surprise" if it did not revitalise its anti-Aids
campaign. The rates of new HIV infection are higher in Thailand's gay
community and for the city's intravenous drug users than for sex
workers.
.
At the conference yesterday, Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra
promised to provide treatment for everyone in the country with
HIV/Aids.
.
"There is no time for complacency," he said.
.
Earlier, some 1,000 people gathered outside the conference venue to
protest against the failure of leaders and big business to deal with
the Aids crisis.
.
What is worrying Aids workers in Asia is the fast growing incidence of
Aids among monogamous married women.
.
In Cambodia, for example, seven monogamous housewives are being
infected by their husbands everyday.
.
They account for 42 per pent of all new HIV infections.
.
Ms Lucita Lazo, regional director of the UN Development Fund for Women
(Unifem), cited an Asian culture of "silence around Aids", and the
perception that "good" women should not be seeking information on sex
as reasons for the rising numbers.
.
Asian government budgets for Aids awareness campaigns were cut
following the 1997-89 Asian financial crisis. The cuts, said an UNAIDS
researcher, could mean some 10 million new infections, 750,000 annual
deaths and an estimated loss of some US$17.5 billion per year by 2010.
.
Last year, an all-time high of five million new Aids cases were
diagnosed globally, the highest spike in any one year since the
epidemic was detected in 1981 among a group of homosexuals in the
United States.
.
In what is seen as a protest against Thailand's advocacy of condom
usage, the pro-abstinence Bush administration cut — at the last minute
— this year's US delegation to the biennial conference from 236 in
2002 to 50 this year.
.
Funding for the delegation was slashed from US$3.6 million to about
US$500,000.
.
The Bush administration has been criticised for its reluctance to
support the Global Fund to fight Aids, tuberculosis and malaria, a
multilateral agency over which Washington does not exercise complete
control.
.
"It's another, and particularly deadly, example of his unilateralism,"
said Salih Booker, executive director of Africa Action, a
Washington-based group.
.
While contributions to fighting Aids will reach more than US$5 billion
by the end of the year, the Global Fund is still short of an estimated
US$20 billion needed by 2007. Asian governments at make-or-break point
in fight against the disease, says UN

Tor Ching Li
chingli@newstoday.com.sg

IT'S an invisible epidemic. More and more people worldwide are
contracting Aids — an increasing proportion of them women. And Asia is
at a make-or-break point in the battle against the disease.
.
Unless Asia's leaders can arrest this spreading problem within the
next three years, the region could become a crisis zone worse than
sub-Saharan Africa, now home to some 25 million of the estimated 38
million people infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)
and full-blown acquired immune deficiency syndrome (Aids).
.
This was United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Kofi Annan's stark
warning to some 17,000 delegates at the 15th International Aids
Conference, a six-day event which he opened in Bangkok yesterday.
.
"Here in Asia, HIV/Aids stands at a turning point," he said. "How you
address this challenge will impact on the very future of the region."
.
Last week, UNAIDS, a joint UN programme on HIV/Aids, reported that if
the deadly virus were to take hold in India, China and Indonesia —
which together account for some 40 per cent of humanity — the economic
consequences could be disastrous.
.
Already, more than seven million people in the Asia-Pacific region
live with HIV/Aids. Some 500,000 people a year die from the immune
system-wrecking disease.
.
The cost to Asia in 2001 was a whopping US$7.3 billion ($12.4
billion).
.
According to UNAIDS analysis, China could see 10 million people
infected with HIV within the next six years. It currently has 840,000
diagnosed cases.
.
Echoing that concern, China's Premier Wen Jiabao told the People's
Daily on Saturday that Aids, while inflicting only 0.1 per cent of the
population, has indeed "spread to every level of Chinese society".
.
Even in Thailand, said to have one of the world's most effective
anti-Aids programme, one HIV-infected person dies every 10 minutes,
according to the latest UNAids report. The annual death toll of its
600,000 HIV-infected population is around 53,000.
.
Just before the start of the bi-annual conference themed "Access for
All", the UN blasted Thailand for "complacency". It said the country
faced a "nasty surprise" if it did not revitalise its anti-Aids
campaign. The rates of new HIV infection are higher in Thailand's gay
community and for the city's intravenous drug users than for sex
workers.
.
At the conference yesterday, Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra
promised to provide treatment for everyone in the country with
HIV/Aids.
.
"There is no time for complacency," he said.
.
Earlier, some 1,000 people gathered outside the conference venue to
protest against the failure of leaders and big business to deal with
the Aids crisis.
.
What is worrying Aids workers in Asia is the fast growing incidence of
Aids among monogamous married women.
.
In Cambodia, for example, seven monogamous housewives are being
infected by their husbands everyday.
.
They account for 42 per pent of all new HIV infections.
.
Ms Lucita Lazo, regional director of the UN Development Fund for Women
(Unifem), cited an Asian culture of "silence around Aids", and the
perception that "good" women should not be seeking information on sex
as reasons for the rising numbers.
.
Asian government budgets for Aids awareness campaigns were cut
following the 1997-89 Asian financial crisis. The cuts, said an UNAIDS
researcher, could mean some 10 million new infections, 750,000 annual
deaths and an estimated loss of some US$17.5 billion per year by 2010.
.
Last year, an all-time high of five million new Aids cases were
diagnosed globally, the highest spike in any one year since the
epidemic was detected in 1981 among a group of homosexuals in the
United States.
.
In what is seen as a protest against Thailand's advocacy of condom
usage, the pro-abstinence Bush administration cut — at the last minute
— this year's US delegation to the biennial conference from 236 in
2002 to 50 this year.
.
Funding for the delegation was slashed from US$3.6 million to about
US$500,000.
.
The Bush administration has been criticised for its reluctance to
support the Global Fund to fight Aids, tuberculosis and malaria, a
multilateral agency over which Washington does not exercise complete
control.
.
"It's another, and particularly deadly, example of his unilateralism,"
said Salih Booker, executive director of Africa Action, a
Washington-based group.
.
While contributions to fighting Aids will reach more than US$5 billion
by the end of the year, the Global Fund is still short of an estimated
US$20 billion needed by 2007.