. Earth Science News .
UN spotlights scope of AIDS epidemic in Asia

by Staff Writers
United Nations (AFP) March 26, 2008
Nearly 500,000 people will die of AIDS each year in Asia by 2020 unless prevention efforts are fully implemented, a UN report said Wednesday.

The figure is up from 440,000 that currently die each year, according to the report commissioned by the United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).

The study also said the overall number of infected people would likely double to 10 million by 2020.

"Despite a declining trend of new HIV (the virus that causes AIDS) infections in a few countries, AIDS still accounts for more deaths annually among 15 to 44 year-olds than do tuberculosis and other diseases," it noted.

"The costs of inaction are simply too high," said the chairman of the Commission on AIDS in Asia, Dr Chakravarthi Rangarajan, as he presented the report to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

"Without concerted and evidence-based responses, Asia can expect an economic loss of two billion dollars by 2020."

Ban appealed to Asian countries to implement the panel's recommendations, including increased funding for prevention efforts.

"Asian countries can avert massive increases in infections and death, prevent economic losses, and save millions of people from poverty," he noted. "Such leadership is critical in Asia today."

"We will never see equitable progress if some parts of the population are still denied basic health and human rights -- people living with HIV, sex workers, men who have sex with men, and young people who inject drugs," the UN chief added.

"Today less than 20 percent of the resources required to tackle AIDS (in Asia) are available," said UNAIDS executive director Peter Piot.

Indeed Rangarajan's report noted that last year, an estimated 1.2 billion dollars was available for AIDS programs in Asia, while the amount needed "for an effective response" was estimated at 6.4 billion dollars.

The study said "a minimum of 0.30 percent per capita must be spent annually on prevention for it to be effective."

It noted that an annual budget of one billion dollars for focused prevention programs among most-at-risk populations could reduce infections by 60 percent in Asia.

Piot said the findings showed "the diversity of the AIDS epidemics in Asia and the need for countries to understand what is driving their epidemics and how to reach populations most at risk of HIV infection."

The 238-page report noted that HIV transmission in Asia was driven primarily by three high-risk behaviors: unprotected commercial sex, injecting drug use and unprotected sex between men.

It cautioned that "reliable HIV data is a precondition for taking effective action against the epidemics."

It also said that prevention programs should focus on increasing the consistent use of condoms during paid sex and by men engaging in gay sex.

The programs should also focus on protecting wives of men who buy sex, and on providing sex education in schools and colleges, according to the study.

The report, the most comprehensive study on the AIDS epidemic in Asia, was based on online responses from hundreds of representatives of community groups involved in AIDS-related work throughout the region.

Across Asia, an estimated 4.9 million people were living with HIV, including 440,000 newly infected in the past year, while about 300,000 died from AIDS-related illnesses in 2007, according to UNAIDS's annual report issued in late 2007.

It showed Southeast Asia had the highest prevalence of HIV in the continent, with Indonesia having the fastest rate of growth of HIV-infected people.

More than 33 million people around the world are living with HIV or AIDS, according to UNAIDS.

Community
Email This Article
Comment On This Article

Related Links
Epidemics on Earth - Bird Flu, HIV/AIDS, Ebola



Memory Foam Mattress Review
Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News


Indonesia's bird flu situation 'grave'
New York (UPI) Mar 20, 2008
Avian influenza is deeply entrenched in Indonesia despite an international containment effort, a U.N. report said Thursday,







  • Raytheon Develops Advanced Concrete Breaking Technology For Urban Search And Rescue
  • Floods, cyclones, devastate southern Africa: UN
  • Louisiana System Built Homes Completes First Fortified For Safer Living Home
  • Mozambique tourist resort struggles to recover from cyclone

  • Curbing soot could blunt global warming: study
  • Envisat Makes First Ever Observation Of Regionally Elevated CO2 From Manmade Emissions
  • Indigenous people can offer climate change solutions: IUCN
  • Atlantic's Gulf Stream has huge influence on atmosphere

  • Satellites Can Help Arctic Grazers Survive Killer Winter Storms
  • NASA Goddard Delivers Aquarius Radiometer To JPL
  • Brazil, Germany To Develop Night-Vision Radar Satellite
  • New Portrait Of Earth Shows Land Cover As Never Before

  • Sanford, Florida Chooses MaxWest Environmental Systems To Turn Sludge Into Renewable Energy
  • Analysis: Oil tax upped in Venezuela
  • Dramatic Increase In Thermoelectric Efficiency Achieved
  • Parker Awarded Ohio Grant To Advance Wind Energy Technology

  • UN spotlights scope of AIDS epidemic in Asia
  • Indonesia's bird flu situation 'grave'
  • WHO warns more TB cases slipping through detection net
  • Bird flu outbreak in southern China: state media

  • International Team Of Scientists Discover Clue To Delay Of Life On Earth
  • Artificial Photosynthesis Moves A Step Closer
  • Insects Take A Bigger Bite Out Of Plants In A Higher CO2 World
  • Mantis Shrimp Vision Reveals New Way That Animals Can See

  • Albania sitting on communist-era powder keg
  • China to spend more on cutting pollution: report
  • Black Carbon Pollution Emerges As Major Player In Global Warming
  • Sanitation Investments In Poor Countries Yield Huge Benefits In Productivity And Health

  • Upright Walking Began 6 Million Years Ago
  • MIT Demonstrates Pre-Columbian Use Of Rafts To Transport Goods
  • Yerkes Researchers Identify Language Feature Unique To Human Brain
  • First Study Hints At Insights To Come From Genes Unique To Humans

  • The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2007 - SpaceDaily.AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement