UN AIDS Conference
 

Act Now - or Pay Later, Says Top AIDS Scientist

BANGKOK. 11 July – Countries in Asia face a simple choice when it comes to tackling the HIV epidemic.

“They can act now or pay later,” says Dr. Peter Piot, executive director of UNAIDS and a member of the AIDS Pandemic (MAP) Network.

He was launching the report, ‘AIDS in Asia: Face the Facts’ as the15th International AIDS Conference got underway here today.

In the report, scientists agree that nationwide programmes to increase condom use in commercial sex, to help drug injectors use clean needles and to cut risky sex between men, are needed to reverse a growing HIV epidemic in several countries in the continent.

In parts of China, Indonesia and Vietnam, a huge leap in HIV infection rates among drug injectors is now sparking off a rise in HIV in the sex industry.

But there are still many opportunities for effective HIV prevention throughout Asia, according to MAP, a network of epidemiologists and public health specialists who review data and provide independent analysis of the global HIV epidemic.

The report, says HIV in Asia remains concentrated among those who behaviours that carry high risk of infection – drug injection, the buying and selling of sex, and sex between men.

Countries such as Cambodia and Thailand have managed to reverse the course of their epidemics by specifically targeting sex workers and their clients.

“As this report clearly shows, those countries that have chosen to tackle high-risk behaviour openly are beating HIV.  Now it is up to others to follow their lead,” Dr. Piot pointed out.