Sounding the alarm. AIDS update no. 403.

Abstract

When the first international AIDS conference in Asia opened in Yokohama last week, the world's experts had bleak news. They said 10 million Asians could be carrying the AIDS virus by the end of the century--25%-30% of the global total. Some 250,000 people in the region are suffering from full-blown AIDS, with another 2 million infected by the virus. In Thailand, the sex industry is a key factor, said Prayura Kunasol, an official of the country's Ministry of Public Health. Three-quarters of all Thai cases--8580 AIDS victims and 600,000 infected patients--are linked to sexual activity. Widespread ignorance also fuels the epidemic, especially in China and India, according to participants in a Manila meeting organized by the Asian Development Bank in early August. Though 91% of city folks in China had heard of AIDS, only about a quarter could tell correctly how it was transmitted and a mere 5% knew the symptoms. In India, eight out of ten men say they're aware of the disease. But six of ten housewives had never heard of it. While heterosexual sex is the leading means of transmission, intravenous drug use, transfusions of tainted blood and unsterilized medical equipment also pose problems. In Yokohama, Japanese Prime Minister Murayama Tomiichi told some 11,000 delegates and observers from 120 countries that Tokyo was ready to step up efforts to combat "a global problem confronting all humanity."