NEWS: Asia at critical stage of AIDS battle as infections top eight million, page 1

posted on Nov, 23 2004 @ 07:32 AM

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The rate of infection with the AIDS virus is increasing in Asia. Fueled by a increasing sex trade more than 8 million people now live with the virus in the region according to the United Nations. The increase in the last two years was over 1 million alone. The majority of those infected (5.1 million) live in India.

story.news.yahoo.com
BANGKOK (AFP) - The booming sex trade has contributed to an HIV/AIDS crisis in Asia with more than eight million people now living with the virus and numbers rising sharply among women, the United Nations reported.

The number of infected Asians jumped by one million over the past two years, bringing the regional total to 8.2 million, according to an annual AIDS epidemic report by UNAIDS and the World Health Organisation.

Some 5.1 million of those live in India, the highest number in the world except for South Africa. The virus is spreading fastest in Asia and Eastern Europe.

China had some 220,000 new infections since 2002 to take the total to 840,000. Infections among East Asian women jumped by 56 percent over the same period, representing the largest global increase for women.

Asia, the world's most populous region with 3.9 billion people, has long been identified by the UN as prone to an epidemic which threatens to be as bad as in sub-Saharan Africa, home to two-thirds of the people with HIV.

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Asia is rapidly becoming a flashpoint for AIDS. If the infection rate continues unabated the region could exceed Africa in the number of cases within the decade. China alone has almost a million and some experts believe that the number of those infected may be even higher. India has also been accused of underreporting their numbers as well.

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jsobecky

posted on Nov, 23 2004 @ 08:52 AM

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There is a commom theme between Africa and India when it comes to the rapid increase in the number of infected - the resistance to wearing condoms. Education is the best way to overcome this resistance.

Kriz_4

posted on Nov, 23 2004 @ 08:56 AM

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It is being stated that world wide 37.2 million people in total are living with the illness.

news.bbc.co.uk...

Although as a percentage of the world population this is a tiny figure, it is non the less scary that this disease has not been brought under control as of yet.