Asia Now Second to Africa in HIV Cases

When HIV first escalated in Africa and the Caribbean, Asia remained virtually untouched and unaware. But the world's most populous continent is catching up.

Today, 25 years into an epidemic that has claimed 25 million lives worldwide, the Asia–Pacific region has the highest number of infections after sub–Saharan Africa.

The big question now is: How far will it go?

"I don't think it will go the African way," where in some areas up to a third of the population is infected, UNAIDS chief Dr. Peter Piot said in an interview with The Associated Press. But "there's slow but steady growth and with that kind of population denominator, the numbers are staggering,"

UNAIDS, the U.N. body leading the global war on AIDS, estimated 8.3 million people were living with the virus last year in the Asia–Pacific — and nearly 85 percent of those infected had no access to antiretroviral treatment.

The disease, first identified in the United States in an announcement by health officials on June 5, 1981, quickly went global. In Asia, a vast, diverse and mobile population has helped spread the virus, starting with unprotected sex and dirty needles. It first devastated Thailand's infamous sex industry, later reached millions in India and has pushed once–isolated communist Vietnam to the brink of an HIV explosion.

India is home to more HIV/AIDS–infected people than any other country, according to new UNAIDS numbers. Its estimated 5.7 million infections last year comprise more than two–thirds of all cases in the Asia–Pacific region.

In a country of more than 1 billion people, that number shrinks to a small fraction — 0.9 percent of adults compared to South Africa's almost 19 percent. But a small percentage can cause the problem to be neglected.

"Because of this low percentage, the issue doesn't seem to be a priority for political leaders and also for the man on the street," said Dr. Shigeru Omi, the Western Pacific regional director for the U.N.'s World Health Organization.

India's epidemic is largely driven by heterosexual sex — mainly prostitutes and their clients who do not use condoms. In the country's south, a recent report found, prevention campaigns targeting sex workers have resulted in a 35 percent drop in new cases among 15 to 24 year olds.

But there has been little progress in India's highly populated north or drug–ridden northeast, said Prabhat Jha, of the University of Toronto, one of the study's authors.

"It's too early and one wouldn't want to be the fellow on the Titanic who said, 'All clear,' because the north is 70 percent of the population," said Jha, who's spent a decade researching AIDS in India. "If it explodes, you can imagine what would happen."

Chandi Sayeed, 39, of Bombay's gritty brothel district, said she was sold into prostitution at age 16 when she was already a mother of two.

"The problem is most women don't use condoms with their husbands or with customers they love," she said. "They only use it with men who aren't regulars. They say, how can we use it with our lovers? But women must think of their children and their family first."