Joesoef
14-07-04, 15:00
AIDS in Asia
Tehran, July 14, IRNA -- Asian-Pacific political leaders have a
brief period to save millions of people from HIV infection, but among
their biggest challenges are gender inequality, which weakens a
woman`s defences against an HIV-positive man, along with stigma, which
discourages people from finding out their HIV status, United Nations
Information Center said in a press release on Wednesday.
"In South Asia women are more vulnerable both socially and
economically. They have less opportunity to protect themselves," Dr.
Nafis Sadik, UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Asia and the Pacific,
said during the satellite session she chaired at the 15th
International AIDS Conference in Bangkok, Thailand.
According to a report from the Asia Pacific Leadership Forum on
HIV/AIDS and Development, about 1 million people in the region were
infected with HIV in 2003 alone, bringing the number living with the
virus to more than 7 million.
Leaders need to break the silence encouraging stigma and
discrimination and not only speak out but take effective action on
sensitive issues, the report says. "In a society where there are
religious, social, cost and other constraints, it`s even more vital
to have political leadership," said Anand Panyarachun, former Prime
Minister of Thailand and chairman of the Leadership Forum steering
committee.
Though India`s HIV prevalence is only between 0.4 percent and
1.3 percent, it has the largest number of people living with HIV
outside South Africa - an estimated 5.1 million in 2003, the report
said.
Meanwhile serious epidemics have broken out in several territories
and states. Experts at the satellite session pointed out that low
condom use in South Asia is a major hurdle in AIDS prevention, while
indicators suggested a close link between the poor status of women in
patriarchal societies and their vulnerability to HIV. Poverty,
discrimination and violence against women and girls have been fuelling
the epidemic.
"The needs of vulnerable groups, including women and young people,
continue to be neglected throughout Asia," said Kathleen Cravero,
Deputy Executive Director of the Joint UN Program on HIV/AIDS
(UNAIDS).
"Until women and girls have equal access to effective HIV
prevention and treatment services, there is little hope to beat the
epidemic." Elsewhere in South Asia, warning signs of future HIV
outbreaks from pervasive injecting drug use and sex work show that
even low-prevalence countries could see epidemics surge suddenly, the
experts said.
The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), which is chairing the
UNAIDS Committee of Co-Sponsoring Organizations, has pledged to
spotlight the impact on the pandemic of injecting drug use,
imprisonment, human trafficking and conflict. "Drugs and crime are
important, yet often neglected, factors in the evolution of the
HIV/AIDS pandemic," said UNODC Executive Director Antonio Maria
Costa, who is also attending the Bangkok conference.
Meanwhile, at UN Headquarters in New York, spokesman Stephane
Dujarric told journalists that the Global Media AIDS Initiative, a
collaborative group of the world`s most powerful media launched last
January by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, announced that it would
begin new HIV-focused public education efforts in Russia, India,
China, Indonesia and the United States. He quoted UNAIDS Executive
Director Dr. Peter Piot as saying, "The coming together of media
organizations to harness their collective power to fight against AIDS
is one of the most important partnerships forged to date."
1430/1412
www.irna.ir
Tehran, July 14, IRNA -- Asian-Pacific political leaders have a
brief period to save millions of people from HIV infection, but among
their biggest challenges are gender inequality, which weakens a
woman`s defences against an HIV-positive man, along with stigma, which
discourages people from finding out their HIV status, United Nations
Information Center said in a press release on Wednesday.
"In South Asia women are more vulnerable both socially and
economically. They have less opportunity to protect themselves," Dr.
Nafis Sadik, UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Asia and the Pacific,
said during the satellite session she chaired at the 15th
International AIDS Conference in Bangkok, Thailand.
According to a report from the Asia Pacific Leadership Forum on
HIV/AIDS and Development, about 1 million people in the region were
infected with HIV in 2003 alone, bringing the number living with the
virus to more than 7 million.
Leaders need to break the silence encouraging stigma and
discrimination and not only speak out but take effective action on
sensitive issues, the report says. "In a society where there are
religious, social, cost and other constraints, it`s even more vital
to have political leadership," said Anand Panyarachun, former Prime
Minister of Thailand and chairman of the Leadership Forum steering
committee.
Though India`s HIV prevalence is only between 0.4 percent and
1.3 percent, it has the largest number of people living with HIV
outside South Africa - an estimated 5.1 million in 2003, the report
said.
Meanwhile serious epidemics have broken out in several territories
and states. Experts at the satellite session pointed out that low
condom use in South Asia is a major hurdle in AIDS prevention, while
indicators suggested a close link between the poor status of women in
patriarchal societies and their vulnerability to HIV. Poverty,
discrimination and violence against women and girls have been fuelling
the epidemic.
"The needs of vulnerable groups, including women and young people,
continue to be neglected throughout Asia," said Kathleen Cravero,
Deputy Executive Director of the Joint UN Program on HIV/AIDS
(UNAIDS).
"Until women and girls have equal access to effective HIV
prevention and treatment services, there is little hope to beat the
epidemic." Elsewhere in South Asia, warning signs of future HIV
outbreaks from pervasive injecting drug use and sex work show that
even low-prevalence countries could see epidemics surge suddenly, the
experts said.
The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), which is chairing the
UNAIDS Committee of Co-Sponsoring Organizations, has pledged to
spotlight the impact on the pandemic of injecting drug use,
imprisonment, human trafficking and conflict. "Drugs and crime are
important, yet often neglected, factors in the evolution of the
HIV/AIDS pandemic," said UNODC Executive Director Antonio Maria
Costa, who is also attending the Bangkok conference.
Meanwhile, at UN Headquarters in New York, spokesman Stephane
Dujarric told journalists that the Global Media AIDS Initiative, a
collaborative group of the world`s most powerful media launched last
January by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, announced that it would
begin new HIV-focused public education efforts in Russia, India,
China, Indonesia and the United States. He quoted UNAIDS Executive
Director Dr. Peter Piot as saying, "The coming together of media
organizations to harness their collective power to fight against AIDS
is one of the most important partnerships forged to date."
1430/1412
www.irna.ir