World Health Organization Warns Asia Against Complacency After Progress Against AIDS

The World Health Organization (WHO) warned Asian countries Monday against complacency after making progress in the fight against AIDS, and it called for attention to the need for "harm reduction" with intravenous drug users and the strengthening of prevention of STDs.

Some one million individuals in the Western Pacific region (which comprises 37 countries and territories, from Southeast and Northeast Asia to Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific) are estimated to be infected with HIV. "The danger of complacency is one of the biggest threats to HIV/AIDS control in the region," the WHO said at a weeklong meeting of health ministers in the sultanate of Brunei. "The potential for a more serious HIV/AIDS epidemic in the Western Pacific region cannot be ruled out unless countries in the region with high prevalence make renewed efforts to control the epidemic," it added in a statement.

The WHO called for the establishment of health services for sex workers, implementation of "harm reduction programs" for intravenous drug users, and improved surveillance in order to detect changes in HIV transmission patterns. "Although HIV prevalence is still relatively low compared to other parts of the world, pockets of high transmission among individuals with high-risk behavior in some countries of the Western Pacific Region pose a threat," the WHO said, pointing to surveys done in China, Malaysia and Vietnam. These studies have shown that increasing numbers of sex workers have become HIV-infected by injecting drugs. The WHO also lauded Cambodia for making progress in the fight against AIDS and HIV with its "100 percent Condom Use" campaign which led to a "significant decline" in HIV prevalence among commercial sex workers.

During the meeting in Brunei, WHO chief Gro Harlem Bruntland said much attention was understandably directed at Africa, where AIDS is more widespread, but said Asia must step up its efforts. "Although some countries have been able to reduce infection rates, others are seeing rapid growth in the number of infections. The overall trend gives reason for concern," Bruntland added.

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