UN: More Support Needed to Reverse HIV/AIDS Epidemic in Asia

March 30, 2011

A nurse, wearing protective mask and gloves reads to a HIV/AIDS patient at the Phra Baht Nam Phu AIDS hospice near Lopburi, Thailand (File)

Delegates to a meeting of 24 Asia-Pacific countries in Bangkok cited progress in the fight against HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

The U.N. program on HIV/AIDS, UNAIDS, says epidemics in the region appear stable. From 2001 to 2009 infection rates in India, Nepal and Thailand fell by more than 25 percent, while rates in Bangladesh and the Philippines increased by more than 25 percent.

One challenge is the lack of access to often expensive anti-retroviral treatments.

The regional director for the U.N. Children’s Fund in East Asia and the Pacific, Anupama Rao Singh, says only 30 percent of adults and 44 percent of children who need the treatments are able to get them.

"HIV prevention services still fall short of the level required to reverse the course of HIV in the most populous part of the world. The larger issues of stigma and discrimination, outmoded legislations, inadequate domestic resource commitments and policies that do not adequately take account of equitable access, will remain barriers to effective prevention, treatment, care and support if they are left unaddressed," Singh said.

Singh says Asian heads of state need to better support HIV/AIDS programs.