COLOMBO, 20 August 2007 — Thousands of government officials and health care workers from across Asia gathered in Sri Lanka yesterday for an international conference aimed at ensuring the AIDS epidemic does not worsen in the region.
“The Asia and Pacific region has a low prevalence of HIV/AIDS, but the challenge across the countries is to keep the prevalence low,” Deborah Landey, deputy director of UNAIDS, told a news conference ahead of the start of the 8th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific.
An estimated 8.6 million people in the region are infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. That number, though considerable, remains far below the rate in sub-Saharan Africa, where 25.8 million people are infected.
The conference, whose theme is “Waves of Change, Waves of Hope,” began yesterday evening and runs until Thursday. It aims to bring together 2,500 policy makers and health professionals from around the region to share their experiences in fighting the spread of the disease and in treating and supporting those already infected, Sri Lankan Health Secretary Athula Kahandaliyanage said.
Strong political leadership that does not become complacent over relatively low levels of infection is vital for keeping the disease at bay, she said.
Landey said each country must keep on its toes for new social trends in the spread of the virus, citing the example of rising infections among homosexuals in China.
Populations traditionally thought to be low-risk, including married women, are becoming more vulnerable to becoming infected by their husbands, she said. In Papua New Guinea, more than half of the newly infected people were married women, she said.
Kahandaliyanage said though Sri Lanka has a low rate of HIV infection — mainly because of an awareness of the virus due to a high literacy rate and access to health facilities — issues of social marginalization of those infected remain a problem.
The congress will hold discussions on a range of subjects, including preventing infections among vulnerable groups, treatment of those already infected and eliminating social stigma for victims and their families, according to the organizers.
