Billions of condoms needed to stop AIDs spread in Asia ( 2003-08-18 13:58) (Agencies)
Billions of condoms were in need to stop the spread of AIDs infection in
Asia, said the World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday before a related
regional meeting opened at Vientiane.
It's necessary to expand the use of condom, especially in the sex industry,
where the rate of sexually transmitted infections was high, the organization
said in a statement prepared for the four-day meeting, which was aimed to
promote condom use program in sex industry.
Asia Pacific region, which had seven million people living with HIV, was set
to become the epicenter of the global pandemic in the next decade unless massive
prevention efforts were undertaken immediately.
Condom use was still low in most countries in the region, including in many
sex establishments, escalating the spread of AIDs, said the organization.
"Condoms save lives. We need to vigorously step up promotion of this
life-saving device to prevent millions of people getting infected," the WHO
representative to Laos Giovanni Deodato was quoted by Bangkok Post as
saying.
Globally, an estimated 6 to 9 billion condoms were distributed annually, but
some 24 billion were still needed, it said.
The meeting therefore focused on the "100 percent condom use program", a
strategy to promote condom use in the sex industry.
"A substantial proportion of HIV infections in Asia are attributed to
commercial sex," said the document. "Epidemics can explode with only a small
pool of sex workers infected with HIV, as seen in Thailand."
The statement continued to say that the adoption of the "100 percent" program
would effectively cut down the infection cases.
"The program has prevented a few million HIV infections in Thailand," said
the WHO. Thailand had successfully promoted condom use among about 98 percent
sex workers. Last year, the sex industry accounted for only 16 percent of HIV
infections in Thailand.
The other good example cited by the WHO was Cambodia, where some 20 million
condoms were sold last year and the sex industry only accounted for a 20 percent
of HIV infections.
However, "nearly everywhere in Asia, more efforts are needed to promote
condoms," said the WHO statement. "In many countries, they are unavailable or
costly and there may be little public knowledge about their benefits."
Myanmar needed some 50 million condoms annually but was unable to make them
locally. Several million condoms were imported a year by nongovernmental
organizations.
Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Mongolia, Thailand, the Philippines and
Vietnam have introduced the programs.
Centraland local officials from the whole region were expected to discuss
related issues at the meeting.
