PHNOM PENH, Dec 1 (AFP) - Cambodian health officials on Wednesday launched an AIDS awareness campaign aimed at an increasingly sexually active youth, but admitted the country remained far in the lead of being the AIDS capital of Asia.

"Cambodia continues to have the worst AIDS epidemic in Asia, and this is a serious issue for Cambodians," said Bill Pigott from the World Health Organisation (WHO).

"We have to get the young people to recognise the danger of AIDS."

The campaign, launched in conjunction with the health ministry and scores of international aid groups, is aimed at delivering better sexual health education to a younger generation now accustomed to regular trips to the brothel.

However officials have warned Cambodia has yet to hit the worst impact of the virus, which has already infected an estimated 200,000 people and around 50 percent of sex workers.

Approximately 60 percent of Cambodian men, and increasing numbers of young people, visit brothels on a regular basis.

Experts predict the disease will claim 9,000 lives next year, badly straining the resources of a health structure with only 6,000 beds.

"The health service is already overstretched, and HIV-AIDS has yet to peak," explained an official from the Nobel prizewinning Medecins sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders.)

"It really still has to sink in that this country is facing a major emergency."

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