Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2005. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - June 29, 2005
Asia faces Aids explosion: The HIV/Aids epidemic could explode across Asia - where one in four new infections worldwide occurs - unless authorities do more to fight the disease, experts said ahead of the 7th International Congress on Aids in Asia and the Pacific, scheduled to be held in Kobe, Japan, from July 1 to 5.
"If nothing is done, some 10-million people in China could be infected by 2010," said Takashi Sawada, a Japanese physician working with NGOs on HIV/Aids prevention in Thailand and Cambodia.
In India, the number of HIV cases could quadruple by 2010 and Aids-related illnesses would become the leading cause of death, experts said. Japan, also, could face a serious HIV/Aids epidemic within 10 years, experts said.
Asia's situation is exacerbated by the stigma surrounding HIV/Aids and politicians' reluctance to talk about the disease. "Politics gets in the way," Sawada said.
About 3 000 participants from more than 60 countries - including HIV-positive people, community advocates, health workers and international agency representatives - will attend the conference.
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