Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1999. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
The Associated Press - Monday October 25, 1999
Jocelyn Gecker, Associated Press
The dreaded virus "threatens to slowly unravel the progress in improving the human condition and to eliminate if not reverse the benefits of the economic miracle," Ainsworth told the 5th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific, held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
The region's two-year economic crisis may have further hurt Asia's fight against AIDS, Ainsworth said. Hundreds of companies went bankrupt and cash-strapped governments were forced to slash budgets. The economic turmoil pushed thousands of families into poverty and many women into prostitution.
"Even before the crisis, political commitment to AIDS prevention in the region was weak," Ainsworth said. "Many policy makers are still in denial."
Before the economic downturn, governments channeled funds into education and health care budgets, resulting in higher life expectancies and reduced poverty.
"The full impact of the crisis on HIV depends critically on how well governments and households succeeded in maintaining social safety nets," said Ainsworth, an expert on the effect of AIDS on households.
Ainsworth said AIDS had already slashed several years off the average life expectancies of some Asian countries.
A U.N report released at the four-day conference estimates that by 2010, the overall death rate will be 20 percent higher in Myanmar, or Burma, due to AIDS fatalities. In Cambodia and Thailand, it may rise 15 percent because of AIDS.
The United Nations estimates that 7 million people in Asia are infected with the HIV virus or AIDS. Speakers at the conference, which ends Wednesday, have urged Asia to act fast to curb the epidemic or risk the devastation now faced by Africa, which has 21 million AIDS-related cases. Experts are particularly concerned about the effects of AIDS on Indonesia, the world's fourth largest country, where the economic turmoil was compounded by political upheaval. It diverted attention and funding from the AIDS epidemic, Ainsworth said.
She said countries such as Thailand, one of the high-risk areas in Asia, had proved that maintaining commitment to AIDS-prevention programs paid dividends. HIV cases dropped among prostitutes, men with sexually transmitted diseases and blood donors in Thailand despite the economic crisis, she said.
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