Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2009. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Bangkok Post - August 9, 2009
Achara Ashayagachat
However, while the rate may be falling in Thailand it is rising in the Asia-Pacific region as a whole, experts told the International Congress on Aids in Asia and the Pacific forum yesterday.
Frits van Griensven from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the HIV infection rate last year reached a high of 30% among MSM in Thailand and Burma, but so far this year Thailand had reported a decline, either because victims had died or preventive measures taken in recent years were having some effect.
In 2003, the HIV rate among Thai MSM was 17.3%. In 2005 it was 28.3%, and last year 30.3%.
Most Asia-Pacific countries with moderate HIV prevalence still have time to act, he said.
Swarup Sarkar, director of the Global Fund-Asia Unit, said regional governments should focus on Aids education and HIV prevention among MSM and drug users.
Governments, however, tended to put most effort into sex workers.
The Committee on Aids in Asia had reported that only $1 billion was raised from international donors out of a required budget of $3 billion to address the spread of HIV. For the MSM group, only $20m-40m was raised for a required budget of $300 million, he said.
Jeffrey O'Malley, director of the United Nations Development Programme Bureau for Development Policy (HIV/Aids group), said if the spread of HIV among the MSM group was not addressed, the group would account for 40% of overall HIV cases by the year 2020.
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