Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1996. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1996. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Reuters NewMedia, Inc. - Tuesday, 8 October 1996
Rene Pastor
"We in ASEAN are located in the area of the world predicted to become the center of the AIDS pandemic," Chen Ai Ju, director of medical services in Singapore's Health Ministry, said opening a three-day meeting of the ASEAN task force on AIDS. The ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) medical workers will try to reach agreement on how to combat the spread of the disease in the region.
The number infected with HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus), which causes AIDS, will rise to one million in Thailand by the year 2000 and will infect thousands more in Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines, doctors said at the meeting.
"The growing rates of trade and travel at both regional and international levels further strengthen the need for a united front and mutual cooperation in the fight against AIDS," Chen said.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that nearly 28 million people have been infected with HIV since the start of the AIDS epidemic 15 years ago. By the year 2000, another 26 million people may be infected, Chen said, citing WHO prognoses.
By the end of the century, AIDS will have killed eight million people worldwide and up to 10 million children under the age of 10 will be orphaned by the disease.
A leading factor in the spread of the disease in Southeast Asia is the movement through the region of thousands of migrant workers, many of them illegal, looking for jobs.
While the number of annual new infections in Thailand has fallen sharply to about 50,000 from 100,000 three years ago, the number of infections is rising steadily in other ASEAN countries.
Mohamed Taha, director of Disease Control in the Health Ministry of Malaysia, told reporters 16,000 people in Malaysia and 4,000 in Vietnam were infected with the virus.
Singapore has 308 registered carriers but only 303 people are said to be infected in Indonesia, the region's most populous country with nearly 200 million people. The Philippines has 800 people infected.
Health activists believe the numbers, especially in Indonesia and the Philippines, are grossly under-reported.
Up to 90,000 Filipinos may have the virus by 2000, a Filipino official attending the conference told Reuters.
ASEAN comprises Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
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