Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2003. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2003. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Reuters NewMedia - Tuesday, November 25, 2003
Darren Schuettler
With the global AIDS crisis showing no signs of abating, the Asia-Pacific region -- home to 60 percent of the world's population -- is shaping up as the new battleground in the fight against the disease.
Experts say overcoming huge social and cultural stigmas will be key to winning the AIDS war in a region where one million people were infected this year and 500,000 died from the disease.
"Prejudice, rejection, hurt and ostracism are some of the most painful parts of HIV infection which even a miracle drug may not overcome," Shigeru Omi, regional director for the World Health Organisation in the Western Pacific, said in a statement.
Activists plan to use World AIDS Day on December 1 to highlight the "climate of fear" that prevents people from seeking treatment and using counselling and testing services -- key weapons in prevention.
A U.N.-WHO report released on Tuesday said stigma and discrimination "constitute one of the greatest barriers to preventing further infections, providing adequate care, support and treatment and alleviating the epidemic's impact".
It cited the example of two orphaned children in the southern Indian state of Kerala who were banned from school earlier this year and refused admission to other schools because they had HIV.
"Despite appeals from high-ranking officials, the community has held firm and kept the two orphans at bay," the report said.
More than 4.5 million people are infected in India and experts say the disease is spreading so fast it will carry the country past South Africa in a few years.
OUTCASTS
Experts blame cultural and religious beliefs and a lack of education for the fear attached to a disease affecting 7.4 million people in the Asia-Pacific region.
Sex workers in many countries have been marginalised, while homosexual behaviour is not acceptable in many societies. Injection drug users (IDUs) are tagged as social outcasts in some parts of Asia, including Thailand where experts say a government war on drugs has driven addicts underground.
"There are few countries in Asia where IDUs are treated as sick people, where they are getting treatment rather than rejection," Robert England, a senior United Nations Development Programme official, told Reuters.
In China, authorities have faced widespread condemnation for disguising the scale of the AIDS epidemic, neglecting to treat patients properly and arresting an outspoken AIDS activist.
"Blaming people and making moral judgements do not help stop the disease from spreading," Omi said.
"In fact, the disease can spread further because stigmatized groups tend to become more hidden and opportunities for giving them information and treatment are lost," he added.
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