AEGiS-BKREV: Senseless Casualties: The AIDS Crisis in Asia

Senseless Casualties: The AIDS Crisis in Asia

Asia Resource Center, PO Box 15275, Washington, DC 20003. 120p., illus., bibliog. $12.50.
Mark A. Bonacci. 1992.

The Asia Resource Center (ARC) was founded some 20 years ago to provide educational resources on the peoples and cultures of Asia. It has exposed critical issues that transcend national boundaries including human rights abuses, nuclear disarmament, justice for the poor, rights of women and minorities, and the impact of development aid. It is recognized as a reliable source of information. "China, the Philippines, Thailand, India, Malaysia and Vietnam have a combined population of well over 2.3 billion people, thus representing approximately one-half of the total population of the world. HIV infection in Asia is presently reaching epidemic proportions but for various reasons, the governments and health officials of these countries have, for several years, been minimizing the statistics and diverting attention away from this crisis." "This book will examine the religious, cultural, social and economic reasons for the official suppression of the alarming data on HIV infection in these countries." The first chapter presents an overview of the problem in Asia while the second chapter presents compelling arguments that public education and counseling are the only hope to battle AIDS. The third chapter discusses the religious and cultural barriers to some of the educational attempts including the religious prohibition against contraceptives and the cultural barriers in talking about safer sex techniques. Chapter four covers the spread of AIDS in the urban centers of Bangkok and Chiang Mai, pointing out that the next areas could be Manila, Kuala Lumpur, Bombay, and Calcutta. Chapter five covers the effects of the AIDS epidemic on the economic well-being of these countries in trying to care for these people. Chapter six shows how the U.S. has not discussed the AIDS problem in and around the military bases of the Philippines. The last chapter is one that would be best read by anyone who works within the AIDS crisis. It "examines the phenomenon of AIDS fatigue which causes policy-makers and the general public to lose interest in the AIDS epidemic."

Dr. Bonacci has done a very good job in presenting the facts about AIDS in Asia and should rightfully alarm the leaders that this crisis needs to be reckoned with now and not later. There are no real solutions but the facts are presented with many doors left open to create guidelines for dealing with this problem. Religion is a barrier as it is in all countries, when you talk about contraceptives, safer sex, gay sex, and sex in general. How we get through this barrier is a critical problem for all of those working in the AIDS field. When this is placed on top of cultural barriers such as there are in Asia, the problem is almost unsolvable. This book makes one very aware of how governments can suppress information in order to not alarm their populations. It is unfortunate that such tactics are used, especially when lives could be saved if they were upfront with everyone. This is an excellent book and one of the first that speaks about the Asian problem in frank terms. It is recommended for all libraries and especially for those libraries that serve the Asian populations not only in the United States but oversees. (H. Robert Malinowsky)

Keywords: Asia, Philippines, Thailand, India, Malaysia, Vietnam, Education

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Copyright © 1993 - The University of Illinois at Chicago. All materials in the journal are subject to copyright by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois and may be reprinted or redistributed for the noncommercial purpose of scientific or educational advancement granted by Sections 107 and 108 of the Copyright Revision Act of 1976. For other reprinting, redistribution, or translation, address requests to H. Robert Malinowsky, University of Illinois at Chicago Library, PO Box 8198, Chicago, IL 60680 or electronically to hrm@uic.edu.

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