Eastern Asia Aids Issues

East Asia and Pacific Island Region AIDS/HIV Epidemic

The HIV/ AIDS epidemic poses a very real health problem in many of the countries which make up the East Asia Pacific region. Given the presence of risk behaviors and a population size representing 60% of the world's people, the potential for an epidemic is real. At the end of 2003, between 700,000 and 1.3 million adults and children in the region were living with HIV. During 2003, anywhere from 150,000 and 270,000 adults and children were newly infected with HIV and there were between 32,000 and 58,000 deaths due to HIV/AIDS. Although these numbers are low when compared to Sub-Saharan Africa, they are almost three times greater than the numbers in North America and Europe respectively. Statistical data indicates the epidemic does not discriminate between sexes, with approximately 50% of the infected being women. East Asia and Pacific Island's children are also affected by this epidemic, with approximately 6,000- 12,000 children living with HIV and approximately 1,000 to 3,000 deaths being reported in 2003 alone. Although the exact number of HIV/AIDS Orphans is unknown, the Asian Development Bank estimated in a 2005 report that there would be approximately 4.3 million orphans living in the region by the year 2010.

The majority of HIV infections in the East Asia and Pacific region are concentrated in China. China is the third largest county in the world by area and has the largest population in the world (Approximately 1.3 Billion). UNAIDS estimated that anywhere between 430,000 to over a million adults and children were living with HIV at the end of 2003. A serious epidemic has been under way for many years in certain regions of the country. The virus has spread throughout China's 31 provinces and municipalities. Each area has its own distinctive epidemic pattern. In some areas, injecting drug users are spreading the virus. In other areas rural farmers were selling blood plasma, to supplement their low incomes, causing the spread of the virus to unsuspecting patients as well as their own sex partners.

In 2002 Japan had a reported population of 127 million. The HIV prevalence rate remains low except among female sex workers of foreign nationality. The initial epidemic in Japan was traced back to HIV infected blood products that were imported for the treatment of haemophilia patients. Since then most newly reported infections are due to sexual contact. The number of new HIV cases reported annually has doubled since the 1990s and was reported to be 922 cases in 2001. This rise has been accompanied by an increase in other sexually transmitted infections over the same time period. There is also evidence of more widespread sexual activity among Japanese youth, which adds to the spread of HIV/AIDS. The number of AIDS deaths in 2000 was estimated at about 600-700 by the World Health Organization.

Papua New Guinea has the highest prevalence of HIV infection of the Pacific Island countries and territories. New Guinea's epidemic appears largely heterosexually driven. Very low levels of condom use and a prevalent prostitution industry means the country could be facing a severe epidemic. High levels of other sexually transmitted infections among prostitutes and their clients are common. The World Health Organization (W.H.O.) estimated approximately 16,000 adults and children living with HIV.

We have mentioned just a few of the many countries in the East Asia and Pacific region. The HIV/AIDS situation is not an isolated one. Every county in the region has been affected to some degree. See the below statistics, published in 2002 by the W.H.O., which shows the rate of HIV infection of people between 15-49 years of age in some of the other countries in this region:

Country Population 15-49 YOA # of HIV Pos.

Nepal 11,106,000 56,000

Malaysia 11,868,000 41,000

Vietnam 43,343,000 130,000

Singapore 2,234,000 3,400

Philippines 39,600,000 6,000

Bangladesh 72,340,000 13,000