Ahead of this month’s international Aids conference in Bangkok, a number of Asian leaders have come under fire for failing to learn lessons from the African HIV/Aids crisis.
A new Asian People’s Charter due to be presented at Bangkok singles out governments in Singapore and Hong Kong for not addressing the impending crisis.
The draft charter, endorsed by ActionAid International and many other leading global HIV organisations, said: “Politicians and policy makers in Asia have yet to learn lessons from the tragedy that has unfolded in Africa.”
The charter highlights how the Thai government has made a conscious effort to address the spread of the infection, while in other countries, government sponsored initiatives are conspicuous by their absence resulting in a marked increase in HIV.
While infection rates are lower than in Africa, Asia-Pacific could account for almost 40 per cent of new global infections by 2010. Actual numbers of people infected with the virus are still unknown since ‘cultural conservatism’ has led to under-reporting.
Nafis Sadik, special UN envoy for HIV/Aids in Asia, said: “It is important for people at the top to participate in the fight against the epidemic. Asian leaders view it as a risk to themselves to talk about HIV/Aids. Many people in these countries still live in denial to the problem.
“Many young people in the Asia Pacific region remain alarmingly ignorant about the risks posed by HIV/Aids, while others continue to have unsafe sex after being warned of the dangers,” he added.
China has started making an effort to combat the spread of HIV, but actual progress is still a long way off. The government has decided to launch a public awareness campaign to curb spread of HIV via blood and to crack down on crimes that cause the spread of the virus. It is making efforts to rehabilitate drug users and to educate sex workers.
Peter Piot, executive director of UNAIDS said: "There's a fantastic opportunity to avert a major epidemic. I think it's a time bomb ticking, particularly because the epidemic arrives at a moment of great transformation of Chinese society."
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A staggering 14 million African children under 15 have lost their parents to the HIV virus and this number is expected to double in the next decade.
Yet little attention is paid to their needs, according to a new study by the Human Sciences Research Council of South Africa.
Researchers found parentless children were at high risk of contracting the infection, especially older ones who were prey to sexual abuse.
Most South African Aids orphans lived in high-risk environments and were extremely vulnerable because they were dependant on others for their well-being, the study found.
Olive Shisana, the council’s executive director, said: “Children run a much greater risk of contracting the disease than previously thought.”
This is on top of these children’s psychological vulnerability.
“We are assisting about 68,000 orphans and vulnerable children who need psycho-social counselling because they have been traumatised by the death of their parents,” said Bongani Mundeta, Southern Africa regional coordinator for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).
An estimated 12.7 per cent of orphans (under 18 years) in Africa are HIV positive.
By 2010, there will be six African countries where close to one in three of all children will be orphaned by the virus.
“We’re all struggling to find a viable response,’ said Stephen Lewis, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for HIV/Aids in Africa.
“In the mean time, millions of children live traumatized, unstable lives, robbed not just of their parents, but of their childhoods and futures.”
Lewis told Reuters news agency that Ethiopia alone had a million Aids orphans yet its government had no plans to deal with an expected “onslaught of abandoned, rootless, bewildered and despairing kids of all ages."
Leaders from 13 countries and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan are expected to attend the 15th International Aids Conference, in Bangkok from July 11-16.
Improving access to anti-retroviral medication for people with HIV and Aids will be one of the key debates.
“Some countries are capable of producing more antiretroviral drugs than they need - they can supply free or low cost drugs to countries that need them,” said Thai PM, Thaksin Shinawatra.
The conference will also focus on ways to educate young people on safer sex practices. Approximately three million condoms will be distributed during the duration of the conference. Up to 15,000 delegates from 160 countries are expected to attend.
For details visit www.aids2004.org
