South Asia AIDS Conference

February 4, 2003

[For details of the UNAIDS South Asia AIDS conference and the background papers

Moderator

_____________________________

Nearly 4.2 million people living with AIDS in South Asia, officials

say Mon Feb 3, 2:58 AM ET

By BINAJ GURUBACHARYA, Associated Press Writer

KATMANDU, Nepal - About 4.2 million people are living with AIDS in

South Asia and the epidemic is worsening in the region, health

officials said Monday.

Lack of education and trafficking in women and children are the main

reasons for the spread of the disease, health officials from eight

South Asian countries and the United Nations said at a conference in

Nepal's capital, Katmandu.

" There were 4.2 million people living with AIDS in South Asia in 2001

compared to 2 million in 1994. The number is growing every year and

it getting worse, " said Piot, executive director of UNAIDS,

the U.N.'s AIDS agency.

Health officials from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the

Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka took part in the two-day

meeting, which started Monday.

Delegates reviewed previous commitments to combat the spread of AIDS

and planned new, speeded-up strategies to fight the disease.

" Over 4 million people are living with AIDS in the region. Of them,

over 1 million are young people, who account for about half of all

the new infections, including a growing number of young women, " said

Carol Bellamy, executive director of United Nations Children's Fund.

" Communication and peer education campaigns must be stepped up to

ensure that young people are armed with the facts about HIV and its

prevention, " she said.

Delegates also said the disease is largely being spread by migration

and the cross-border trafficking of women. About 5,000 Nepalese women

work as prostitutes in neighboring India, and many come home with

AIDS.

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