Unprotected sexual congress among gays is spreading HIV/AIDS in Asia

[Guest guest]

Unprotected sexual congress among gays is spreading HIV/AIDS in Asia

Dr. Avnish Jolly, 20th February, 2009 : Unprotected sexual congress

among gay and bisexual men is spreading of HIV/AIDS in Asia

according to public health experts said urging governments to do more

to curb the problem in time.

Discriminatory laws criminalising certain sexual behaviours, such as

sodomy, ought to be repealed so these men can more easily obtain

information on disease prevention, drugs and treatment; they told an HIV/AIDS

seminar this week in Hong Kong.

Australia managed to keep its HIV epidemic contained within its gay

and bisexual male communities through public education and knocking

down discriminatory laws.

Massimo Ghidinelli, Regional HIV/AIDS Advisor at the World Health

Organisation shared that unprotected male to male sex is once again

fuelling the spread of HIV infection in the Asia Pacific in a news

conference and the situation is likely to get worse unless we

collectively undertake very urgent action. There is a possibility it

may even go out of control.

HIV prevalence among gay and bisexual men in Bangkok rose to 30.7

percent in 2007 from 17.3 percent in 2003. In Jakarta, it increased to

8.1 percent from 2 percent within the same period. Some countries in

Asia, such as Singapore, Malaysia and those in South Asia still have

in place anti-sodomy laws, which are formidable barriers to people

getting treatment and help, and they frustrate efforts at disease

prevention, experts said.

Shivananda Khan, Naz Foundation International said that a young (gay)

man went to a clinic for treatment and was slapped by a doctor and

scolded for being a bad person. The doctor refused to treat him and he

was thrown out and it is not uncommon, it happens in Pakistan,

Bangladesh, India, Myanmars.

If (sodomy) is criminalised, it is a problem for doctors. What does

the doctor do when someone comes in with an anal problem? He can get

into trouble with the law because he is treating someone breaking the

law. Stevie Clayton of the AIDS Council of New South Wales said that

Laws were all looked at since the 1980s to make sure that they didn't

contradict or hinder HIV prevention work.

In Thailand, HIV prevalence among gay and bisexual men is 24.6

percent, while that of the general population is 1.55 percent. In

Cambodia, the rates are 7.8 percent versus 1.8 percent, while in

China, it is 3.8 percent versus 0.09 percent, Frits van Griensven at

the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention's Southeast Asia

Regional Office said.

" Psychotropic drug (use among gay and bisexual men in Asia) plays an

important role here. I am not in favour of repression; the control

needs to come from prevention. People need to know how to do these

things that you can't prevent in the safest way possible. They need

condoms on hand and not be caught by surprise, " he said at the conference.

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