Experts gather in Bali to discuss AIDS fight

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Experts gather in Bali to discuss AIDS fight

(AFP) –

NUSA DUA, Indonesia — Experts from 65 nations gathered in Indonesia Sunday to

assess progress in the battle against HIV/AIDS in Asia and the Pacific, amid

concern that only a quarter of those in need in the region were getting

treatment.

The ninth International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP), to be

opened by Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on the resort island of

Bali, will look at how to ensure " universal access " to antiretroviral treatment,

congress chairman Zubairi Djoerban said.

He said that only 25 percent of the 1.7 million of people with HIV/AIDS in the

Asia-Pacific region who needed the treatment were receiving it.

" We're still far away from our target, " he said.

" We're not talking 100 percent, which is the ideal. If Latin America can treat

62 percent of sufferers there, we should strive towards that. "

UNAIDS regional director Prasada Rao said that countries such as Thailand,

Cambodia and Laos have been able to treat 80 percent of HIV-positive people

there but about 10 countries managed to cover only 10 to 15 percent, due to

geographical limitations and lack of funding.

An estimated five million Asians are living with HIV, especially in southeastern

countries such as Thailand, Cambodia, the Philippines and Indonesia, according

to a UN report released last year.

The congress, which runs until Thursday, will also demand commitment from

governments to tackle a disease that killed 380,000 people across Asia in 2007,

Djoerban said.

" We ask for commitment from the countries to achieve the targets they have set

and if they say they can't, we'll discuss new efforts to help them reach their

goals, " he added.

" We can discuss prevention and treatment but with no leadership and commitment

from countries and the community, we won't achieve much. "

The congress also aims to put pressure on governments to change policies that

" just keep on discriminating people because of their sexual behaviour such as

males who have sex with males and commercial sex workers, " Rao told reporters.

While there are some bright spots in the region, such as Cambodia, where HIV

prevalence has declined through condom use, new infections are growing in

populous countries such as Bangladesh and China, the UN report said.

In Indonesia and South Asia, Djoerban said, the biggest threat was the lethal

combination of dirty needles and unprotected sex.

" We're concerned about India, Indonesia and Pakistan, where there is overlapping

of drug injecting and unprotected sex... this includes sex workers taking drugs

and drug users not using condoms, " he said.

" New infections are offsetting positive results from preventive actions. "

In Indonesia, where HIV/AIDS cases have tripled since 2005 to 26,632, according

to official figures, prisoners and prostitutes have joined injecting drug users

to become among the groups most at risk.

A third of 254 prison deaths in the country in May this year were due to

HIV/AIDS.

Meanwhile, one of the worst HIV epidemics outside of Africa is under way in

Indonesia's remote eastern province of Papua, where 2.4 out of every 100 people

are infected due to an influx of migrants workers and a booming sex industry.

However, HIV prevalence in the region is still low compared with Africa.

" In South and Southeast Asia, the HIV prevalence is 0.3 percent. In sub-Saharan

Africa, it's five percent, " Djoerban said.

The Bali congress will also cover topics ranging from HIV risks among

transgenders and migrant workers to biomolecular advances in HIV treatment and

the impact of the financial crisis on those with HIV/AIDS.

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