Alarming rise in HIV in Asia
An unprecedented rise in HIV cases among men who have sex with men in Asia has alarmed public health officials.
The revelations were made in a report by TREAT Asia released at the Australasian Society for Infectious Diseases Annual Scientific Conference 2009 last week.
TREAT Asia director Dr Annette Sohn said the epidemic among men who have sex with men was a serious crisis that demands greater resources for prevention, treatment and research.
The data we do have clearly shows us that unless we change the course of the HIV epidemic among MSM in Asia, it will overtake new infection rates in every other high-risk group in the region, Sohn said.
Surveys presented at the conference show that men who have sex with men are 18.7 times more likely to be exposed to HIV than the general population.
Some 300 scientists, academics and medical practitioners gathered in the Hunter Valley for the five-day conference last week.
