Growing HIV Rates Among Gay, Bisexual Men in Asia

The AIDS virus is spreading rapidly among gay and bisexual men in
Asia as younger people shun condoms and authorities fail to increase
awareness of the disease, health officials said Friday.

The
epidemic will worsen dramatically in coming years unless there is
better education and stronger political will to combat the disease,
warned Massimo Ghidinelli, the World Health Organization's regional
adviser on HIV/AIDS.

His comments came at a news conference after a seminar in Hong Kong at which regional AIDS experts discussed the growing trend.

Asia
is believed to have the world's largest number of men who have sex with
other men, with a preliminary estimate of 10 million, according to WHO.

While
describing the figure as "extraordinary high," Ghidinelli said it still
appeared to be conservative because of the stigmatization of
male-to-male sex.

WHO said fragmentary information from the
region indicated a rapid spread of HIV among gay and bisexual men, but
that full data weren't available. The seminar was called to strengthen
efforts to study and address the problem, it said.

Ghidinelli said low condom use among younger men in male-to-male relationships was fueling the transmission of HIV.

"Younger
men engaging in sex with men are entering into a sexual arena without
the same level of awareness and without taking the same level of
protection that the older generation was taking," Ghidinelli told a
news conference.

Ghidinelli said the AIDS experts agreed at the
conference to set up a regional task force to collect information on
male-to-male transmission and to strengthen measures to fight the
disease.

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