AIDS epidemic seen threatening `Asian promise'<\/p>\n
MANILA (Reuter): The AIDS epidemic is threatening growth and
\nprogress in booming Asia, where 30 percent of world HIV cases are
\nprojected to be found by 2000, speakers at an Asian Development
\nBank-sponsored meeting said yesterday.<\/p>\n
They said a large commercial sex industry and intravenous drug
\nuse were hastening the spread of the disease in the region, known
\nas the world's engine of growth.<\/p>\n
Although the severity of the threat of AIDS varies from
\ncountry to country, the disease is bound to have serious economic
\nand social costs, they said.<\/p>\n
"The HIV epidemic is the enemy of 'Asian promise'," ADB Vice-
\nPresident Peter Sullivan said at the start of a meeting of the
\nADB and the UN Development Program (UNDP) on the economic
\nimplications of HIV\/AIDS.<\/p>\n
"It threatens much of the progress that has been made over the
\npast two decades and endangers economic growth in countries that
\nhave introduced growth-enhancing, economy-wide reforms only
\nrecently," he said.<\/p>\n
In Asia, the first cases of acquired immune deficiency
\nsyndrome were reported only in the mid-1980s but by 1991 over one
\nmillion cases of infection with the AIDS-causing human immuno-
\ndeficiency virus were estimated to have already occurred, ADB
\neconomist Myo Thant said in a paper.<\/p>\n
He said that, while there was wide disparity between estimates
\nand actual numbers, a clear trend showed the epidemic was moving
\nsteadily towards developing countries, particularly those in
\nAsia.<\/p>\n
Thant said two million of the total 14 million HIV cases in
\nthe world were from South and Southeast Asia, adding that the
\nsituation was likely to become even more severe in the future.<\/p>\n
Sex industry<\/p>\n
He cited World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 10
\nmillion, or 30 percent, of the 30 million to 40 million HIV cases
\nworldwide by year 2000 might be from Asia alone.<\/p>\n
India and Thailand, Thant said, had fewer than 1,000 HIV cases
\nin 1987. By 1993, the infections were estimated to have grown to
\nat least one million cases in India and half a million in
\nThailand.<\/p>\n
The HIV\/AIDS epidemic will force a re-thinking of the role of
\ntourism in economic development, Thant said.<\/p>\n
He said while not all tourism was sex-oriented, Asia would
\nneed to re-examine attitudes towards implicitly using the sex
\nindustry as a tourist attraction.<\/p>\n
This particularly applies to countries that are just beginning
\nto rely on tourism as a quick solution to earning foreign
\nexchange.<\/p>\n
Bhaichand Patel, UNDP officer-in-charge in the Philippines,
\nsaid HIV\/AIDS, more than a public-health problem, was a major
\nfactor in a country's socio-economic agenda.<\/p>\n
Citing a World Bank report, he said many of those who fell ill
\nand eventually died of AIDS in developing countries were from the
\neconomically active and productive group in society.<\/p>\n
Officials said although prevention could be costly for most of
\nthe developing countries, it was far cheaper to invest in
\npreventive activities than battling widespread AIDS.<\/p>\n
"For most Asian countries, the insurance premium on the AIDS
\nepidemic when compared to the costs and strains imposed on the
\nnation state is the lesser of two evils," Thant said.<\/p>",
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