ASEAN discusses AIDS problem

ASEAN discusses AIDS problem

SINGAPORE (AFP): The Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) opened talks here yesterday on battling the rising AIDS
problem in the region, which officials said was increasingly
linked with the illegal migrant labor problem.

"We need to develop real programs to combat this problem of
illegal migrant labor which is going to be the main cause of AIDS
in the region," declared Wiput Phoolcharoen, director of the AIDS
division in Thailand's health ministry.

Phoolcharoen was speaking to reporters as the ASEAN Task Force
on the acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) launched its
fourth meeting to, among other things, implement regional
projects to fight the disease.

According to a report circulated at the talks, the estimated
number of people infected with the human-immunodeficiency virus
(HIV) that causes AIDS could reach six million in economically-
booming ASEAN by 2000 and the number of AIDS patients could reach
100,000.

Phoolcharoen said that a common program to check the spread of
AIDS by illegal migrant workers should feature among the projects
to be adopted by the task force comprising officials from ASEAN
states Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore
and Thailand.

"The illegal labor problem and AIDS have become (too)
complicated to be dealt (with) by individual countries. We have
to work together to tackle this, " said Phoolcharoen, among the
delegates to the Singapore meeting.

He added that ASEAN was trying to devise a mechanism to
implement joint anti-AIDS programs to ensure that "we don't just
only talk and dream about these projects."

Apart from Thailand -- with one of the world's worst AIDS
incidence rates -- Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei are among the
ASEAN states encountering illegal migrant labor problems,
officials said without giving statistics.

The illegal workers either come from neighboring Southeast
Asian countries or from South Asian countries and the problem
could worsen because of increasing labor demand to cope with
rapid economic growth.

"Of course this is a concern," said Tahir Arif, director of
disease control in Malaysia's health ministry when asked about
the link between AIDS and illegal migrant labor. "Normally they
go underground, unless they fall ill and get hospitalized," he
said.

S.C. Emmanuel, chairwoman of the Singapore meeting, said AIDS
was a serious problem in the region and joint collaboration had
to be stepped up to combat the scourge.

"Drawing up viable and effective solutions requires concerted
and united efforts to cross borders, social-cultural practices
and consequences from economic development," she said.

In ASEAN, she added, heterosexual transmission remained the
most common mode of transmission of HIV, while the "most
vulnerable" age group was 20-39.