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.