ASEAN to issue declaration on AIDS

ASEAN to issue declaration on AIDS

PHILIPPINES: Leaders of Southeast Asian nations will discuss and issue a declaration on ways to deal with widespread AIDS cases in the region during their summit in Brunei next month, a Philippine official said in Manila on Thursday.

The top-level attention on AIDS highlights the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' growing concern with the rapid spread of the disease taking a drastic toll on the youth and which some officials fear could impede development as well.

Heads of state of the 10-member ASEAN will hold their annual summit in the oil-rich sultanate of Brunei on Nov. 5.

Some 36 million people around the world are living with HIV, according to the United Nations AIDS agency, UNAIDS. In Asia, about 6.4 million people carry the virus. --AP