WB warns Thailand of new AIDS risk

WB warns Thailand of new AIDS risk

BANGKOK (AP): The World Bank warned that Thailand risks a resurgence of an HIV/AIDS epidemic that has already infected nearly one million people, a Thai newspaper reported on Sunday.

The World Bank report, due for official release next month, highlights the impact of a decline in condom use, particularly among young men who visit sex workers and have casual sex partners, the Bangkok Post reported.

In the early 1990s, Thailand suffered the most rapid spread of HIV/AIDS in the world, but won international acclaim for its efforts to bring the epidemic to heel through prevention campaigns and promotion of condom use.

Cases of HIV -- the virus that causes AIDS -- also continues to rise among pregnant women, up from 1.74 percent in 1997 to 2.02 percent in 1999, the report said.