Abstract

PIP: In just 3 months in 1991, WHO increased its estimate of the number of people infected with HIV in all of Asia 2 fold (500,000-1 million). By 2000, WHO estimated that there will be 250,000 new cases each year in India and Thailand alone where HIV infection has spread most rapidly. A professor from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences reported that AIDS is no longer restricted to the urban areas of Madras. Bombay, Calcutta, and Delhi. It spread to Manipur which is located on the border of the Golden Triangle, a drug trading area, where an especially high rate existed in the early 1990s. For example, in October 1989, 1 blood sample from this area tested positive for HIV, but by June 1990, 54% of 1500 blood samples tested positive. Thailand already had a serious AIDS epidemic so with a high HIV rate in Manipur, India and Thailand, AIDS could spread to Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, and southern China. 1 major mode of HIV transmission in India is prostitution. Harsh economic conditions often force women into it. Often they are coerced. Since condom use has been promoted as a method of family planning, prostitutes have not considered using condoms to protect themselves and their clients from AIDS. An Indian sociologist advocated targeting truck drivers since the prostitutes do not have the power to demand safe sex and truck drivers spread it into rural areas. The Thailand, the number of HIV infected people climbed from 300,000 in December 1990 to 400,000 by mid 1991. Intravenous drug use, (males make up 90% of drug addicts) was the main mode of HIV transmission in Bangkok. These males than transmit HIV to prostitutes. In mid 1991, however, 92% of drug addicts in Bangkok practice safe injection techniques. Seroprevalence in diverse Thai groups included 6% of men with sexually transmitted diseases, 15% of prostitutes, and 6% of army recruits.