Bhassorn Limanonda
Associate Professor,
College of Population Studies, Chulalongkorn University
Thailand

What is the situation of HIV/AIDS in the region?

There are three classifications:
Group 1: Represents the AIDS epicentre in Asia and includes Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, India
Group 2: Countries where infection rate is relatively low but risk behaviour creates potential for rapid increase - Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Nepal, Philippines, Southern China, Vietnam Group 3 comprises countries where infection rate is low but is increasing. This includes Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan and China, including Yunnan.

In many countries, commercial sex work has been blamed for the rapid spread of the epidemic in the region. In 1966, the ESCAP (Economic and Social Commission for Asia-Pacific) provided the justification as to why we should pay close attention to cross-border travel and the transmission of HIV in Asia as follows: -zero preference data from Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar indicated that population in cross -border areas has higher rates of HIV infection-environment near borders encourages visitors to engage in risky behaviour which they would not necessarily practise when they are at home. -in border crossing areas, male travelers normally outnumber women so the gender disparity creates an unusual demand for commercial sex -women living in the cross-border areas are in significantly higher risk of HIV since their sexual partners are mobile men.

-it is difficult to establish how education serves the population in the border areas; -border-crossing travelers and commuters will create a transmission bridge to the larger towns further inland and accelerate the progress of the epidemic.

In the Asian region, many countries share borders. These countries are often grouped together because of geographic conditions and economic development policy. For instance, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in 1967, which has grown to 10 member countries, has six countries which share borders.

Due to the fact that along borders of some of these countries, travel documents are not strictly required and movement is less restricted. Therefore the volume of population movement there has been substantial.

It is a common understanding that all forms of population movement help accelerate the spread of HIV and AIDS but it depends much on the degree and type and of risk behaviour of the travelers.

The environment of these mobile population encounter in their travel in border crossing areas such as low-cost drinking places and low-fee commercial sex may be a more significant HIV risk factor that their own behaviour.

The growth of cross-border tourism and business is unavoidable, including a booming of the sex services business. Close contact between travelers of all types and commercial sex workers have opened routes for the rapid spread of HIV into several directions within and outside the countries.

This is because both parties could well be the agents of transmission or be the recipient of the virus. They can pass the virus on to their partners once they return to their hometowns or countries of origin.

(Excerpts from a presentation at the seminar 'On the Philippine Migration Trail: Migration and Reproductive Health', February 2001, Bangkok, Thailand)