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| Saturday, 6 December 2003 |
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by Chloe Griffiths South Asia should be bracing itself for the possibility of a huge HIV/AIDS epidemic. This was the shocking message sent out this week by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and reiterated by the Prime Minister's Secretary, Bradman Weerakoon. The UNDP released their first ever Regional South Asia Human Development Report on Wednesday to coincide with World AIDS day on December 1st and it sent out a hard-hitting statement. Although South Asia is currently less affected than some other regions, particularly sub-Saharan Africa, it appears the threat is looming large on the horizon. Of all the countries in this region Sri Lanka has currently got one of the lowest percentages of HIV/AIDS affected victims, with only 0.1 thus far. This compares with Nepal who has a 0.6% prevalence and India which has the highest in the area with a shocking 0.8%. Indeed it is believed that South Asia has 10% of the world's inflicted with more than an estimated 6 million people already infected and 4 million in India alone. This gives a sense of the magniture yet this figure is at best still guesswork. The disease is still relatively new to the region whilst under-reporting is high due to ignorance and stigmatization and the numbers are rapidly increasing. Despite Sri Lanka's relatively low levels at present the report strongly emphasises that it is complacency which could be the biggest killer. This was highlighted by Mr. Weerakoon who stated "HIV and AIDS is an issue of regional importance. It is not a question of when this epidemic will hit South Asia but how massive it will be. We need to stop it now." Mr. Weerakoon spoke of the vital role that the state and policy makers must play in the future prevention and treatment of the disease and the desperate need to mainstream these concerns in future policy decisions. He commented that a crucial start had been made with the important messages sent out by both the President and the Prime Minister on Worlds AIDS day at the BMICH. "It is the first time all the political parties have joined to make this statement. It is of the highest political importance." HIV/AIDS must be identified as a disease which is not only a public health concern but will carry huge connotations for all aspects of social life, reversing human development and having huge economic consequences such as reducing activity by as much as 4% and labour productivity by up to 50%. Conversely however, it is human development which helps to halt and prevent the prevalence of this killer disease. The high levels of development in Australia and New Zealand means they have one of the lowest levels of affected patients in the world at only 0.1% |
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