Asian tsunami has raised AIDS risk - UN

KOBE, Japan, Monday (Reuters) The devastating tsunami that struck Asia last year has left several countries that were already vulnerable to AIDS at even greater risk of the deadly disease, United Nations officials said on Monday.

One in four new infections occurs in Asia, home to more than half the world's people, and 1,500 in the region die from the disease each day. Another 12 million could be infected over the next five years if prevention programmes are not stepped up.

Deadly waves caused by the Dec. 26 earthquake slammed into shores around the Indian Ocean, leaving 232,000 dead or missing and making millions homeless, many of them under conditions ripe for spreading HIV/AIDS.

She said that while HIV rates had not yet been seen to rise in any of the worst-hit regions, recent surveys had shown an increase in both pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases.

Officials and aid workers said the risk of AIDS in areas struck by the tsunami had increased due to the breakdown in basic services and health-care systems, which left many people without access to condoms.