A rchive Date
[ 04-05-2004 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ U.N ]

http://www.web.amnesty.org/mavp/av.nsf/pages/AIDS_regions

World AIDS Day - December 1st, 2003

Overview of the Situation of HIV/AIDS in Different Regions of the World

An estimated 40 million people are living with HIV in the world

During 2003, around 3 million people died of AIDS-related illnesses

Every day an estimated 14,000 people get infected

Information on extent of the HIV pandemic comes from UNAIDS unless other sources are cited. Human rights information is from Amnesty International.

Latin America and the Caribbean

According to UNAIDS, the epidemic is in danger of spreading rapidly and widely if effective response is not taken. Over 2 million people are living with HIV in the region. Aids-related illnesses killed more than 100,000 people during 2003.

HIV/AIDS is the leading cause of death in some countries.

Amnesty International

revealed, in a report in October, that the spread of HIV/Aids in prisons in the

Bahamas

is extremely worrying. The most recent available statistics indicate that around 20 percent of the prison-intake population is infected with HIV and 32% with TB. In the Bahamas, one in every 200 inhabitants is in prison; the 14th highest rate in the world [

International Centre for Prison Studies

]. The conditions are very poor and there are insufficient medical care or drugs. The wider population is also at risk of infection from released prisoners [

Bahamas: Forgotten Detainees

].

A study in three urban prisons in

Honduras

revealed an HIV infection rate of almost 7 percent among male prisoners. Prisons are very difficult places in which to maintain personal protection and fewer than 10 percent of the prisoners reported regular condom use during sex within the prison.

Over the past decade, the Caribbean has quickly established notoriety for having the second highest incidence of reported HIV/AIDS cases after Sub-Saharan Africa. In individual countries in the Caribbean, infection rates range from 5.2% in

Haiti

, and 4.1% in

The Bahamas

, to 0.71% in

Jamaica

[

ttp://www.sun-sentinel.com/graphics/essays/aids/

] HIV/AIDS has become the leading cause of death in the 15-44 years age bracket in the Caribbean. [

http://www.worldbank.org/wbi/B-SPAN/sub_thompson_hivaids.htm

] By the end of 2001, more than half a million people in the region were infected; 42,000 had died, and a quarter of a million children had been orphaned. The prevalence rate exceeds 1% in 12 countries in the region. Regional and global efforts to control and handle the epidemic have taken on new drive and initiative in the past decade, but its grip over the region remains disturbing.

In countries like in

Jamaica

Trinidad and Tobago

, prevention efforts are undermined by discriminatory laws against

homosexuality

The spread of HIV through the sharing of injection drug equipment is growing in several countries, for example in

Argentina

Brazil

Chile

and

Puerto Rico

.

However, there are also positive signs.

Brazil

has one of the highest rates for the delivery of free anti-retroviral medication in the world, dramatically reducing hospitalisation rates and raising the level of health of people living with HIV. One effect of this has been to reduce the stigma of living with the virus.

Asia

According to

UNAIDS

, there are about 7.4 million people living with HIV, while an estimated 500,000 people died of AIDS-related illnesses during 2003. The epidemic continues to spread.

India

and

China

have the highest number of people living with HIV/AIDS in the region. India was estimated to have 3.9 million people living with AIDS in 2001, but some reports suggest that it has now overtaken South Africa as the country with the highest number in the world.

At the end of 2002, the Ministry of Health in China estimated that there were more than 1 million people with HIV/AIDS in that country. This must be regarded as a conservative estimate and, in any event, numbers will have continued to escalate in the period since.

Throughout the region, injecting drug use is a mechanism for transmission of the virus. Sex workers and homosexuals are also high risk groups.

The region suffers from serious localised epidemics like in Henan province in

China

, where

Amnesty International

has criticized the government for harassing health workers, refusing access to treatment and for withholding crucial information from the people, impeding their ability to protect themselves. [

China: Summary of human rights concerns

] In an interview with Amnesty International, former prisoner of conscience and AIDS activist,

Wan Yanhai

, says that it is very difficult to work on HIV/Aids since you risk political persecution.

Amnesty International

has expressed concern several times over the harsh clampdowns on crime in

China

, including those against injecting drug users and sex workers. If a group believes they are at risk of human rights violations and harassment from the authorities, they are less likely to seek treatment for HIV/AIDS.

Human Rights Watch

expressed the same concerns in a recent report and called on the government to work together with the drug users and sex workers on HIV prevention and AIDS care.

China's

health minister said recently that health personnel have started treating poor people living with HIV/AIDS with free drugs and plan to expand the programme to all those who tested positive.

Amnesty International

welcomes this step, but believes that the measures taken will not be effective if real political support and safeguards are not guaranteed to people working with HIV/AIDS, if stigma is not addressed and if prison conditions are not improved.

Amnesty International

has expressed concern over harassments of health workers working in HIV/AIDS education and prevention in

India

. Programs that provide information, condoms, and HIV testing to persons who engage in high-risk behaviour are crucial to preventing the further spread of the disease in the country. Such programs are, however, undermined by police harassment and abuse of HIV/AIDS outreach workers. [

Take Action

]

There are indications that unsafe sex is increasing among young people in

Thailand

. Half of new infections in Thailand now seem to occur among wives and sexual partners of men who were infected years ago.

Middle East and North Africa

According to UNAIDS, available data indicates that HIV infections are increasing. An estimated 600,000 people are living with HIV/Aids and 45,000 died due to the epidemic in 2003. However, there is no systematic surveillance, which makes it difficult to see the correct trends. Social and cultural conservatism continue to hamper adequate responses.

A significant increase has been documented among infecting drug users. In

Iran,

one percent of the 200,000-300,000 drug users, most of whom are men, are living with HIV. Many share injection equipment and it is believed that many have extra-marital sexual relations. Condoms are rarely used. Ten percent of the prisoners in Iran are believed to inject drugs, with many sharing needles.

Other vulnerable groups in the region are sex workers and men who have sex with men.

Amnesty International

has documented serious discrimination against gay men in countries in the region. This is a big obstacle for the prevention and treatment of HIV/Aids. People who are afraid of being stigmatized, discriminated and harassed are less likely to seek treatment and help.

Amnesty International has several times criticized the government in

Egypt

for their discrimination, persecution and imprisonment of men said by the authorities to be homosexual. Dozens of men are imprisoned in Egypt because of their actual or perceived sexual orientation. Although same-sex sexual relations are not explicitly prohibited under Egyptian legislation, the charge of "habitual debauchery" is applied to consensual sexual relations between adult men, which is thus effectively criminalized. [

Egypt - Appeal Case

]

In

Iran

homosexuality

is criminalized and those convicted may be subject to the death penalty.

Eastern Europe and Central Asia

According to UNAIDS, Eastern Europe and Central Asia is the region that is experiencing the fastest growing epidemic in the world. At least 1.2 million people are infected and, during 2002, the epidemic claimed 25,000 lives. However, the registered HIV numbers are most likely under-estimated.

Injecting drug users are by far the biggest group struck by the virus and this group includes people as young as 13 years old. The increase in the use of drugs appears to be correlated with socio-economic changes that have caused high unemployment and left increasing numbers of people living in poverty.

Amnesty International

is very concerned about harsh prison conditions in

Russia

, including serious overcrowding, poor hygiene and malnutrition, which amounts to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. These prison conditions contribute to the spread of infectious diseases, such as HIV and TB. This affects both the prison population and others with whom prisoners come into contact following their release. According to the authorities, 92,000 people in the prison population have tuberculosis and 33,600 are infected with HIV [

HIV/AIDS in the Russian Federation

Amnesty International

calls on the Russian authorities to initiate a program to improve prison conditions, including the provision of medical care, and to protect prisoners from violence, including rape, by other prisoners that might lead to HIV-infection [

Russian Federation: The Denial of Justice

].

Prison conditions also raise great concerns in other countries, such as the Baltic States. According to UNAIDS, there has been a major outbreak in

Lithuania

in one of its prisons, where 248 prisoners (15 percent of the total) were diagnosed as being HIV positive during the period May to August, 2002.

The epidemic is growing in

Uzbekistan

Kazakhstan

Georgia

Tajikistan

, as well as in other parts of the region.

There are high rates of sexually-transmitted infections in the region, which indicates widespread practice of unsafe sex. Awareness and knowledge of HIV/AIDS remains low.

Sub-Saharan Africa

Sub-Saharan Africa is the worst affected region in the world. According to UNAIDS, over 26 million people are infected and an estimated 2.3 million died of AIDS-related illnesses during 2003. Ten million young people, between the ages of 15 and 24, and almost 3 million people under the age of 15 are living with HIV.

Women now constitute nearly 60 percent of people living with HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa, according to the Executive Director of UNAIDS, Dr Peter Piot [20 November 2003].

In four countries, the epidemic has reached a scarcely imaginable level: Twenty-five percent or more of the adults in

Botswana

Leshoto

Swaziland

and

Zimbabwe

are infected. The situation has also deteriorated due to the food crises in the latter three countries. At the same time, the pandemic impedes the possibility of men, women and children to produce food. The political climate and lack of respect for human rights in some countries does not help, on the contrary, it fuels the spread of HIV in this region. Protection of human rights is crucial in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

South Africa

has, for a long time, suffered from a very high percentage of people being infected with HIV/AIDS, while the government has simultaneously refused to respond adequately to the pandemic. According to UNAIDS, 5 million people were infected by the end of 2001, including 250,000 children under 15. The majority were women; 660,000 children are now AIDS orphans.

However, the

South African

government announced recently that they would provide anti-retroviral drugs on national scale to people living with HIV. This followed sustained campaigning by the

Treatment Action Campaign

, health professionals and other civil society organisations.

Amnesty International

welcomes this step, but continues to monitor developments to see how implementation takes place in practice.

In September 2003,

Amnesty International

and

Human Rights Watch

highlighted in a submission to the authorities in South Africa the necessity to improve access to justice in its response to rape and sexual offences. Forty percent of rape survivors in the country are girls under 18. In the context of the explosive HIV/AIDS epidemic, a rape may be a death sentence. [

Read the submission

]

In several countries, the effects of current or past wars seriously impact on the problem of addressing HIV/AIDS. These countries include

Rwanda

Burundi

Democratic Republic of Congo

Liberia

and

Sierra Leone

.

The problem of AIDS orphans in imposing enormous strains on societies throughout the continent. Basic services such as education and health are threatened by the illness and deaths of so many teachers and health carers.

On the positive side,

Uganda

has one of the lowest HIV growth rates in sub-Saharan Africa. This is a result of government policy to encourage the distribution and promotion of condoms, counselling, advice on safer sex, delayed first intercourse, and fewer sex partners.

Young people were encouraged to use condoms as a preventive measure. However, these efforts are put at risk by the situation of Ugandan women who remain vulnerable to domestic violence and the associated risk of HIV/AIDS that accompanies such violence.

Western Europe

According to UNAIDS, 15,000 people are living with HIV/AIDS in the region and 5,000 died of AIDS-related illnesses during 2002.

Unsafe sex and widespread injecting drug use fuels the epidemic in the region. The introduction of antiretroviral therapy had dramatically reduced HIV/Aids mortality, although this trend has begun to level off during the last two years. There remains a need to restate the messages of safer sex and prevention in general in the Europe region.

North America

Data on HIV from the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which is based in the US, and Canada's Population and Public Health Branch (CIDPC) shows that the epidemic is increasing in some groups, while it decreases quite remarkably in others. In the

, there is a big difference between the numbers of persons living with HIV infection from one state to another.

In

Canada

, there has been a 17% increase of infections reported since 2000. And, in the US, among people aged between 35 and 44, the most affected group, the estimated number of diagnoses rose from 9,115 in 1999 to 9,450 last year.

The statistics reveals that there is a disparity between the different ethnic, age and gender groups. Men and young people are the majority of the infected in both countries. In the US, the infection rate amongst black people is higher than in any other community.

According to UNAIDS, the epidemic continues to shift into poorer and marginalized groups of society. African-Americans have accounted for an estimated 54 percent of new infections since 2000.

CDC estimates that 501,669 people died from the epidemic in the US during the period 1998-2002. The infection rate amongst children aged less than 13 years is in constant decline in the US.

According to a new report from

American Civil Liberties Union

, people with HIV and AIDS continue to be discriminated against across the country. Denial of medical treatment, violations of privacy, deprivation of parental rights, discrimination in the workplace, and refusal of admittance into nursing homes and residential facilities top the list of common hardships experienced by people with HIV/AIDS.

World Fact Book

(CIA

)

]

Cross-Indexed:

A Permanent Deathstyle

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