HIV prevention in Asia

Asia has been the base for some extremely successful large-scale HIV prevention programmes. Well-funded, politically supported campaigns in Thailand and Cambodia have led to significant declines in HIV-infection levels, and HIV prevention aimed at sex workers and their clients has played a large role in these achievements. The Indian state of Tamil Nadu is another area where HIV prevention has had a substantial impact. Here high-profile public campaigns discouraged risky sexual behaviour, made condoms more widely available, and provided STI testing and treatment for people who needed them. These efforts resulted in a large decline in risky sex.¹⁵

Successes such as these prove that interventions can change the course of Asia's AIDS epidemics. As HIV infection rates continue to grow however, it's clear that more needs to be done. The groups most at risk of becoming infected – sex workers, IDUs, and MSM – are all too often being neglected. For instance, although injecting drug use is one of the most common HIV transmission routes in Asia, it is estimated that less than one in ten IDUs in the region have access to prevention services.¹⁶ Similarly men who have sex with men are overlooked and poorly monitored by most governments, even though it is firmly established that this group play a significant role in some countries’ epidemics.¹⁷

Due to the stigma that often surrounds those groups most at risk of HIV infection, coverage of HIV testing and counselling services in South-East Asia remains very low. An estimated 0.1% of the adult population in the region received testing and counselling in 2005.¹⁸

Progression is being made in China though where free HIV testing has been made available at more than 3000 sites in all 31 provinces of the country.
Testing services in India have also been expanded recently with about 3600 testing centres now open to the public.¹⁹

Despite efforts being made across the region, more still needs to be done to make testing available to those most at risk.

The coverage of prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) services is also very low in Asia. In South-East Asia, less than 5% of pregnant women are offered HIV counselling and testing.²⁰ Across East, South and South-East Asia, the proportion of HIV-infected pregnant women receiving ARVs is just 5%.²¹

See our HIV prevention around the world page for more about efforts to stem the spread of HIV in Asia and other parts of the world.