Condom campaigns

Condom campaigns

Indonesia - which the UN says has the fastest-growing HIV epidemic in Asia - has marked the day with the launch of its first national campaign to promote the use of condoms, which currently account for less than 1 per cent of contraception use.

The campaign in the world's most populous Muslim nation aims to remove the stigma of condom use.

Stigma is also a concern for campaigners in South Korea, where the number of HIV/AIDS cases stood at 5,155 as of the end of September, the Korea Centre for Disease Control and Prevention said.

The rate of new infections has been falling from 14.2 per cent of cases in 2004 to 11.5 per cent in 2005 and 10.4 per cent in 2006.

But experts cautioned the real number of HIV/AIDS infections would be much higher as South Korea has a strong social prejudice against the disease.

"Fixing the social prejudice is almost as urgent as fighting the disease itself," said Professor O Myung-Don of the Seoul National University Hospital.

Chinese health minister Chen Zhu earlier raised the estimate of the number of HIV/AIDS cases in China to about 700,000.

To raise awareness of the disease, UNAIDS and the China Red Cross Foundation have organised the "Great AIDS Walk" on the Great Wall for Sunday.

US President George W Bush has also marked the day by repeating his call on US lawmakers to double support for anti-AIDS program to $34 billion over five years.