The HIV/AIDS epidemic arrived later in Asia

South and South-East Asia
The HIV/AIDS epidemic arrived later in Asia, in the mid- to late-80s. In the early 1990’s
Thailand and India accounted for the majority of reported infections. In Bangkok, Thailand, HIV
prevalence among IDU increased from less than 1% in late 1987 to about 50% in 1990. In India,
high levels of HIV prevalence were found among sex workers tested in Mumbai. By 1992, a
number of countries were facing increasing numbers of infections. There were generally
concentrated in groups such as IDU and sex workers. By 1993, 10% to 30% of IDUs in Yunnan
Province, China were found to be infected with HIV.Thailand, which has experienced what is probably the best-documented epidemic in the
developing world, began showing evidence of a fall in new infections, especially among sex
workers and their clients. But Thailand is still one of the only three countries, including
Cambodia and Myanmar with HIV prevalence among 15-49 year olds over 1%.Most of the available epidemiological data indicate that the extensive spread of HIV started in
sub-Saharan Africa in the late 1970s. By the early 1980s, HIV was found in a geographic band
stretching from West Africa across to the Indian Ocean, the countries north of the Sahara and
those in the southern cone of the continent remained apparently untouched. By 1987, the
epidemic began gradually to move south. Some of the most explosive epidemics have been seen
in Southern Africa. South Africa has the largest number of people living with HIV/AIDS in the
world, 5 million. Botswana and Swaziland have the highest prevalence levels, 38% and 33%
respectively. West Africa has been relatively less affected by HIV infection than other regions of
sub-Saharan Africa.
Uganda and Senegal represent two success stories. Uganda has brought estimated prevalence rate
down to 5% by the end of 2001 from an estimated peak of close to 14% in the early 1990s with
strong prevention campaigns। HIV prevalence has stabilized in Senegal at a relatively low level.
Tracking HIV in Africa: the systems
Pregnant women: the key data source
Virtually all countries in the WHO African Region have generalized epidemics, which are
defined as HIV/AIDS epidemics with at least 1% of pregnant women attending antenatal clinics
in the urban areas HIV infected. In most countries, surveillance systems primarily rely on
monitoring HIV prevalence among women attending antenatal clinics. HIV prevalence among
pregnant women is a good indicator of the spread of the epidemic in the general population, as the
level of HIV infection among pregnant women is close to the prevalence in the general
population of men and women 15-49 years. Additional sources of data on the course of the
epidemic are prevalence surveys in specific risk populations (such as sex workers or mobile
populations), routine screening of blood donors, and patients with sexually transmitted diseases
(STDs), and tuberculosis (TB) patients.