MEDIA RELEASE
Released By:
Downer
I am pleased to anounce that Australia is hosting a meeting of Australian and other HIV/AIDS experts in Bangkok today to develop coordinated solutions to the escalating problem of HIV/AIDS in the Mekong sub-region of Asia.
Asia is fast becoming the region with the most HIV/AIDS infections in the world. An estimated 7 million people in the region are infected with HIV and this figure is expected to double by 2000. In Cambodia, two per cent of the population is infected with HIV.
The consequences for Australia are enormous as the spread of the pandemic will have a major effect on development in our region. The impact and spread of the virus threaten the social and economic gains in many developing countries and will seriously undermine many of the gains made in improving child and infant mortality rates.
The Bangkok meeting will provide a framework for Australia as well as other donor countries and international aid agencies to undertake further, practical assistance in response to the immense demands of the HIV/AIDS pandemic on the region.
Recently an International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific recognised Australia's ability to implement successful national prevention strategies.
The theme of this year's World AIDS Day is 'Children living in a world with AIDS'. Although progress has been made in the fight against HIV, the epidemic increasingly affects all members of the global community. By the end of 1997, one million children aged under 15 are expected to be living with HIV with more than 90 per cent in developing countries.
Australia provides considerable support to HIV/AIDS prevention and care initiatives in our region, many of them focused on community education. Funding for major HIV/AIDS programs in Indonesia, Thailand, Papua New Guinea and the South Pacific will total $10 million in 1997/98. In addition, Australia is expected to spend $7 million on HIV/AIDS prevention and care programs in other regions, mainly in southern and eastern African countries.
Media contacts:
Innes Willox (Minister's Office) 02 6277 7500 / 0411 414 695
Sofie Anselmi (AusAID) 02 6206 4840