AIDS patient

The United Nations AIDS organisation has published a report showing the number of people infected with HIV/AIDS is higher than ever. Although infection rates in Asia are lower than in some other parts of the world, more than eight million people in the region are infected. This report from Elizabeth Blunt.

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One recent study in China found at least half of female drug users had engaged in commercial sex, and a high percentage of male drug users typically frequent prostitutes. A study in Surubaya, Indonesia, found that 80% of male injecting drug users bought sex, and that hardly any of them used a condom.

So the AIDS virus spreads through the use of dirty needles, and is then passed on to prostitutes, who infect their other clients. The point at which those other clients go home and pass the virus to their wives and girlfriends is the moment at which the disease moves out of the high risk groups into the general population, and this is the greatest risk in Asia.

The report says that far more efforts are needed to target high risk groups and encourage safer behaviour; but in Indonesia, for instance, if you carry a clean needle the police are likely to arrest you for being a drug addict; a woman carrying a condom will be arrested as a prostitute, all of which just encourages the spread of the disease.

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AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome)
a serious disease caused by the HIV virus, which destroys the body's natural protection from illness

inexorably
continually, without the possibility of it being stopped

reducing its rates of infection
lowering the number of people infected with the virus

vulnerable groups
groups of people who are at higher risk of being affected

association
connection

prostitution
the act of supplying sex for money

typically frequent
usually go to

a condom
a thin rubber covering that a man can wear on his penis to stop a woman from becoming pregnant, or to protect him and his partner against some diseases

needles
very thin pieces of hollow metal used when taking blood from the body or putting drugs in

to target
to give a lot of attention to

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