AIDS in Asia: Face the Facts - A Comprehensive Analysis of the AIDS Epidemic in Asia 2004

The Asia-Pacific region is home to 60% of the world’s population and to 19% of the men, women and children living with HIV in 2004. This amounts to infection rates that are low compared with some other continents, particularly Africa. But because the populations of many Asian nations are so huge, even low HIV prevalence means large numbers of people are living with HIV—some 5.2 million men, 2 million women and 168,000 children according to new estimates from UNAIDS/WHO. The Asia-Pacific region is vast and diverse, and HIV epidemics in the region share that diversity.

This report focuses largely on prevention of HIV among adults and adolescents. It focuses largely on East, South-East and South Asia, though it also includes information from some Central Asian nations, including Iran, as well as some of the developing countries of the Pacific.