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  • Title: Who'll have to pay? The cost of dealing with AIDS in Asia will run into the billions.
    Journal: Asiaweek; 1993 Nov 03; ():26-8. PubMed ID: 12287218.
    Abstract:
    In September 1993, at a meeting funded by the Asian Development Bank and the United Nations Development Program, researchers, economists, and government health officials from China, India, Indonesia, South Korea, Burma, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Thailand met to discuss the economic effects of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) on Asia. The World Health Organization (WHO) places the estimate of the number of people in India who are infected with HIV at around 1 million. However, Jacob John of Vellore Medical College (who first discovered the virus in India) places the estimate at higher than 2.5 million with an increase to 9-18 million by the year 2000. Charles Myers of Harvard University, Mechai Viravaidya of Bangkok's Population and Community Development Association, and Stasia Obremskey ( a health and development consultant) predict 3.4-4.3 million Thais will be infected by that year. According to Obremskey, the number of AIDS cases will reach 650,000, of which 500,000 will die. Health care for full-blown AIDS costs $1016/yr, while lost productivity due to early death costs $22,000 per victim. Myers, Mechai and Obremskey state that Thailand could prevent 3.5 million cases and save $5.1 billion, if people ceased high-risk behavior and the treatment of sexually transmitted diseases was given the highest priority. In the Philippines there are only 416 reported cases of HIV and AIDS, but Dennis Maducduc of the Department of Health AIDS program states that Filipinos are secretive about this, and Orville Solon of the University of the Philippines suggests there are 100 cases for each reported case. Solon believes $15 million has been lost due to infection and death of overseas contract workers who account for 8% of the country's foreign exchange earnings. New studies in Africa, where, as in Thailand, mortality is less than predicted, suggest a less virulent strain of HIV. This apparent fact and prevention, especially through the use of condoms, are the best hopes for Asia in the prevention and control of HIV and AIDS.
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