E-drug: The hidden epidemic: A situation assessment
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[Copied from SIGN. KM]
The Hidden Epidemic' A Situation Assessment
Get the full report on the web at: http://www.chr.asn.au/Rapidassessment.pdf
We are most keen for SIGN readers to be informed of this new publication
which is freely available on the Internet. Revisiting 'The Hidden Epidemic"
A Situation Assessment of Drug Use in Asia in the context of HIV/AIDS is the
world's most comprehensive overview of drug use and HIV/AIDS in Asia.
Yours truly
Gary Reid
Senior Research Officer
The Centre for Harm Reduction
The Burnet Institute
Yarra Bend Road
P.O. Box 254, Fairfield, Victoria
Australia 3078
Tele: 61 3 9282 2219
Fax: 61 3 9482 3123
Email: reid@burnet.edu.au
website: www.chr.asn.au
New Publication: Revisiting 'The Hidden Epidemic': A Situation Assessment of
Drug Use in Asia in the context of HIV/AIDS
Drug use and explosive AIDS epidemic in Asia
A massive rise in amphetamine type substances in the eastern Asian region;
new populations, especially young people, becoming involved with illicit
drugs and with their injection; continuing explosive epidemics of HIV among
different populations of injecting drug users; and rising numbers of people
with AIDS as a result of infection from sharing contaminated injecting
equipment; are the startling findings of the world's most comprehensive
review of drug use and AIDS in more than 20 countries.
The review, completed by the Centre for Harm Reduction, a unit of the Burnet
Institute, Melbourne, Australia, found that drug use had become one of the
major causes of the HIV epidemic in the Asia region.
The report also found enormous changes over recent years in production of
drugs and drug use.
Some other findings of the report:
* The opium industry of South East Asia's Golden Triangle with
Myanmar as its epicentre continues unabated
* Populations of drug users develop rapidly along trafficking routes,
creating new drug markets and HIV threats in host countries
* Drug injecting is spreading to all the countries and its popularity is
increasing * Professional injectors of illicit drugs operate in Pakistan,
India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Vietnam, Myanmar and Malaysia
* Indonesia could have up to 1 million drug injectors. In China it has been
estimated there are about 3.5 million drug injectors
* China has recently become a major producer of methamphetamines for
domestic use
* The use of ecstasy is gaining in popularity throughout the region as part
of the burgeoning dance party scene
* High proportion of drug injectors are infected with HIV in Myanmar (63%),
Vietnam (65%), China (70%), Thailand (50%), Indonesia (19%), Nepal (50% in
Kathmandu) and Iran (75%).
* Increasing numbers of Asian women are using drugs, and female drug
injectors are increasingly involved with commercial sex work
* Throughout the region the age of initiation into drug use is declining
young people are beginning to inject drugs even younger
* Most Asian governments are more concerned with the legal implications of
drug use rather than the public health implications of HIV/AIDS
The report has found that effective programs for HIV prevention among
injecting drug users and scaling-up of the response to meet the scale of the
epidemic are urgently required. Without immediate action Asia may become
home to the worst regional AIDS epidemic on earth.
Revisiting 'The Hidden Epidemic', full report available on the Internet:
http://www.chr.asn.au (under publications)