AIDS Sparks New Challenges In Asia

The Babylon, a swank bathhouse in the heart of Bangkok, is where Thailand's gay middle class come to flex their muscles, sip a cappuccino and, most of all, seek out anonymous sex.
But for AIDS activists, the dark hallways and tiny rooms where men gather also are a cause for concern that increasing unprotected sex in bathhouses and other gay hot spots across Asia is helping spread HIV.
"For those who go to a bathhouse, they want to just have fun. Sometime when they meet people, they are living in the moment and don't worry about a condom," said Phucid Junsaengsook of the Rainbow Sky Association of Thailand, which supports rights of sexual minorities.
"This really worries me," he said. "It's not about only one person's health. It's about everyone around them. I have a lot of friends who contracted HIV just because they had unprotected sex once."
The majority of new HIV infections across the Asia-Pacific region have in recent years been among sex workers and drug addicts. But new data suggested that HIV rates among gays and bisexuals are rising.
HIV rates among homosexual and bisexual men in the Thai capital Bangkok increased from 17 percent in 2003 to 28 percent last year, according to study by the Thai government and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Similar trends were found elsewhere in Asia, where 2005 surveys from the U.N.-funded surveillance network Monitoring the AIDS Pandemic, found that among men who have sex with men, the HIV positive amounted to 18.8 percent in Mumbai, India, and 12.8 percent in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
"This new data is an alert to Asia-Pacific nations," said Jeanine Bardon, regional director of U.S.-based Family Health International. "This suggest the epidemic has been there for sometime. You don't get 28 percent over night. It's a big alert for people to respond."
Bardon and others said Asia-Pacific countries have largely downplayed HIV rates among homosexuals. Some conservative societies, she said, are loath to acknowledge that men have sex with men while others are simply hostile to gays - including many countries which ban homosexual activities.
In countries such as Pakistan, the Philippines and Indonesia, homosexuals are not even recognized as a vulnerable group, said Prasada Rao, regional director for UNAIDS.
Policies in the Pacific island nation of Fiji are typical of the hurdles faced by homosexuals. There, homosexual acts are punishable by up to 14 years in jail and flogging under a rarely administered 1944 law. Last year, Fiji courts sentenced an Australian university lecturer and a Fijian man to two years in jail for homosexual acts - a ruling endorsed by the prime minister who labeled it a sin.
Malaysia's tough policies
Authorities in Malaysia - a conservative Muslim country where homosexuality is illegal - have in recent weeks cracked down on the gay community, raiding bathhouses and bars frequented by gays, activists said. Hardline Muslim groups have demanded authorities pass harsher penalties against homosexuality.
Gays are routinely arrested in India, where homosexual sex is a crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
The result of these heavy-handed policies, activists said, is that homosexuals miss out on safe sex messages and are unlikely to be distributed condoms. Many homosexuals also are harder to reach because they fear being exposed and discriminated against.
As a result, condom use among gays is lower than other risk groups and most homosexuals surveyed in many parts of Asia don't know unprotected sex is dangerous. Only 6 percent of homosexuals in Vietnam said they were at risk for HIV, the U.N.-funded AIDS survey found, and similar patterns were repeated in China, Pakistan, the Philippines and Nepal.
"HIV/AIDS intervention throughout Asia have focused attention on the issue of unprotected heterosexual sex, while maintaining a deathly silence on the subject of sex between males," the survey said.
Taking risks
Increased openness among gays in places like Thailand has also led to more risk-taking, Phucid and other activists said. Drugs, too, have played a part.
The Babylon - where men eye one another dressed in little more than a towel and sandals - demonstrates the challenges facing AIDS activists.
The bathhouse provides customers with one condom and safe sex posters hang from the locker room wall. But many of the men interviewed admitted the spontaneity and anonymity of the sex leads them to let their guard down.
"Sometimes when you use a condom, you don't get the same feeling," said a 36-year-old cosmetics executive who gave his name only as Ake. "Maybe I'll use a condom the first time. But if I trust somebody, then I won't use it."
Thai authorities are trying to change such attitudes as part of anti-AIDS campaign unveiled in February.
Featuring billboards and print ads that prominently feature a man's backside and the message "What Are You Thinking," the campaign encourages condom use and warns about the risks of unsafe sex. It will include voluntary counseling, treatment and condom distribution in parks, discos and other venues where gays gather.
"We don't think we are too late. There are still a lot of (homosexuals) who are not infected," said Sombat Thanprasertsuk, director of the Thailand's AIDS bureau.
"We want to protect this younger generation. They must be informed and made aware of this problem."
from Taiwan News