HANOI, July 1 (Xinhuanet) -- The AIDS epidemic in Asia continues to outpace the regional countries' response, said a press release issued Friday by the Hanoi-based Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) office.

    "The risk of AIDS spreading further in Asia and the Pacific, home to over 8 million people living with HIV, is now higher than ever," Peter Piot, UNAIDS Executive Director, was quoted as saying in the release.

    If Asian countries do not rise up to the challenge, 12 million people in the region will become newly infected in the next 5 years, he noted, adding that the rapid expansion of the epidemic is mainly due to low condom use, limited access to HIV testing, gender inequality, and widespread injecting drug use and sex work.

    HIV care and prevention services are not currently reaching allvulnerable populations, such as sex workers, gays, injecting drug users, migrants and young people, said the release. HIV preventionprograms in South and Southeast Asia in 2003 reached only 19 percent of sex workers, 5 percent of injecting drug users, and no more than 2 percent of gays.

    Funding for AIDS in the region is still not enough to slow the spread of the epidemic, although it is expected to increase to 1.6billion US dollars in 2007 from 681 million dollars in 2003, said the release. Meanwhile, gender inequality mixed with HIV is placing Asian women in double jeopardy.

    To prevent the epidemic, the UNAIDS called on the countries' leaders to consider four key recommendations, including considering tackling AIDS in Asia and Pacific a global priority, turning commitment into action, adopting a comprehensive approach that focuses on scaling up HIV prevention, care and treatment programs, and ensuring that civil society groups are part of national AIDS responses. Enditem