16 LATIN AMERICA

Regional Health Report 12-19 February

PA2002040493 Various Sources in Spanish
12-19 Feb 93

[Editorial Report] The following is a compilation of
regional health reports monitored by Panama Bureau from
12 to 19 February. Source follows in parentheses after each
item.

Costa Rica

Health authorities reported 117 new AIDS cases during
1992 and estimated there could be 5,850 people infected.
Total AIDS cases now amount to 433. (Panama City
ACAN in Spanish 2249 GMT 17 Feb 93)

Ecuador

A government health specialist reports that in the port of
Guayaquil, Ecuador’s largest and most populated city, 20
new AIDS cases are reported each month. (Madrid EFE in
Spanish 0013 GMT 13 Feb 93)

Guatemala

An official report has disclosed that about 35,000 Guate-
malans are positive HIV virus carriers. Over the past 12
years, 701 cases of AIDS have been reported, of which 134
have died and 363 have already developed symptoms. Up
to January 1993, according to the statistics, 145 of the
cases are women and 363 are men. According to the
authorities, 56.3 percent of the cases were infected through
heterosexual contact, 22.4 percent by homosexual contact,
and 7.8 percent through bisexuals. Guatemala City had 73
percent of the cases. (Mexico City NOTIMEX in Spanish
0018 GMT 17 Feb 93)

Regional Health Report 26 Feb-5 Mar

PA0603033793 Various Sources in Spanish
26 Feb-5 Mar 93

[Editorial Report] The following is a compilation of
reports on epidemics and diseases monitored by Panama
Bureau from 26 February to 5 March. Source follows in
parentheses after each item.

ECUADOR

Health authorities in Zamora Province have reported
three cases of acquired immune deficiency syndrome,

SPRS-TEP-93-007
23 March 1993

AIDS, in Nambija, due to the proliferation of clandestine
brothels. (Quito Voz de los Andes in Spanish 1200 GMT 2
Mar 93)

PANAMA

The Health Ministry has reported that through 31 January
1992, 431 cases of AIDS have been registered since 1984,
including 363 men and 68 women. The report added that
257 of those patients have died, of which 210 were men
and 47 were women. (Panama City EL SIGLO in Spanish
5 Mar 93 p 26)

GUATEMALA

Public Health Reports 629 Cases of AIDS

93WE0217A Guatemala City PRENSA LIBRE
in Spanish 5 Dec 92 p 5

{Text} Since the first case of AIDS was identified in
Guatemala, the Ministry of Public Health has officially
confirmed reports of 629 carriers of the virus in the
country. This statement was made yesterday by the head of
that ministry, Eusebio del Cid Peralta.

According to the official figures collected up to October of
this year, 300 asymptomatic individuals have tested posi-
tive, while 27 have been diagnosed with the lymphaden-
opathy associated with AIDS and 302 have been diagnosed
with full-blown AIDS.

Within the group of individuals reported with this disease,
the Ministry of Health reports that there have been 112
deaths, with the highest number being seen in 1990.

According to this same report, the largest number of
persons infected with the AIDS virus was reported last
year. Males are most affected within the total number of
cases, to the extent of more than twice the number of
females infected.

In a symbolic ceremony held yesterday, Minister of Public
Health Eusebio del Cid Peralta and the National Commis-
sion for the Prevention and Control of AIDS were pre-
sented with samples of a new postage stamp. It was
designed for use in the national postal system as a part of
the AIDS prevention campaign.

Postal Director General Gustavo Rosales presented the
first of these stamps, which went on sale throughout our
territory yesterday, to the minister of public health.



10 EAST ASIA

AIDS Cases Grow by 35,000 Yearly
93WE0181A Bangkok SIAM RAT in Thai 7 Dec 92 p 2

[Excerpt] Dr. Thira Sirisanthana, a doctor at the Chiang
Mai City Maharat Hospital, Faculty of Medicine, Chiang
Mai University, disclosed that it is predicted that within
the next six years, at least 35,000 people a year will come
down with full-blown cases of AIDS. In the past 18 months
alone, the Chiang Mai City Maharat Hospital has treated
380 people with full-blown cases of AIDS. Of these, 300
were women, and 80 were children. It is thought that other
hospitals in the north, particularly in Lampang, Phayao,
Chiang Rai, and Nan Provinces, will have a large number
of AIDS patients, too. The AIDS problem in Chiang Mai is
becoming more and more serious. If people want to see
what the situation in Bangkok will be like in another three
years, all they have to do is look at what is happening in
Chiang Mai today.

Dr. Thira said that the number of people with full-blown
cases of AIDS is increasing rapidly. But hospitals nation-
wide only have about 90,000 beds. We will soon reach the
point when we won't have enough beds for all the AIDS
patients and patients with other diseases. The large hospi-
tals won’t be able to accept patients. Thus, the state must
quickly formulate a plan to deal the AIDS problem.
This includes increasing the capabilities of the hospitals
and training doctors and nurses, particularly those who
work at general hospitals and community hospitals so that
they have the knowledge and confidence necessary to take
care of AIDS patients. This must be done in order to
reduce the burden on the large hospitals. Also, people must
be given information so that they can look after themselves
in their communities.

Chiang Rai AIDS Statistics

93WEO213E Bangkok NAEO NA PHU YING in Thai
16 Dec 92 p

{Excerpts] “Today, the incidence of AIDS among people in
the rural areas is twice as high as among urban dwellers.
The spread of the AIDS virus in Chiang Rai Province is
increasing, In 1989, only five percent of the people had the
AIDS virus. But tests done in 1992 showed that the
percentage had increased to 19 percent. This is just the
opposite of the trend in Chiang Mai Province, where the
percentage of people with AIDS has dropped from 14
percent to 11 percent.”

This statement was made by Dr. Thawisak Nopkaset, the
head of the Surgery Department, Naresuan Camp Hos-
pital. He was discussing the AIDS problem, which is now
spreading rapidly in both Thailand and other countries
and which was a topic of discussion at a seminar on
“Methods to Fight AIDS.” Chiang Rai Province held this
seminar at the Wiang Inn Hotel. Mr. Phira Mathathat, the
deputy governor of Chiang Rai Province, presided at the
conference. [passage omitted]

Chiang Rai Province is a tourist area. Both Thai and
foreign tourists like to visit this area. On average, about
500 to 600,000 tourists visit the province each year. This is
why AIDS poses a greater threat here than in other
provinces.

Studies conducted by the Ministry of Public Health have
found that nationwide, there are about 400,000 people

JPRS-TEP-93-007
23 March 1993

with the AIDS virus. In the next eight years, that number
will increase to 2.5 million people. In Thailand today, on
average, two more people contract the AIDS virus each
day. [passage omitted]

Studies conducted by American doctors have found that
AIDS is spreading at an alarming rate. In the past, the
AIDS epidemic was thought to be most serious in Africa.
But today, the AIDS epidemic is worst in South Asia. That
is, the incidence of AIDS in Asia is much higher. World-
wide, on average, another eight people come down with
AIDS every minute. [passage omitted]

Doctor Comments on AIDS-Infected Infants
ISN EO2I3E Bangkok THAI RAT in Thai 21 Dec 92
p

[Excerpt] Dr. Chumphon Wongprathip, the director of the
Children’s Hospital, said that the number of new-born
infants who have contracted the AIDS virus from their
mothers is increasing every day. This can be seen very
clearly at the Ratchawithi Hospital, which is the hospital
with the highest birth statistics in the country. Doctors at
the Children’s Hospital, who are involved in looking after
new-born infants, have found that the number of children
born to mothers with AIDS and who have contracted the
AIDS virus from their mothers is increasing rapidly.
Today, there are approximately 300 such children. But
these children do not have full-blown cases of AIDS. There
are about 30 children, ranging in age from six months to
three years, with full-blown cases of AIDS. About one in
every three children born to a women with AIDS will
contract the AIDS virus from its mother. In some of these
children, the disease develops very rapidly, but in others it
develops slowly. Those children in which the disease
develops rapidly usually die very quickly.

The director of the Children’s Hospital said that when
doctors first found infants who had contracted the AIDS
virus from their mothers, the mothers were usually drug
addicts. But later on, more and more were found to have
contracted the disease from mothers who were ordinary
housewives. From what he knows, in several provinces
such as Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai, there are many
infants with AIDS in the hospitals there. This is because in
those provinces, the incidence of AIDS among prostitutes
is very high. Also, large numbers of tourists visit those
provinces. Thus, AIDS is spreading very rapidly there.
[passage omitted]

AIDS Statistics in Bangkok

93WE0240B Bangkok DAILY NEWS in Thai
25 Dec 92 p 28

{Text] Most AIDS patients in Bangkok are between the
ages of 30 and 34, and most are laborers.

Dr. Raphiphat Kaemsuk, the director of the Disease
Control Division, talked about the AIDS situation in
Bangkok. He said that as of 30 November, 157 people
living in Bangkok had full-blown cases of AIDS. Of these,
67 have died. Since October, another 16 people have come
down with full-blown cases of AIDS. There are 337 people
with AIDS-related symptoms. Of these 15 have died, and
324 are still alive. This is an increase of 45 people since
October. A total of 76.98 percent of the patients with a
full-blown case of AIDS contracted the virus from



20 CENTRAL EURASIA

Over 600 People Diagnosed HIV-Positive

LD2202091293 Moscow ITAR-TASS in English
0903 GMT 22 Feb 93

[Article by ITAR-TASS correspondent Anna Bakina]

[Text] Moscow February 22 TASS—The number of HIV-
positive people reached 618 in Russia at present and 277
of them are children. There are 418 HIV-positive for-
eigners in this country where a total 82 people died of
AIDS, according to official statistics.

The first two months of 1993 witnessed a four-fold
increase in the number of HIV-positive people compared
to the same period last year, TASS learned from well-
informed sources in the Health Ministry. However, Vadim
Pokrovskiy, director of the Russian anti-AIDS centre,
doubts that the figures are exact. He told TASS on Monday
that they may include last year data and that several tests
should be conducted to make the final diagnosis.

In 1992 only every sixth Russian was tested for AIDS.

In the meantime, doctors are worried by the growing
number of healers who promise people to cure them of
AIDS by the so-called bio-energised water. Such cases were
registered in Rostov-on-Don and several Ukrainian cities.
Officials of the Russian Health Ministry told TASS they
insist that such treatment should be banned as the health
of the patients always deteriorates after visiting the
healers.

AIDS in Ukraine

93WE0192D Kiev GOLOS UKRAINY in Russian
2 Dec 92 p8

[Article by Igor Markov, AIDS clinic director: “The
Patient Risks Becoming Repressed: Yesterday Was World
AIDS Day”]

[Text] Ukrainian Public Health Minister Yuriy Spizhenko
appeared on live television at the Gart Television Studio
on the evening of 12 November. The topic was AIDS.
What he said was this: “To our misfortune, we’ve now
created ‘hotbed conditions for AIDS carriers and
patients’.” What sort of conditions are these?

Next morning before I could even cross the threshold into
the clinic and don a lab coat I was overwhelmed by some
anxious patients. They were confused and bewildered. The
most vocal of them openly protested and asked for the
opportunity to appear live on TV. And these are people
who for understandable reasons are very reluctant to come
in contact with representatives of press and television,
preferring to remain in the shadows. As their treating
physician I promised to convey their attitude toward what
was heard not only in the quiet of the hospital wards but
also out amongst the public. What is this all about?

Early in spring of this year—more precisely on 10 March—
in the newspaper KHRESHCHATIK I described the
woeful position of the Ukraine’s sole clinical department
for the treatment and testing of AIDS patients and HIV
carriers, based at the Kiev Scientific Research Institute of
Epidemiology and Infectious Diseases of the Ukrainian
Ministry of Health. Great hopes were laid then on specific-
purpose financing within the framework of the Ukrainian
National AIDS Program, for which 1.7 billion indexed

SJPRS-TEP-93-007
23 March 1993

rubles were allocated for 1992 under the conditions of a
universal and extreme budget deficit.

Since the moment of adoption of the Ukrainian law “On
AIDS Prevention and Social Protection of the Popula-
tion,” the situation at the AIDS clinic has not only not
improved, but it has worsened. It has already been a year
and a half now that patients and carriers have not been
receiving vitally necessary therapy specific to them due to
the absence of preparations and pharmaceuticals. They
must be obtained privately, or purchased in the market for
cash. We can understand that Ukraine lacks antidiabetes
and cardiac pharmaceuticals that are needed by millions of
patients. But it is totally incomprehensible why there are
no medicines for the three AIDS patients and few dozen
HIV carriers living in Ukraine. Where did those millions
of rubles go that were allocated as a separate item for the
treatment of AIDS patients and HIV carriers?! Not a
kopeck from the national program’s budget for treatment
and maintenance of our patients has gone directly to AIDS
patients and carriers. And the clinic continues to be
financed by the institute’s lean budget.

The issue of paid medicinal support to outpatients con-
tinues to remain unresolved, even though according to
Article 17 of the Ukrainian law “On AIDS Prevention and
Social Protection of the Population” they have had the
right to it since December 1991. Many patients found
themselves forced into the position of outcasts—they have
been rejected by their wives and parents. And although
according to this same article of the law they are entitled to
their own living quarters, they have not been given the
opportunity to exercise this right in real life in even a single
instance.

Because medical workers reveal professional secrets
regarding AIDS infection (which itself is criminally pun-
ishable activity according to Article 108-4 of the Ukrainian
Criminal Code), patients often lose their means of exist-
ence on being forced out of their jobs. But the Ministry of
Health provides them no material assistance.

Perhaps if the honorable minister would look more often
into the eyes of a virus carrier or AIDS patient, he might
rank his priorities in financing the expenses of fighting
AIDS in Ukraine in a different way. Can we possibly
understand or explain to patients why tens of millions of
karbovantsy are spent on “computer and information
support” to the national program at the same time that the
clinic hasn’t any of the basic necessities and questions of
social protection are generally forgotten? Was all of this
money spent just so that local agencies could report to the
Minister of Health on 109 HIV carriers? Isn’t the allow-
ance provided on the “local” scale a little too steep,
considering that Ukraine remains in a state of information
isolation from the rest of the world on the AIDS problem?
Without making an accounting of where the millions went,
the Ministry of Health is demanding “establishment of a
data bank and information system on HIV infection” next
year costing the state budget as much as 126 million
karbovantsy! In this case the allocation for treating AIDS
patients and carriers of HIV infection and opportunistic
infections is 60 million. Where is the logic here?

Could it be that if the Ministry of Health has forgotten
about the patients and carriers, it has at least turned



IJPRS-TEP-93-007
23 March 1993

REGIONAL AFFAIRS

Disease Report From 23 December - 25 January

AB0402101393 Various Sources in English 23 Dec 92 - 25
Jan 93

[Editorial Report] The following is a compilation of dis-
ease reports monitored from Abidjan Bureau coverage
area from 23 December 1992 to 25 January 1993. Source,
date, and time of broadcast are given in parentheses at the
end of each item.

CAMEROON

The Seventh International Conference on AIDS in Africa
has ended in Yaounde with a news conference given by the
chairman of the conference, Professor Lazare (Kaptue). In
the presence of some 20 reporters, Prof. (Kaptue) gave a
positive picture on the outcome of the conference as far as
the objectives and methods set out are concerned. There
were over 2,000 participants from 64 African countries
and the world. The professor made it clear to Cameroon-
ians that AIDS really exists. Over 1,400 AIDS cases have
so far been recorded in Cameroon, half of which have
already died. [Yaounde CRTV Radio Network in French
1900 GMT 5 Jan 93]

GHANA

The deputy secretary for the Upper East Region, Mr.
Faysal Anaba, has spoken of the need to involve the entire
community in the fight against AIDS. He was speaking at
the regional celebration of the World AIDS Day at Bongo.
The regional medical officer, Dr. Kwame Adogbogba, said
the region recorded 561 cases of AIDS between 1989 and
December 1992. He said the disease is found mainly in
people between the ages of 20 and 39 years. [Accra Ghana
Broadcasting Corporation Radio Network in English 2000
GMT 23 Dec 92]

Parents have been urged to make efforts to educate their
adolescent children against premarital sex, the use of hard
drugs, and other immoral acts. Speaking on World AIDS
Day, the Upper West regional director of health services,
Dr. Appiah Denkyira, expressed concern about the fast
rate at which the disease is spreading in the area. He said
the number of recorded AIDS cases rose from five in 1991
to 105 in 1992. [Accra Ghana Broadcasting Corporation
Radio Network in English 2000 GMT 13 Jan 93]

Epidemiological Reports 11-17 January

MBI701184393 Various Sources in Portuguese and
English, 11-17 Jan 93

[Editorial Report] Following is a compilation of reports
monitored by FBIS Mbabane Bureau from 11 to 17
January concerning outbreaks of and reports on various
diseases. Items are listed by country and disease. Source
follows each item.

ANGOLA

AIDS Cases Registered—An authorized source has
revealed that about 514 AIDS cases were registered by the
National Public Health Directorate by June 1992.

SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA 1

According to Catarina de Aragao, head of clinical assis-
tance in the National AIDS Prevention Program, 31 per-
cent of the registered cases were reported in Cabinda
Province. (Luanda Radio Nacional Network in Portuguese
1200 GMT 12 Jan 93)

SOUTH AFRICA

[Passage omitted] The number of patients with HIV infec-
tion in the hospital is also increasing. Although no statis-
tics were available at present, the spokeswoman said the
“situation was causing great concern.” She said an exten-
sive AIDS education programme with particular focus on
the youth was going to be developed. (Johannesburg SAPA.
in English 2029 GMT 11 Jan 93)

AIDS Nationwide—If AIDS continued to spread at its
current rate, there could be a “biological holocaust” in
South Africa. That’s the verdict from the head of the AIDS
Center of the South African Institute of Medical Research,
Professor (Ruben Cher). Prof. (Cher) said laboratory tests in
South Africa had shown that up to 45,000 people were HIV
positive, but due to under reporting and incomplete figures
the number could be as high as 300,000. Prof. (Cher) said
the 1,600 reported cases of AIDS in the country probably
only represented 60 percent of the true number of AIDS
cases. The latest world figures report that as many as 13
million people are infected with the HIV virus, and that this
figure can treble by 1995. Prof. (Cher) said that on the
positive side there was increasing number of people dedi-
cated to AIDS research and care in this country. He said the
goal for 1993 was to inform and educate even more people
about AIDS, especially heterosexual people who refuse to
acknowledge the dangers of the disease. (Johannesburg
SABC TV | Network in English 1600 GMT 15 Jan 93)

Epidemiological Reports 18-24 January

MB2501102893 Various Sources in English
18-24 Jan 93

[Editorial Report] Following is a compilation of reports
monitored by FBIS Mbabane Bureau from 18 to 24
January concerning outbreaks of and reports on various
diseases. Items are listed by country and disease. Source
follows each item.

ZAMBIA

AIDS—Zambian local government councils have been
called upon to take a leading role in the fight against AIDS
and AIDS-related illnesses which have claimed hundreds
of lives in the country. Speaking at a doctors’ seminar on
AIDS in Ndola, a government spokesman said the level of
AIDS and HIV infections in Zambia had not been realized
by many people. The first case of AIDS was officially
identified in Zambia in 1985, and by September last year,
Zambia had reported over 6,000 AIDS cases and over
20,000 AIDS- related illnesses. (Maseru Radio Lesotho in
English 0500 GMT 18 Jan 93)

Epidemiological Reports 25-31 January
MBO0102070393 Various Sources in English and Portuguese
25-31 Jan 93

[Editorial Report] Following is a compilation of reports
monitored by FBIS Mbabane Bureau from 25-31 January



JPRS-TEP-93-007
23 March 1993

INDIA

HIV Positive Cases Said To Number 8,500

93WE0243A Madras THE HINDU in English
17 Jan 93 p 3

[Text] Madras, Jan 16. A collaborative workshop on AIDS
is to be held in the city next month, under the Into-U.K.
Higher Education Link Program, to share the British
experience in AIDS control and to formulate strategies to
combat the epidemic.

The HIV seropositive population in the country has been
put at 8,500, as per information available from the limited
HIV testing centers in the country. About 80 percent of
these infections are in the 18-40 age group.

The World Health Organization has estimated that 120
million people all over the world would be infected, by the
turn of the century.

Since a cure for AIDS is yet to be achieved and a vaccine
for prevention is not currently available, the only available
methodology is prevention by public health education.
This can be done by dissemination of knowledge about the
disease, its profile and ways and means of protection from

AIDS cell sources said the United Kingdom has been able
to contain the epidemic, largely due to its public health
policies.

The AIDS cell of the Madras Medical College and the Dr.
ALM Postgraduate Institute of Basic Medical Sciences,
Taramani is organizing the workshop from February 9 to
11, The workshop—Indo-U.K. Workshop on Current
Status of AIDS—is sponsored by the British Deputy High
Commission, Madras.

Five British scientists—Dr. Eric Walker, Epidemiologist,
Communicable Diseases Unit, Ruchill Hospital, Glasgow,
Dr. Philip Mortimer, Director, AIDS Research Labora-
tory, Colindale, Dr. Raymond D. Maw, Venereologist,
Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast, Ms. Lindsay Neil, Man-
ager Sexual Health Program, Health Education Authority,
London and Sr. Jill Robertson, Staff Nurse, Ruchill Hos-
pital, Glasgow—would address the three day workshop.

From the Indian side, besides scientists and public health
experts working on AIDS control and awareness, represen-
tatives from the Ministry of Health, Indian Council for
Medical Research and Health Department officials from
the State Government would participate.

The program includes workshop for medical personnel on
February 9, orientation sessions for the Non-
Governmental Organizations the next day and a session
for the public to interact with experts on February 11.

Increasing Number of AIDS Patients in Madras

BK1802094793 Delhi INDIAN EXPRESS in English
8 Feb 93 p1

[Excerpts] Madras—The AIDS time bomb is ticking away,
and an institution like the Madras Medical College [MMC]
which has the ICMR AIDS surveillance centre is now
seeing a full blown AIDS case once in eight days.

There have been 65 full blown cases of AIDS here till the
end of 1992, During 1992 alone this centre saw 44 AIDS

NEAR EAST & SOUTH ASIA 7

cases apart from people testing positive for the HIV virus.
At the AIDS cell at the CMC, Vellore, of the 75 AIDS
cases, 34 were reported in 1992 alone. This is a positive
pointer that incidence of AIDS cases in the country is
going up. The MMC cell has found over 1000 HIV
seropositive cases.

Dr. Sunithi Solomon, MMC Additional Professor of
Microbiology in charge of the AIDS cell, said, “Almost 80
percent of those who come to us must be dead. They come
to us almost at the end, after hopping from one private
hospital to another, and going through all kinds of inves-
tigative procedures. There is hardly anything we can do for
them. Not all of them stay on, and quite a few just
disappear’.

What is more shocking is her revelation that the number of
cases found is not a true indicator of the real incidence of
full blown cases. “One day we took a round of the General
Hospital and picked up cases at random.. one skinny
looking person here, another who was not responding to
treatment for TB, etc. Out of the four blood samples we
sent for the HIV test, we found two to be full blown cases.
Till now we have not really been looking for AIDS.. once
we do that, the numbers will swell”, added Dr. Solomon.

[Passage omitted] At CMC Vellore, where the AIDS epid-
emieology Research cell was set up in 1985, discovered the
first HIV positive cases in the country on February 22,
1986, Dr. Jacob John, Professor of Microbiology and
Virology at the CMC and in charge of the AIDS cell, said,
“From 1987 to 1991 we had seen only 41 full blown cases
of AIDS, but in 1992 alone we saw 34 cases”. This works
out to almost one case in 10 days, and is a definite
indicator of the spread of the HIV infection.

Most of these people belong to the lower middle classes,
and about 20 percent are from the rural areas, But quite a
few are engineers and businessmen. The one vital and
interesting difference between the AIDS scene in Vellore
and Madras is that while in the metropolis the ratio of men
and women is roughly 1:1, in Vellore it is 5:1. Dr. John
said, “This is very interesting because in sampling for HIV
infection, an inevitable bias comes in and we look for
Prostitutes, patients with STD’s, etc. And the survey does
not reflect the cross-section of society”.

“But when it comes to full blown cases of AIDS, we go by
cases which land up in hospitals. So it is a self-selected
group minus our bias, and here the ratio is five men to one
woman”, he added.

One significant gender-linked difference is that “While 98
percent of men pick up infection from contact with pros-
titutes, when it comes to women, half of whom are faithful,
they are infected by their husbands and a small percentage
get infected through blood transfusion”, said Dr. John.

He said this was in stark contrast to the situation in Africa
where the male-female ratio is 1:1 and the spread of the
HIV is through the heterosexual route.

“There promiscuousness is equal among men and women,
and there is much less strictness about extra marital sex”,
added Dr. John.



JPRS-TEP-93-007
23 March 1993

as it concerns the definition of persons engaging in prosti-
tution. Unfortunately, examination of our proposal has
been delayed, and as a consequence effective control is
impossible.

In the meantime we are predominantly testing practically
healthy people (donors, pregnant women), while as far as
the risk groups are concerned, the proportion of them
among the total number of persons tested for AIDS
remains insignificant. For example in nine months of this
year they represented only 3.2 percent of the total number
of persons tested for AIDS, but they hold a strong first
place among persons who have been discovered to be
infected (37.5 percent of all cases).

I believe that the main task of medical personnel today
should be to activate work with risk groups, creating
favorable conditions for their testing. We have a network
of confidential offices and over 150 special laboratories for
this purpose.

Criminal liability for homosexual relations has been legis-
latively annulled. Medical personnel now have the possi-
bility for working with this population group more produc-
tively. According to data of the confidential office of the
Ukrainian AIDS Prevention and Control Center, following
adoption of the corresponding law the number of visits to
the office by these people increased by somewhere near 50
percent. It has become easier to communicate with them,
and relations have become more trusting. Of course there
still are doctors here and there who are unable to shake the
habit of condemning people for their specific sexual orien-
tation. This is doing a great deal of harm.

Mozgovaya: Our medicine is presently undergoing a deep
crisis. Given the shortage of the basic necessities, can we
guarantee the safety of patients in medical institutions?

Mariyevskiy: No, it is impossible to exclude infection
completely. One out of every 11 Ukrainian citizens car-
rying HIV was infected at the time of medical care. Each
such case is a tragedy, and for them not to occur, medical
personnel must be provided with an adequate quantity of
disposable instruments and sterilizing units.

The Politekhmed Association and the Scientific Center of
the Ukrainian Ministry of Health are working on these
problems within the framework of the National Program.
Much has been done, but there are problems as well.

Mozgovaya: Use of condoms is known to be one of the best
preventive measures. But there was only one plant manu-
facturing them on the territory of the former Union. And
now this elementary means of protection can be classified
as a scarce item.

Mariyevskiy: Yes, Ukraine still does not have any of its
own enterprises manufacturing condoms. Imported con-
doms satisfy only 40 percent of the demand. In May of this
year an agreement was signed with the USA’s Mayer
Leboretert [transliteration] establishing a Ukrainian-
American enterprise producing latex articles (condoms,
rubber gloves etc.). The first consignment of condoms
amounting to 10 million units is to be manufactured
beginning in 1993, and production is to be ultimately
raised to 100 million units a year.

CENTRAL EURASIA 23

Mozgovaya: Many remember the funny thing that hap-
pened during a joint USSR-USA television broadcast.
Responding to a “provocative” question like a real Soviet
woman, one of our compatriots declared: “We don’t have
sex.” Today, no one conceals that “we have sex,” but
unfortunately, we also have AIDS. So how are we to
protect ourselves from this?

Mariyevskiy: Yes, we have reexamined our views on sex.
And the society in general is trying to become more
humane, and refrain from violence upon either the soul or
the body. There isn’t all that much that is pleasant in our
lives, and if two people meet, and find one another, if they
were able to gain at least a little happiness from each other,
then the society shouldn’t create obstacles to this. People
need to be taught to behave, including in sexual life. The
entire world is traveling this path today. The entire world
is spending colossal amounts of money on public health
education (it is part of the general culture of people). The
USA spends $12 each year on each person for anti-AIDS
propaganda, while we spend kopecks. We also need to
channel our resources into public education. We are trying
to liberate ourselves somehow in this matter, but this is
only the beginning. Of course we once again go to the
extremes: Either we hide “it” under the rug completely, or
we bring it out in a way that would make a normal person
blush. I visited Italy, France and Holland, and I watched
television there. I honestly never saw anything there like
what I see in our country. No one is giving any thought to
this, but we should be. Open sex on television, and from
seven to nine in the evening at that, is not education. And
as far as sex education is concerned, there are things we
still need to learn. We are borrowing here and there from
the experience of our foreign associates. But if you ask the
schools to teach a course on safe sex, they will refuse to do
so.

Mozgovaya: They refuse because they don’t know how to
give such a course, they don’t know how.

Mariyevskiy: Not only do they not know how, but they are
also unable to cross that certain barrier, to surmount the
perception of natural and beautiful relations as something
base and forbidden. They become this way precisely
because of the absence of culture, without which there can
be no proper sex education. The idea we are promoting is
this: What leads to AIDS is not sex but careless sex.

Ukrainian Health Specialists on AIDS

93WE0192J Kiev RABOCHAYA GAZETA in Russian
1 Dec 92 p3

[Article: “AIDS in Figures and Facts”]
[Text]

In the World, in Europe

There are already more than 30 countries with over 1,000
AIDS patients each—USA, Brazil, Haiti, Canada, Zambia,
Sierra Leone, Uganda, Kenya, Spain, France, Italy and
many others.

AIDS patients have been registered in 164 countries of the
world. The total number that have fallen ill as of 1 August
1992 is, according to official data, over 0.5 million per-
sons. However according to specialists this does not reflect
even a third of the actual number of AIDS patients. Thus,



JPRS-TEP-93-007
23 March 1993

To what extent can we be sure that this “afflicted” dip-
lomat was not sent to Iran on purpose to spread this deadly
disease in Iran? Experience has shown that Western dip-
lomats in Iran, if they were not spies (like the spies in the
U.S. Embassy, who were exposed by the Students Fol-
lowing the Imam’s Line), have at least been either smug-
glers (such as the third secretary of the Italian Embassy and
Uzdash Beyg, the Turkish diplomat) or spreaders of moral
corruption and promiscuity (of which the examples are so
numerous that they need no mention). And now to this
varied collection those afflicted with AIDS are added.

PAKISTAN

NWEP Said Experiencing Rapid Increase in
AIDS Cases

93WE0178A Peshawar MASHRIQ in Urdu 2 Dec 92 p 12

[News Report: “Serious Situation in NWFP as AIDS
Spreads”]

[Text] Peshawar (Correspondent). Investigations revealed
that AIDS has spread the most in NWFP [North-West
Frontier Province]. The number of AIDS patients has
increased here because of the arrival of a large number of
women from Kabul. Mohammed Alias, vice president of
the local Lions Club, shared this opinion on International
AIDS Day while addressing a rally organized by the
Pakistan AIDS Prevention Society. He said that this fatal
disease is more prevalent in Chitral, Bannu, Parachinar,
Hangu, and Tal. He said that the average citizen is
ignorant about AIDS. People do not know what causes this
fatal disease and how to avoid getting it. “The government
should publish information about AIDS in local languages.
If preventive measures are not taken, the number of AIDS
victims in Pakistan will reach hundreds of thousands in a
few years.” Sayyed Ali Shah, former state minister and the
guest of honor said that the real reason for the spread of
AIDS is neglect of Islamic education. He stressed to the
mullahs that a way should be found to avoid this fatal
disease according to the Koran. He asked the media to play
their role in helping rid of this disease.

AIDS Workshop Focuses on Spread, Prevention
93WE0197A Karachi JASARAT in Urdu 4 Dec 92 p 3

[News Report: “By the Year 2000, 10 Million People Will
Have Become Infected with AIDS; 90 Percent of the AIDS
Patients Will Be in Progressive Countries; The Disease Poses
a Danger to All Humanity; AIDS Can Be Avoided By
Observing the Islamic Moral Code; The Report of the
Workshop”]

[Text] Peshawar (SASARAT correspondent): According to
the report of the World Health Organization (WHO), 10
million individuals will become infected with AIDS by the
year 2000; 25 percent of the AIDS patients will be children
and 90 percent of the AIDS infected individuals will be
residents of progressive countries. According to the report,
80 percent of AIDS sufferers will be infected through hetero-
sexual contact. Copies of this report were distributed in the
AIDS Reporting workshop held in the Khyber Medical
College, Peshawar, on World AIDS Day. The Frontier
Health Secretary, Professor Mohammad Kabir, as well as the
Principal of the Khyber Medical College, Professor Siraj Al
Din Ahmad and others addressed the workshop. The report

NEAR EAST & SOUTH ASIA 19

stated that by 1995, 10 to 20 million individuals will be
infected with HIV (the early stage of the AIDS virus) and by
the year 2000, 30 to 40 million will test positive for HIV,
According to this report, by June 1996, there will be 217,000
AIDS patients on the American continent; 175,000 cases of
AIDS in UHSA [expansion unknown]; 93,000 in Africa;
21,000 in Uganda; 52,000 in Europe; 14,400 in France;
2,300 in Asia; and 2,500 in Australia. In the course of
speeches and discussions, the doctors participating in the
workshop explained that the HIV virus, which is the pre-
cursor of AIDS, is transmitted through heterosexual sex;
transfusion of infected blood; transplants of organs such as
kidneys taken from infected persons; and AIDS was also
transmitted from mother to child. The view shared in the
workshop was that adhering to the moral code recommended
in Islam would prevent individuals from acquiring AIDS,
which threatens the entire human race. Reference was made
in the workshop to a statement [hadith] made by Prophet
Mohammad to the effect that when nations fall to the lowest
depths of immorality and indulge openly in unacceptable
practices, then a disease spreads among them which would
not have been heard of or seen before among their predeces-
sors. The workshop representatives requested the govern-
ment to provide facilities for AIDS testing in all blood banks;
to inform the people about AIDS by means of the Press,
radio and television; to add a chapter on AIDS in textbooks
at the middle school level; require a AIDS test for foreigners
applying for visas; and inform the people of the fact that
there is as yet no cure for AIDS, nor is there any possiblity of
finding one in the near future; and that the only way to avoid
the disease is through precautionary measures and avoidance
of certain practices. It was explained in the workshop that
AIDS spreads through promiscuous sex and through various
other media, and that the symptoms may not appear for ten
to 20 years; but once the symptoms appear, the disease can
cause death in a year or less; AIDS is often spread by
foreigners entering the country; in hospitals, all instruments
should be sterilized; the accidental use of unsterilized instru-
ments can transmit AIDS. The precautionary measures rec-
ommended are avoidance of promiscuous sex and the testing
for AIDS of bride and groom before marriage.

Total of 150 Diagnosed as AIDS Patients
93WE0197B Karachi JANG in Urdu 15 Dec 92 p 12

[News Report: “Mobashar Riaz: ‘150 Individuals in Paki-
stan Have Been Diagnosed as AIDS Patients; If Preventive
Measures Are Not Taken, the Disease May Spread Here as
It Has in Thailand and India”}

[Text} Islamabad (PPA): So far, 150 individuals in Pakistan
ave been diagnosed as AIDS patients, and 80 percent of
them have died of the disease. This fact was revealed by Dr.
Mobashar Riaz Sheikh, the deputy executive director of the
Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, in an interview with
PPA. He is the coordinator of the international seminar on
AIDS. Dr. Sheikh said that 20 percent of the remaining
AIDS patients are in different stages of the disease. He
added that at present, there are 19 AIDS screening centers in
the country; this is too small a number and too little money
is being spent in the country on AIDS prevention. Most of
the funds are being provided by foreign agencies. The
government should pay greater attention to the problem. He
said that the majority of people do not know anything about
AIDS, which raises the possibility that, as has happened in
Thailand and India, a large number of AIDS patients will
surface after a time. It is thus more dangerous not to bring
the disease under control.



14 LATIN AMERICA

REGIONAL AFFAIRS

Southern Cone Health Report 15-21 January

PY2201204893Various Sources in Portuguese and Spanish
15-21 Jan 93

[Editorial Report] The following is a compilation of
reports on epidemics and diseases monitored by Paraguay
Bureau from 15 to 21 January. Source, date, and time are
given in parentheses after each item.

BRAZIL

New AIDS Cases Reported—The Health Ministry has
reported that 578 cases of AIDS were registered in the
country during December 1992. The total number of
individuals infected with the virus now stands at 33,938.
The states most affected by the disease were Rio de Janeiro
with 250 cases, Minas Gerais with 96 cases, Bahia with 66
cases, Parana with 44 cases, and Rio Grande do Sul with
43 cases. (Rio de Janeiro O GLOBO in Portuguese 16 Jan
93 p 5)

CHILE

National AIDS Cases Update—Health Under Secretary
Patricio Silva and the National AIDS Commission have
reported that 990 individuals were registered as having
being infected with the AIDS virus in the country. The
reports adds that, of these cases, 630 individuals have
become sick and half of them have already died. The
report states that 93 percent are males and 7 percent
females, (Santiago LA NACION in Spanish 8 Jan 92 p 10)

PARAGUAY

AIDS Figures Reported—Doctor Nicolas Aguayo, head of

the National AIDS Program, yesterday reported that 185

cases of AIDS have been registered since the disease first

appeared in the country in 1986. Of this total 56 individ-

uals have become sick—17 in 1992—and 37 of them have

gyady died. (Asuncion ABC COLOR in Spanish 15 Jan
P

Southern Cone Health Report 29 Jan-4 Feb 93

PY0502014493A Various Sources in Portuguese
29 Jan-4 Feb 93

[Editorial Report] The following is a compilation of
reports on epidemics and diseases monitored by Paraguay
Bureau from 29 January to 4 February. Source, date, and
time are given in parentheses after each item.

BRAZIL

HIV-2 Virus Detected—Sao Paulo University Professor
Alcione Machado has proven the existence of the AIDS
virus HIV-2 in Brazil. Machado made this discovery after
testing the blood samples of 88 AIDS patients, and has
thus put an end to the controversy over the existence of the
HIV-2 virus—which can be found mainly in western
Africa—in our country. (Brasilia Radio Nacional da Ama-
zonia in Portuguese 0900 GMT 29 Jan 93)

Southern Cone Health Report 5-11 February

PY1102171793 Various Sources in Spanish and Protuguese
5-1] Feb 93

[Editorial Report] The following is a compilation of
reports on epidemics and diseases monitored by Paraguay

JPRS-TEP-93-007
23 March 1993

Bureau from 5 to I1 February. Source, date, and time are
given in parentheses after each item.

ARGENTINA

AIDS cases Reported—The national director of the pro-
gram to prevent AIDS, Alfredo Miroli, has reported that
2,000 people are currently ill from AIDS. He added that of
the 15,000 carriers, 2,200 are from Mar del Plata and that
78 of them are drug addicts. (Buenos Aires TELAM in
Spanish 1404 GMT 5 Feb 93)

BRAZIL

AIDS Spreading Fast—The Health Ministry has reported
that 943 cases of AIDS were reported during January 1993,
although 759 of these cases were diagnosed during 1992.
The official bulletin says that a total of 34,871 cases have
been reported since the disease first appeared in the
country in 1980 and that 43 percent of this total, or nearly
15,000 have already died. The AIDS program coordinator
said the number of infected women has increased from one
for each 124 men in 1984 to one for each six men today
and that last year 164 babies were born with the HIV virus.
(Brasilia Voz do Brazil Network in Portuguese 2200 GMT
9 Feb 93)

Southern Cone Health Report 19-25 February

PY2502171693 Various Sources in Spanish
19-25 Feb 93

[Editorial Report] The following is a compilation of
reports on epidemics and diseases monitored by Paraguay
Bureau from 19 to 25 February. Source, date, and time are
given in parentheses after each item.

BOLIVIA

AIDS Cases Nationwide—National AIDS Program head
Maria Luisa Melgar has reported that AIDS cases have
already spread to six departments. She said that a total of
83 cases were reported as of 31 December, and seven new
cases in January, that is, more than one case per week. (La
Paz PRESENCIA in Spanish 24 Feb 93 p 8)

PARAGUAY

AIDS Cases Go Up—Health Minister Cynthia Prieto told
journalists that AIDS has already become a threat to
society because of the increasing number of AIDS carriers.
She said that over 200 AIDS cases have already been
detected in the country, many of them fatal. (Asuncion
NOTICIAS in Spanish 19 Feb 93 p 42)

Regional Health Report 7-16 January
PA1701014493 Various Sources in Spanish 7-16 Jan 93

[Editorial Report] The following is a compilation of
regional health reports monitored by Panama Bureau from
7 to 16 January. Source follows in parentheses after each
item.

PANAMA

Health Ministry sources say 406 AIDS cases have been
reported since the disease first appeared in 1984; adding
249 of the patients have died. (Panama City EL SIGLO in
Spanish 9 Jan 93 p 47)



6 EAST ASIA

CAMBODIA

Officials, Foreigners Assess AIDS Threat

93WE0267A Bangkok BANGKOK POST in English
5 Feb 93 p 34

[Article by Andrew Nette: “The AIDS Epidemic May Be
Cambodia's Next Pol Pot”]

[Excerpts] [passage omitted] Already besieged by countless
problems, Cambodia is facing a new danger: the spread of
AIDS.

According to George Petersen of the World Health Organ-
isation, “Cambodia has all the components for a serious
epidemic of HIV, most importantly extreme poverty com-
bined with large movements of people. For a country this
fragile, the effects of even a small outbreak of the disease
would be disastrous.”

While to date only a small number of full-blown AIDS
cases have been detected in Cambodia, routine testing of
blood donors only began in mid-1991 and screening has
mainly centred on sex workers in Phnom Penh.

But already the National Blood Transfusion Centre has
recorded a tenfold increase in HIV-positive cases in one
year from 0.0755% of those tested in second half of 1991,
to 0.75% in the first six months of last year.

The extent of the spread is matched only by the widescale
ignorance of most Cambodians about the danger. Even
among Cambodian health workers the level of knowledge
is alarmingly low. An unofficial survey of medical techni-
cians, pharmacy and nursing graduates, carried out last
year by a staff member at Phnom Penh’s Central School of
Health, showed that 80 percent didn’t know about AIDS at
all, and the remainder only had a passing knowledge.

Dr. Tia Phalla, Programme Manager of the Cambodian
National AIDS Committee, believes that one of the main
causes of this ignorance is that Cambodia is in “the silent
stage” of the disease.

“If you look at how AIDS developed in Africa in the early
eighties, the first 10 years of the epidemic were quict.
People infected showed no outward signs of the disease
and didn’t need hospitalisation. 1992 in Cambodia looks
like 1982 in Africa.”

So far the UN Transitional Administration in Cambodia
has received much of the blame for the spread of the
disease, particularly for encouraging the spread of prosti-
tution, still technically illegal in Cambodia.

Miss Kien Serey Phal, Vice President of the Phnom Penh
Municipal Women’s Association, believes the blame is
falsely laid.

“Prostitution first began to reappear in Cambodia with
economic reforms in the mid-eighties. With the arrival of
UNTAC [United Nations Transitional Authority in Cam-
bodia] there has been an increase, but it has not been that
great. From six or seven thousand prostitutes in 1991, now
it is close to 10,000, but no one can be sure of the exact
figure.”

“The problem is that people equate the actions of every
foreigner in Cambodia with UNTAC,” says UN Commu-
nity Relations Officer, Hiroko Miyamura. I wouldn’t deny

JPRS-TEP-93-007
23 March 1993

that we share some of the blame for the spread of prosti-
tution, but there are a lot of other foreigners in the country
involved, as well as many Khmer who are taking advantage
of it.

Certainly sexually transmitted diseases such as syphilis
and gonorrhoea have hit the ranks of UN personnel.
Although the UN has yet to compile figures, recent media
reports suggest that an average of about three or four cases
of sexually transmitted diseases are diagnosed every day at
the UN's German army field hospital in Phnom Penh.
{passage omitted]

“UNTAC is a nice excuse but it doesn’t get to the main
problem. As in every country, there is an inclination
towards blaming foreigners for AIDS, whether it be
UNTAC or the influx of Vietnamese prostitutes,” says Dr.
Tia.

“The biggest AIDS risk comes from unprotected hetero-
sexual activity, particularly among Cambodian men whose
knowledge of things like the importance of condom use is
very low.”

Along Street 273, the first customers arrive as early as nine
in the morning. Peak time is between four and seven in the
evening, when the street is packed with Cambodian men
stopping off for an hour before going home to their wives
and families. It continues at a quieter pace, as late as
midnight. Prices range from 1,000 - 3,000 Reil [Riel]
(US$ 1-2.50) with “virgins” costing up to 4,000 Reil.

The National AIDS Committee was established in early
1992. It includes members of the health, education, eco-
nomic and agricultural ministries and the governors from
each of Cambodia’s 21 provinces, in recognition of what
Dr. Tia calls “the need for a multisectoral approach.”

Since then a small, but growing number of foreign NGOs
{Nongovernmental Organization] have started pro-
grammes around the provision of training facilities and
eduction materials. Several Cambodian health workers,
including Dr. Tia, have been sent on traning courses on
AIDS prevention in Thailand.

The UN has also taken steps to address the issue. UNTAC
radio has run several Khmer-language programmes on
AIDS and the Community Relations Office is in the
process of translating educational materials into Khmer,
Spanish, Arabic and French.

“The Force Commander’s Office and people high up in the
UNTAC power structure have taken this seriously and
have issued a lot of directives around the matter,” says
Hiroko. “The difficulty is how to enforce standards of
behaviour on such an ethnically diverse force. For example
we encourage the troops to use condoms, but the fact that
many are Muslims and Catholics discourages that.””

Some foreign NGO workers believe there is little point in
the UN doing too much around the issue. As one says:
“They are not here to stay, so aside from educating their
own people, there is no point in them getting heavily
involved. What we have to do is train the Cambodians to
do it themselves.”

The obstacles to effective prevention measures are enor-
mous. “Of course AIDS is a priority for our government,
but we have so many priorities,” laments Dr. Tia.



JPRS-TEP-93-007
23 March 1993

A Bit More Certain

He is conducting the study together with Health Mate at
the Sodersjukhus.

AIDS researchers will be a bit more certain this fall when
the results of a larger U.S. study of vaccine trials on
HIV-positives come out. However, that study is not as big
as the planned Swedish study, in which HIV-positives
from other Nordic countries will be included as well.

Close to AIDS

Furthermore, those who took part in the U.S. study were
infected fairly recently and thus still have a strong immune
defense.

WEST EUROPE 29

Never before have vaccination trials been done on HIV-
positives who have been infected for so long and been so
close to AIDS as those who will take part in the Swedish
study.

Answer in 1995

“The closer to AIDS, the quicker we'll learn whether the
vaccine provides protection against the disease. But maybe
they've gotten so far along in the infection for the vaccine
to be able to further activate the immune defense,” Wigzell
said.

“We don’t know that yet, but if everything goes according
to plan, we will discover that by the end o' 1995,” Wigzell
said.



26 CENTRAL EURASIA

{Text] The country’s leading AIDS specialists made it
clear yesterday at a press conference at the State Com-
mittee for Public Health and Epidemiological Inspection
that the gloomy forecasts have not come true, and spread
of the disease has been halted.

The USSR’s first case of infection by the human immu-
nodeficiency virus occurred in 1987. Since that time,
591 Russian citizens have become AIDS carriers, to
include over 90 AIDS patients. However Vadim Pok-
rovskiy, director of the Scientific Methodological Center
for AIDS Control, notes that these figures are clearly
understated: Around 40 million Russians have been
tested for AIDS as of today—that is, less than a third of
the country’s population. Pokrovskiy estimates that
there are now at least several thousand virus carriers in

JPRS-TEP-93-007
23 March 1993

the country, and that by the year 2000 their number will
approach the 100,000 mark.

But for the moment, AIDS prevention measures are
given only a “satisfactory” grade. One republic, six
regional and 68 territorial centers, over 700 diagnostic
laboratories and 130 anonymous AIDS testing offices
have been established since 1987. But despite the
numerous high-level decrees (from the CPSU Central
Committee to the present Cabinet of Ministers), we have
still not been able to solve a number of important
problems—primarily those having to do with disposable
instruments and preparations for revealing the virus.
The work of creating pharmaceuticals for AIDS patients
also leave something to be desired. In short, the prob-
lems remain acute, and their solution will require large
capital investments. Thus, 25 billion rubles will be
needed just in 1993 to carry out the state anti-AIDS
program. That’s in the prices of late 1992.



JPRS-TEP-93-007
23 March 1993

percent of those in Yaounde were already stricken with
AIDS [virus]. As for persons suffering from AIDS itself,
they are increasingly numerous, and most are simply
abandoned to their sad fate in our hospitals—victims, we
believe, of an unjustified and impermissible discrimina-
tion.

At Yaounde central hospital, where more male than female
AIDS patients are treated, we have seen this discrimina-
tion. As soon as respectable families learn their hospital-
ized son-in-law is suffering from AIDS, they are convinced
not only that he deserves his sad fate but also that he
represents a real and continuing danger to his wife and
children. Thus the only safe solution is to spirit the latter
away and abandon the “unfaithful” patient to his hospital

Obviously, it is easy to guess the final destination of all the
furniture and other worldly goods of the dislocated family.

The Ministry of Public Health estimates that in 1993 more
than 120 million CFA [African Financial Community]
francs will be required to assist the country’s many AIDS
patients and the orphans left behind. [passage omitted]

Blood Bank Director Cites HIV Statistics

93WE0257B Yaounde CAMEROON TRIBUNE
in French 24 Nov 92 p 3

[Interview with Dr. Monny Lobe, director of the blood
bank at Yaounde central hospital, by Anyee Anyee; place
and date not given: “AIDS Statistics Are Alarming”]

[Text] According to Dr. Monny Lobe, two percent of
prospective blood donors seen between January and
October 1992 are seropositive [HIV-positive].

Anyee: How many seropositive blood donors did you
identify from January to October 19927

Lobe: We have records of between 6,918 and 7,000 blood
donors, and our research indicates 31 are seropositive.
That represents 2 percent of the donors. Of these 31, 22 are
male and 9 female.

However, 90 percent of blood donors are male. There are
very few females, I don’t know why. The age of these
donors ranges from 20 to 39.

Anyee: Do these donors come voluntarily?

Lobe: Of the above-cited group, 740 came of their own
volition,, while the others are what could be called family
donors.

Anyee: Do you inform seropositive donors?

Lobe: When we find the blood is contaminated and HIV-
positive, we destroy it and the patient is informed, then
counseled. We try to offer psychological support.

Anyee: But some donors don’t want to know the results.
Have you encountered such cases?

Lobe: I must tell you that we get three different types of
seropositives: persons who are ill, persons who come
voluntarily, and persons applying for bank loans, insur-
ance, or scholarships to study abroad. Some say they don’t
want to be informed if they test positive. Well, that is their
right, of course. And there is no point upsetting someone
who is seriously ill. Better just to inform the family. We

SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA 3

inform the appropriate authorities where individuals
applying for bank loans, insurance, or scholarships test
positive. As for those who come voluntarily, we inform
them of the results, because they came to us on their own
initiative.

Anyee: What are the latest statistics on prevalence of the
disease?

Lobe: The statistics are alarming. To date we have enu-
merated 1,025 cases of AIDS throughout the country, and
in the coming days the official tally will be made public.
The current figure official is not official, because we don’t
have statistics yet from all our facilities around the
country.

IVORY COAST

Information Center for AIDS Prevention
Commissioned

AB1003101593 Abidjan Radio Cote d'Ivoire Chaine
Nationale-Une Network in French 1900 GMT 8 Mar 93

[Excerpts] Professor Alain Ekra, minister of health and
social protection, formally commissioned the Information
Center for AIDS Prevention this afternoon. The ceremony
took place in the premises of the center, on the sixth floor
of the Nogues Building in the Plateau District of Abidjan.

Speaking before the minister of health, Dr. Agnes,
chairman of Espoir-Cote d'Ivoire, the promoters of the
center, thanked USAID for its assistance and support. She
disclosed that 30,000 tests will be carried out during the
first three years. [passage omitted]

Commissioning the center, Minister Alain Ekra said that
AIDS is of concern to all.

[Begin recording] With the existence and development of
this center, we hope that under a five-year plan, we will be
able to envisage the building of a similar center in another
town in Cote d'Ivoire within two years. The youth repre-
sent the most affected age group. It is therefore necessary
to provide them with an information center. Uganda’s
experience has shown that anonymous, voluntary, and free
detection plays an important role in the prevention and the
fight against the spread of the HIV virus. [passage omitted]
{end recording]

SENEGAL

Some 200 New AIDS Cases in Seven Months

S3WEO2S8A Dakar LE SOLEIL in French 1 Dec 92
Pp

[Article by Die Maty Fall: “848 AIDS Cases in Senegal”]

[Text] There are 848 declared AIDS sufferers in our
country. This is the frightening report submitted by the
National Committee for the Struggle Against AIDS. Even
more dramatic: Between May and November 1992, 200
new cases of declared AIDS were reported in Senegal,
increasing the total number from 648 to 848.

As frightening as it is, this rapid rate of spread is only the
tip of the iceberg. Only a few hundred AIDS patients have
declared their condition, but how many more seropositives
[persons who are HIV-positive] are out there, hidden from
view by our thoughtlessness and irresponsibility?



2 SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

concerning outbreaks of and reports on various diseases.
Items are listed by country and disease. Source follows
each item. *

MOZAMBIQUE

AIDS—The number of AIDS cases in the country has
increased from 448 to 617 from April to December 1992.
This is revealed by DIARIO DE MOCAMBIQUE citing a
source from the Ministry of Health. The source said that
because of the low diagnostic capacity in the country, only
five percent of the patients with AIDS tested positive.
(Maputo Radio Mozambique Network in Portuguese 1730
GMT 26 Jan 93)

Epidemiological Reports 1-7 February

MBO0802052393 Various Sources in English, Portuguese,
and Afrikaans 1-7 Feb 93

[Editorial Report] Following is a compilation of reports
monitored by FBIS Mbabane Bureau from | to 7 February
concerning outbreaks of and reports on various diseases.
Items are listed by country and disease. Source follows
each item.

LESOTHO

HIV Cases in Qacha’s Nek—Four people tested positive to
the Human Immune Virus, HIV, in Qacha’s Nek this
month, bringing the total number of people with the
disease to nine. Three are male prison inmates, while one
is a woman. Five people have already died from AIDS
since 1991 in Qacha’s Nek. (Maseru Radio Lesotho in
English 1600 GMT 2 Feb 93)

SOUTH AFRICA

HIV Cases Up 400 Daily—“‘An estimated 400,000 South
Africans are infected with HIV, and the figure is growing
by 400 daily. These shocking figures were announced by
National Health Minister Rina Venter. Up to January this
year, only 47,764 cases were reported to the South African
Institute for Medical Research. At the end of October,
1,517 cases of AIDS were known.” AIDS is the depart-
ment’s “biggest problem and one of the top priorities.” In
the current financial year, more than 37 million rands has
been put aside to fight the disease. Transvaal has the
largest number of HIV infections with 19,311 cases, Natal
is second with 12,958, Cape Province has 2,298, and
Orange Free State 2,224. Dr. Venter said that “without
drastic steps, one out every five people could be infected
by the year 2010.” (Johannesburg TRANSVALER in Afri-
kaans 3 Feb 93 p 9)

ZIMBAWE

AIDS—An official in the National AIDS Control Program,
NACP, reports that although the level of AIDS awareness
has increased, “sexual behavior still leaves a lot to be
desired.” By December 1992 NACP Information Officer
Ms Takawira says there were 18,731 confirmed cases, with
3,916 in Harare alone. (Johannesburg SAPA in English
1249 GMT 5 Feb 93)

Epidemiological Reports 22-28 February
MB2802193993 Various Sources in Portuguese and English
22-28 Feb 93

[Editorial Report] Following is a compilation of reports
monitored by FBIS Mbabane Bureau from 22-28 February

JPRS-TEP-93-067
23 March 1993

concerning outbreaks of and reports on various diseases.
Items are listed by country and disease. Source follows
each item.

SWAZILAND

HIV in Simunye—A total of 86 people have been con-
firmed as HIV positive in Simunye since the beginning of
1993. This is contained in a report from health activities at
the sugar estate. (Mbabane THE TIMES OF SWAZI-
LAND in English 25 Feb 93 p 1)

Epidemiological Reports 1-7 March
MB0703191593 in English and Portuguese 1-7 Mar 93

[Editorial Report] Following is a compilation of reports
monitored by FBIS Mbabane Bureau from 1-7 March
concerning outbreaks of and reports on various diseases.
Ttems are listed by country and disease. Source follows
each item.

BOTSWANA

AIDS—A report presented to the 19th Health Sector
Provincial Coordinating Council, which ended in Maputo
yesterday, states that 34 AIDS cases were reported in
Maputo Province in 1992. The document reports that the
figure represents 50 percent of the total AIDS cases
recorded in the province over the past 4 years. (Maputo
Radio Mozambique Network in Portuguese 1030 GMT 6
Mar 93)

SWAZILAND

AIDS—About 24,800 people are infected with the human
immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in Swaziland. By 1997, it is
estimated that the figure will have grown to 40,000 people
infected with the virus. This alarming revelation was made
by the National AIDS Office at a press conference held
yesterday [5 March]. The office said 248 AIDS cases have
been reported to it as of last December 31: 134 of the
reported cases are males, 111 are females. [all numbers as
published] There are 36 paediatric cases and they are all
believed to be of heterosexual origin. No cases have been
reported as either homosexual, bi-sexual or drug use,
according to the office. The office disclosed that HIV
prevalence is rising rapidly among blood donors. It said it
was 2.6 percent in 1990, 5.3 percent in 1991 and 8.9
percent last year. (Mbabane THE SWAZI NEWS in
English 6 Mar 93 p 32)

CAMEROON

Over 150,000 Citizens Said HIV-Positive

93WE0257A Yaounde CAMEROON TRIBUNE
in French 23 Nov 92 p 6

[Article by Michel Minka Mayemi
Awareness Week Starts Tomorrow”]

[Excerpt] The World Health Organization (WHO) now
estimates a [worldwide] total of 13 million people have
become infected with the AIDS virus. In Cameroon, the
statistics are just as catastrophic. According to recent
surveys of the population, more than 150,000 Cameroon-
ians are seropositive, i.e., infected with the terrible virus.

Last September, another study showed that 45 percent of
the [female] prostitutes in the city of Douala and 25

“National AIDS



JPRS-TEP-93-007
23 March 1993

Regional Health Report 16-22 January

PA2301035593 Various Sources in Spanish
16-22 Jan 93

[Editorial Report] The following is a compilation of
regional health reports monitored by Panama Bureau from
16 to 22 January. Source follows in parentheses after each
item.

COLOMBIA

Cali residents are concerned over the spread of acquired
immune deficiency syndrome [AIDS]. Even babies are
now being infected. It has been reported that 557 mothers
or housewives have the virus. Oddly enough, only |
percent of the city’s prostitutes have it. (Santa Fe de
Bogota Inravision Television Cadena | in Spanish 0030
GMT 17 Jan 93)

PANAMA

At the Children’s Hospital, two more newborn babies have
been reported to be infected with the AIDS virus. (Panama
City EL SIGLO in Spanish 21 Jan 93 p 5)

Regional Health Report 22-29 January

PA3001135693 Various Sources in Spanish
22-29 Jan 93

[Editorial Report] The following is a compilation of
regional health reports monitored by Panama Bureau from
22 to 29 January. Source follows in parentheses after each
item,

Costa Rica

Costa Rican Health Ministry officials reported 117 new
cases of AIDS were registered in 1992, the highest increase
in the last 10 years. A total of 433 cases of AIDS have been
reported since 1983, of which 266 have died. (Mexico City
NOTIMEX in Spanish 2025 GMT 25 Jan 93)

EI Salvador

Deputy Health Minister Gustavo Argueta reported an
AIDS epidemic in Salvadoran prisons. At least 25 cases
have been detected, mostly among homosexual inmates.
(Hamburg DPA in Spanish 0011 GMT 28 Jan 93)

Panama

Panamanian health authorities say 420 cases of AIDS have
been reported in the country since the virus was first
detected in the country. (Mexico City NOTIMEX in
Spanish 2031 GMT 23 Jan 93)

Health Ministry official Dr. Alejandro Moreno reports 19
cases of AIDS have been detected in Panama City, 14 of
them are prostitutes, mostly foreigners. (Panama City
Circuito RPC Television in Spanish 2300 GMT 22 Jan 93)

Regional Health Report 31 Jan - 5 Feb

PA0602152693 Various Sources in Spanish
31 Jan-5 Feb 93

[Editorial Report] The following is a compilation of
regional health reports monitored by Panama Bureau from
31 January to 5 February. Source follows in parentheses
after each item.

LATIN AMERICA 15

GUATEMALA

Government sources on 2 February reported that 90 cases
of acquired immune deficiency syndrome, AIDS, were
detected at Granja Penal de Pavon Prison, in Fraijanes
Municipality, 28 km southeast of Guatemala City. Health
authorities announced that the infected inmates were
isolated and sexual relations have been eliminated to
prevent the spread of the disease. Eusebio Del Cid, min-
ister of public health and social welfare, explained that the
cases reported at the prison represent 26.2 percent of the
national total. The minister concluded that 343 cases of
AIDS and 129 fatalities were reported in Guatemala
through 15 January. (Panama City ACAN in Spanish 1538
GMT 2 Feb 93)

MEXICO

The number of AIDS cases in Mexico City jails has
doubled in the last two years, going from 18 in 1991 to 36
in 1993. According to Mexico City health officials, the 36
AIDS infected prisoners who remain at Santa Martha
Prison have been isolated from other prisoners. Official
reports concluded that since 1982, 11,398 cases of AIDS
have been reported in Mexico. (Madrid EFE in Spanish
1748 GMT | Feb 93)

PANAMA

A Health Ministry spokesperson has reported that seven
persons, most of them heterosexuals, died of AIDS in
Panama in January. (Panama City LA ESTRELLA DE
PANAMA in Spanish 2 Feb 93 p A5)

Regional Health Report 5-12 February
PA1302161493 Various Sources, 5-12 February

[Editorial Report] The following is a compilation of
regional health reports monitored by Panama Bureau from
5 through 12 February. Source follows in parentheses after
each item.

Honduras

It was officially announced on 9 February in Tegucigalpa
that there are 3,541 cases of AIDS throughout Honduras.
The Health Ministry announced that during the first two
months of 1993, 14 new cases were confirmed at the
central penitentiary in Tegucigalpa. The report indicates
that most of the victims are male heterosexuals. So far the
disease has claimed 630 lives. (Mexico City NOTIMEX
2026 GMT 9 Feb 93)

Nicaragua

The Health Ministry reports that of 31 people with AIDS
reported in Nicaragua since 1987, 28 have died. The
ministry indicates that the real number of cases could be
much larger and estimates that there may be as many as
6,000 to 10,000 Nicaraguans infected with the disease.
(Managua Radio Sandino 1830 GMT 12 Feb 93)

Panama

The Health Ministry reports that a total of 257 people
between ages 20 and 44 have died from AIDS in Panama
over the past nine years. A ministry official said that since
1984 there have been 431 cases of AIDS, 346 of which
were sexually transmitted. (Panama City ACAN 2228
GMT 12 Feb 93)



JPRS-TEP-93-007

23 March 1993 CHINA 5

‘Experts’ Say ‘High’ Risk of Contracting AIDS

HK0103081293 Hong Kong ZHONGGUO TONGXUN
SHE in Chinese 0844 GMT 19 Feb 93

[Report by Shi Chuan (4258 1557)}

[Text] Hong Kong, 19 Feb (ZHONGGUO TONGXUN
SHE)—In a long-distance telephone interview with this
reporter, an epidemiologist working with the Guangdong
sanitation authorities said that because the Chinese main-
land has not set up a nationwide system for detecting HIV
in blood donors, there is a high risk of spreading HIV
through blood transfusion. Therefore, compared with the
United States and other advanced countries, contracting
AIDS is easier in the Chinese mainland. This expert
expressed his worries about the situation in the mainland.

It is said that nearly 1,000 HIV carriers have been found in
the mainland, much fewer than in the United States.
However, though the Chinese are quite conservative about
sex, there is a higher chance of them contracting AIDS
than in the more permissive United States. This is because,
apart from sexual contact, another important way to catch
HIV is through blood transfusions. In the United States,
because the HIV test is conducted on all blood donors
across the country, the danger of catching HIV through
blood transfusion is minimal. The Chinese mainland, on
the other hand, has not yet set up a nationwide system for
detecting HIV in blood donors, creating a very high chance
of spreading HIV through blood transfusions. Moreover,
disposable syringes are not yet in common use in urban
China and traditional reusable syringes are still used in
tural areas most of the time. Therefore, the spread of AIDS
through contaminated needles and syringes is hard to
avoid. Often, recipients of injections have caught sexually
transmitted diseases unknowingly, so it is also highly
possible to contract AIDS without being conscious of it.

As to whether or not those who receive spot AIDS tests
designed for people entering or leaving China at some
ports in Guangdong Province could catch the virus from
contaminated needles and syringes, the expert said that the
needles and syringes used for the spot tests at those ports
are all disposable ones and are put through a rigorous
sterilization process. That testees could contract AIDS
because of the tests is absolutely impossible. It is under-
standable that many of those who frequently cross the
border have such misgivings, but fear of the tests is
unnecessary.

Guangdong Province Suspends AIDS Tests for
Travellers

HK2302054393 Hong Kong AFP in English 0454 GMT
23 Feb 93

[Excerpt] Hong Kong, Feb 23 (AFP)—A Hong Kong
delegation left Tuesday [23 February] for Beijing to discuss

screening frequent travellers for AIDS as health authorities
in Guangdong province confirmed they were suspending
the controversial tests.

Elizabeth Wong, secretary for health and welfare, was
heading the delegation, which planned three days of talks
with Chinese officials on AIDS tests for frequent travellers
at Guangdong’s points of entry. “Our mission is to reflect
Hong Kong people’s concern to the Chinese authorities, to
better understand China’s arrangements for HIV tests at
the border checkpoints, and, together, to explore ways of
minimising inconvenience to travellers, particularly for
frequent travellers from Hong Kong,” Wong said.

Health officials in Guangzhou, contacted by telephone,
told AFP that the AIDS tests had been temporarily sus-
pended, pending a review of the policy. A Hong Kong
political group which went to Beijing last week to discuss
the tests had said Monday [22 February] it was told they
would be suspended. Guangdong this month began five-
minute AIDS tests for those who have travelled into China
12 times in as many months, but the Hong Kong govern-
ment, AIDS activists and others contend the tests are
questionable and misguided. [passage omitted]

Beijing, Other Cities Open AIDS, Venereal
Disease Hotline

0W0903191093 Beijing XINHUA in English
1502 GMT 9 Mar 93

[Text] Shenyang, March 9 (XINHUA)—Shenyang, the
capital of northeastern Liaoning Province, opened a spe-
cial telephone service today for venereal disease and AIDS
victims - the fifth such hotline in China.

The other four hotlines are in Beijing, Shanghai, the
country’s largest metropolis, Kunming, the capital of
southwestern Yunnan Province, and Shijiazhuang, provin-
cial capital of northern Hebei.

Venereal disease was eliminated after the people’s republic
was founded in 1949, but has made a comeback over the
past few years for various reasons.

The existence of carriers of venereal diseases and AIDS is
no longer a secret in China. The Chinese Government has
exerted great efforts to tackle the problem.

Officials have urged the populace not to become biased
against the victims.

As part of these efforts, the government has opened
hotlines to help victims of venereal disease and AIDS by

giving advice on the problems and by helping others avoid
contracting the diseases.

Many Chinese cities have set up special clinics to treat the
diseases. In Shenyang, for instance, 34 such clinics are in
operation.



IPRS-TEP-93-007
23 March 1993

attention to medical workers, who are subjected to the risk
of AIDS infection in their daily practice? Hardly not. A
week prior to the appearance of the minister, on 5
November, an obstetrician-gynecologist in charge of a
specialized department for infectious patients, including
AIDS patients, appeared on a channel UT-1 program
devoted to social and legal aspects of AIDS. She talked
about the total lack of social protection for persons
infected with HIV, about the inadequate working condi-
tions, about the absence of individual protective resources,
and about the real danger of infection. Dentists talked
about the same thing a few minutes later. This is despite
the fact that according to the Ukrainian law, “in the
absence of personal protection, a medical worker has the
right to refuse to cure or render aid to a patient.” Today, it
is only owing to the enthusiasm and humanitarianism of
medical personnel that surgical forms of care are rendered
to HIV carriers. By not providing protection to medical
personnel against AIDS infection, by its inaction the
Ministry of Health is essentially creating an additional
specific risk factor of such infection.

And in the meantime the minister says: “To our misfor-
tune, we’ve now created ‘hotbed’ conditions for both AIDS
patients and carriers. We are obligated to isolate carriers
and patients...”

But such a thing already happened in our history, when
individuals who were “harmful” to the society were iso-
lated and physically annihilated over the course of 75
years. The argument then was also the most humanitarian.
As far as references to plague and cholera are concerned, it
would be pertinent here to recall the entirely different
pathways by which these infections are transmitted, and to
cite the experience of the world community, of which the
honorable minister should of course be aware. The
methods of isolation, which are more effective in the case
of classical quarantined infections, have been found to be
totally useless as a way to prevent the spread of AIDS. A
confidential approach to this problem on the part of HIV
carriers was recognized as the only correct one by the
World Health Organization; this is the way to limit the
spread of AIDS. I have never met patients in my practice
who have wanted to take “revenge” on society. This is
even despite the fact that for practical purposes, the society
carries a share of blame for each broken destiny.

Only the unenlightened can seriously say that the main
danger of the spread of an epidemic in Ukraine is currently
associated with foreigners. At the same time, the honorable
minister said absolutely nothing at all about the people
who caught AIDS in medical institutions. Twelve of them
have been officially registered as of today. But here is what
is troubling. This year the first 42 revealed carriers were
kept under examination in the clinic for almost 11 months.
Only five of them are in risk groups—prostitutes, drug
addicts, homosexuals. All of the rest are ordinary in the
aspect of sexual behavior and sexual activity of the people,
who are predominantly of middle age—from 25 to 40
years. Let me emphasize, ordinary. Despite meticulous
epidemiological analysis and laboratory testing of sex
partners, in most cases the source of infection has
remained unestablished. Almost all infected persons were
subjected to various medical procedures before HIV was
detected in their blood. The question as to the extent of

CENTRAL EURASIA 2

occurrence of cases of infection in medical institutions
remains essentially unanswered.

As far as the honorable minister’s pride in regard to the
large segment of the population that has been subjected to
AIDS testing is concerned, the figure is truly impressive—
25.5 million. But when in spring of last year I told some of
my American associates from San Francisco General Hos-
pital about the four to five million that we test every year
in Ukraine, they replied that only a rich, a very rich
country could allow itself such a luxury. It was then that
this idea came to me for the first time: Is such a scale really
necessary? The honorable minister himself answered this
question. Only 3.2 percent of the persons that have been
tested are in risk groups. But when it comes to infected
individuals, approximately a third of them are in risk
groups. The question is this: Why should we be seeking
AIDS where it is not? This would be just like testing, let us
say, inhabitants of Kiev for yellow fever, Japanese enceph-
alitis or some other infection that is encountered only
under certain conditions. Who is going to answer for this
expensive blanket approach?

The honorable minister's statement that parliament
blocked his proposal regarding mandatory testing of rep-
resentatives of risk groups is totally incomprehensible. It
would be sufficient to read Article 7 and Article 13 of the
12 December Ukrainian law “On AIDS Prevention and
Social Protection of the Population,” as well as Paragraph
6, “Regulations on Medical Examination and Prompt
Detection of HIV Infection, Evaluation, Medical Exami-
nation and Preventive Supervision of AIDS Carriers,”
approved by Decree No 460 of the Ukrainian Cabinet of
Ministers dated 10 August 1992, to persuade ourselves
that this statement is totally out of touch with reality.
Though it should be noted that the content of these articles
is discriminatory according to the norms of the World
Health Organization, the European Community and the
legal service of the Ukrainian Supreme Court.

The National AIDS Committee under the president of
Ukraine evoked the honorable minister’s special displea-
sure. Criticizing the National Committee, which is a
special body of state executive power, the honorable min-
ister says: “‘...the National Committee was created in order
to do nothing but check on the Ministry of Health.”

The question that naturally arises is this: Why is this
happening? Obviously because the National Committee,
which takes its cue from its status and its deep conviction,
wishes to begin its work with an objective evaluation of the
manner in which the Ukrainian National AIDS Control
Program is being fulfilled in terms of organization and
finances. Moreover according to Paragraph 15 of the
National Committee’s statute, it “is the administrator of
assets allocated from the Ukrainian state budget for imple-
mentation of the National Program....” The Ministry of
Health requested around 5 billion karbovantsy for next
year. It is this invasion into this part of the zone of vital
interests that the honorable minister is unable to accept.
However, such opposition is only harmful. On the con-
trary, we should be uniting efforts, before the AIDS
situation goes out of control.

Such is the tragic situation that has evolved in Ukraine on
the eve of World AIDS Day. On this day, through joint



JPRS-TEP-93-007
23 March 1993

Foreicn
Broapcast

INFORMATION
Senvice

Gian wi A BY

DTIC QUALITY INePEOTED 2

260 6221166

REPRODUCED BY

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

NATIONAL TECHNICAL INFORMATION SERVICE
SPRINGFIELD, VA. 22161



8 EAST ASIA

THAILAND

Public Health Ministry Seeks AIDS Aid Funding

93WE0181D Bangkok BAN MUANG in Thai
14 Nov 92 p 3

[Text] Dr. Prayun Kunason, the director-general of the
Department of Communicable Disease Control, Ministry
of Public Health, said that for fiscal 1993, the AIDS budget
has been set at 397 million baht. Of this, 70.56 million
baht will be used to purchase drugs to fight the AIDS virus.
Another 11.2 million baht will be used to purchase medi-
cines to treat secondary diseases affecting AIDS patients.
As for purchasing anti-AIDS drugs, so far, the Food and
Drug Administration has authorized the registration of
two types of drugs, that is, AZT and DDI. But these drugs
just help extend the life of the patient. They cannot cure
the person of this disease. Drugs to treat secondary dis-
eases in AIDS patients include drugs to treat diarrhea,
fungus, tuberculosis, and pneumonia.

The Department of Communicable Disease Control will
purchase drugs to treat AIDS patients using these budget
funds. The drugs will be purchased in Bangkok and then
distributed to doctors at various hospitals who request
such drugs. The AIDS Control Coordinating Committee,
Ministry of Public Health, will decide to whom to dis-
tribute the drugs on a case-by-case basis as necessary,
because there is not enough money to purchase AIDS
drugs in sufficient quantity to distribute drugs to all
patients throughout the country.

Up to 4 Million AIDS Victims by 2000

93WE0181B Bangkok DAILY NEWS in Thai
21 Nov 92 p 26

[Excerpts] [passage omitted] Last year, the government
and the World Health Organization estimated that there
are approximately 200-400,000 AIDS victims in Thailand.
This figure was based on a survey conducted among
various groups such as prostitutes, men who like to partic-
ipate in night life (which accounted for the largest number
of people with the AIDS virus), intravenous drug users,
housewives, and infants. It is estimated that the number of
people with the AIDS virus is increasing at a rate of
600-1,000 people a day in Thailand (as compared with
5,000 people a day for the rest of the world). Thus, it is
estimated that this year, there will be about 500,000 AIDS
victims in Thailand. Unless people’s behavior changes,
that is, if people do not stop having promiscuous sexual
relations and if they continue having sex with many
different partners (or with people other than their spouse)
and using the services of prostitutes without using a
condom, by the year 2000, Thailand will have two to four
million AIDS victims. The number of new AIDS victims
will be greater than the number in Africa, which is where
the AIDS problem is now the most serious.

In the past two to three years, the number of people with
full-blown cases of AIDS has increased rapidly. The
number has now reached 1,000 people even though they
first contracted the AIDS virus in 1988.

There is, however, good news from the “100 percent
condom program” in Bangkok, which got underway at the
end of April 1992. The owners and managers of brothels
are cooperating well. They understand the importance of

JPRS-TEP-93-007
23 March 1993

having prostitutes require their customers to use a condom
every time (or of refusing to have sex with them if they
refuse). This will protect the prostitutes and people in
Bangkok from both AIDS and other venereal diseases.
Before this program got underway, 30 to 38 people per
100,000 people contracted a venereal disease. After this
program was launched, in May and August 1992, the rate
was down to 23 to 28 people per 100,000 people. [passage
omitted]

Since 1990, 90 percent of the drug addicts have stopped
using shared needles. [passage omitted]

New Immune System Virus, AIDS Vaccine

93WE0181C Bangkok BAN MUANG in Thai
23 Nov 92 p 3

[Text] An AIDS expert has disclosed that doctors have
discovered a new disease. Victims exhibit symptoms sim-
ilar to people with the AIDS virus. The actual cause of this
disease has not yet been found. There are now about three
to four people with this disease at the Chulalongkorn
Hospital.

Dr. Praphan Phanuphak, the director of the AIDS Pro-
gram, Thai Red Cross, said that doctors have discovered a
new type of immune system virus. This disease affects the
body’s ability to fight off other diseases. People with this
disease exhibit the same symptoms as people with the
AIDS virus. But blood tests given these people for the HIV,
or AIDS virus have proven negative. There are three-found
patients at the Chulalongkorn Hospital with this disease.
Worldwide, about 100 people have been found to have this
virus. Based on the evidence at hand, doctors do not have
any data showing the cause of this disease. Studies on
sexual relations, blood transfusions, and intravenous drug
use have not found any link between these things and this
immune system disease.

Dr. Praphan said that the studies on the families of those
with this disease do not indicate that the disease is conta-
gious. It could be that this disease is caused by an allergy to
some substance or drug. Or it may be that this disease
stems from the fact that the person has contracted the
AIDS virus. The virus then mutates and affects the
immune system. But so far, doctors have not been able to
detect the AIDS virus. People should not become alarmed
about this. Even though this disease resembles AIDS, there
is no evidence to indicate that this disease is contagious.

“This immune system disease resembles AIDS in every
way, but so far doctors have not been able to detect the
AIDS virus. Medical circles discovered this virus just two
to three years ago. This is a very strange disease, because so
far, we have not been able to discover any clear cause. This
virus may have been around for a long time. But so far,
medical technology has not been able to find a cause,” said
Dr. Praphan. He added that this virus weakens the per-
son’s immune system, which means that the victim is
easily susceptible to other diseases. People in medical
circles are working hard to find the cause and a way to treat
this disease. But they are still in the dark.

In his capacity as chairman of the Human Research
Committee, Dr. Withun Saengsingkaeo, the director-
general of the Department of Medicine, said that on 23
November, the Research Committee will hold a meeting to



SJPRS-TEP-93-007
23 March 1993

In the area of health alone, in addition to the presence of
20,000 amputees, Cambodia has high rates of malaria,
tuberculosis, regular epidemics of dengue fever and
cholera, and widespread malnutrition. The rate of infant
mortality is one of the highest in the world.

Most constraints are the legacy of war. “We are starting
from zero,” comments Dr. Tia. “From 500 in 1975,
Cambodia was left with 20 doctors in 1979. We do not
have testing facilities, or even basic health care services in
much of the country.”

Each of the four political factions that dominate the
country has its own separate health administration,
making coordination difficult. Continuing hostilities put
much of the country off-limits making it impossible to
assess the scope of the problem outside of Phnom Penh.
[passage omitted]

But for Dr. Tia, “the most serious problem is poverty. In
Cambodia a qualified surgeon makes only US$30 a month,
even less in the community health sector where most AIDS.
prevention work takes place. This makes it hard to get
good people—they would rather start a private practice.”

As well as his position on the National AIDS Committee,
Dr Tia also has to work as a surgeon to make ends meet.
“Even the most important people on the NAC work
several jobs.”

Miss Kien agrees that poverty is central to much of the
problem. Founded in early 1979, the Cambodian Women’s
Association is one of the very few organisations in Cam-
bodia actively working with the prostitutes themselves.

“Most Khmer like to think it is only Vietnamese women
(who are working as prostitutes), but that’s simply not
true,” says Miss Kein. A lot of women try to escape the
rural poverty by getting jobs in the main cities and end up
as prostitutes. She related stories she had heard of pimps
going into the countryside to recruit women for brothels, in
some cases buying them off their families for up to
US$150.

Working among the prostitutes is slow and difficult,
according to Miss Kien. “Many of the women have heard
about AIDS but often play dumb with us, for fear that we
are from the authorities and want to arrest them.” Few
women consequently want to attend workshops on sexu-
ally transmitted diseases. One tactic that the Women’s
Association uses to get around this problem is providing
free English lessons to the prostitutes in which they talk
about AIDS and other health issues.

Although some brothel owners provide treatment for
workers with sexually transmitted diseases, most of the
prostitutes treat themselves.

The departure of the UN could make AIDS prevention
even more difficult. As one WHO official in Phnom Penh
put it: “Much of what little modern medical infrastructure
there is in this country will go with UNTAC.”

Dr. Tia Phalla assessment is equally bleak: “My country
was already destroyed once by Pol Pot. I fear it could be
done again by AIDS.

EAST ASIA 7

MALAYSIA

Minister—5,294 Confirmed To Be HIV Carriers

BK1303133593 Kuala Lumpur Radio Malaysia Network
in English 1300 GMT 13 Mar 93

[Text] 5,294 people are confirmed to be HIV carriers in the
country. Out of the number, about 100 are prostitutes.
Health Minister Datuk Lee Kim Sai said most of them are
at ages ranging from 21 to 35 years old.

He was speaking to newsmen after launching a blood
donation campaign in Kuala Lumpur. The minister added
that there are 73 AIDS patients and 44 people have died of
AIDS so far.

SINGAPORE

Ministry—158 Singaporeans Infected With HIV
Virus

BK1801103893 Singapore THE SUNDAY TIMES

in English 17 Jan 93 p 3

[Excerpt] The number of Singaporeans infected with the
AIDS virus went up again last year, and the majority were
young, unmarried heterosexuals. The Health Ministry sta-
tistics remained grim as the numbers of those found to be
infected, those with full- blown AIDS, and those who died
all went up. A total of 37 people have died as of Jan | this
year.

Fifty-five more Singaporeans were found to be infected
with the human immuno-deficiency virus (HIV) last year
compared to 42 in 1991 and 17 in 1990. Those found to be
infected comprised 49 men and six women, most of whom.
were single and aged between 20 and 39 years.

Almost all (96 percent) were infected through sexual con-
tact and 70 percent were infected through heterosexual
relations with prostitutes.

As of Jan I, a total of 158 Singaporeans—147 males and 11
females—were found to be infected. [passage omitted]

Seven Foreign Workers Test HIV Positive

BK1702140893 Singapore THE STRAITS TIMES
in English 17 Feb 93 p 1

[Article by Mathew Pereira]

[Excerpt] Just six weeks after AIDS testing was made
compulsory for foreign workers, at least seven have tested
HIV positive, a check by THE STRAITS TIMES revealed.
Six of them are believed to have been repatriated. The
remaining worker will be sent home soon. Foreign workers
can be tested at 22 centres. These include private hospitals
and clinics.

THE STRAITS TIMES’ figures came from three centres.
Five other centres were not prepared to reveal the number
detected since compulsory testing began in January. When
contacted yesterday, the Health Ministry, too, was unable
to give the total number of cases detected since the start of
the mandatory testing. It said it had not collated the figures
yet. [passage omitted]



28 WEST EUROPE

percent in three years with increased use by young people.
Furthermore, the evaluation survey has revealed a
decrease in the number of partners, especially among those
20 to 40 years of age, and in the frequency of sexually
transmitted diseases and voluntary abortions among
minors.

In Guadeloupe, information and health education are
discussed more or less systematically in the schools: In
1989-1990, 80 percent of the students who finished the
10th grade were given AIDS information. Finally, a play,
created in 1990 by the ORSTROM [Bureau of Overseas
Scientific and Technical Research] theater and designed to
emphasize the human problems presented by the illness,
was first performed in French and in Creole in various
theaters in Martinique, and then in Guadeloupe and
Guyana.

Research Minister Calls for End to AIDS
Research Dispute

AU1902180093 Paris AFP in English 1755 GMT
19 Feb 93

[Text] Paris, Feb 19 (AFP}—French Research Minister
Hubert Curien has written to U.S. Secretary of Health and
Human Services Donna Shalala to seek a speedy solution
to the dispute between the world’s two top AIDS
researchers.

In his letter, a copy of which was obtained by AFP, Curien
said the dispute between Frenchman Jean-Luc Montagnier
and American Robert Gallo over who first discovered the
human immunodeficiency virus was “dragging on.”

Although most authorities—including in the United
States—agree that Gallo based his research on the findings
of Montagnier and his team at the Pasteur Institute here, a
disagreement continues over sharing royalties of AIDS
tests that resulted from the find.

“The terms of the accord between your (U.S.) administra-
tion and the Pasteur Institute do not reflect the realities of
the contributions of the two sides in achieving a test to
diagnose AIDS,” Curien wrote.

“This situation appears unsatisfactory to us at a time when
the epidemic continues to rage and all our energies should
be concentrated on (further) research,” he said.

“The French government wants a speedy solution to ... this
regrettable disagreement,” Curien wrote, asking for a
meeting with Shalala ‘tas soon as possible” to end the
dispute.

SWEDEN

Study Looks at Children of HIV-Infected Mothers

93WE0245B Stockholm DAGENS NYHETER
in Swedish 29 Nov 92 p 8

[Unattributed article from SVENSKA DAGBLADET:
“Those Infected With HIV Get Poor Social Services”)

[Text] Children of HIV-infected women in Sweden do not
receive enough social services, given their difficult situa-
tion. That was one result of a survey done by welfare
workers and doctors at the Danderyd and Huddinge Hos-
pitals. Ninety-two HIV-infected mothers and 144 children
under age 18 in Stockholm were interviewed.

JPRS-TEP-93-007
23 March 1993

Majority Not Infected

Twenty-four percent of the children have a mother with
AIDS or early symptoms of the disease. Of the children, 10
were infected themselves, all of them under age 10, and
furthermore, in the cases of 15 older children, there were
suspicions about future infection. So the majority of the
children are not HIV-infected themselves.

Thirty-three percent of the children live with only their
mother and only 24 percent of the affected mothers
reported receiving help from family and friends who knew
about the family’s situation. Fewer than every other
family, 40 percent, had any contact with the social service
authorities in Stockholm.

Official Explains AIDS Vaccination Trial

93WE0245A Stockholm DAGENS NYHETER
in Swedish 31 Jan 93 p 5

[Article by Kerstin Hellbom: “Biggest Test of AIDS Vac-
cine: Thousands of HIV-Positives Take Part in Swedish
Study”]

[Text] The biggest anti-AIDS vaccination trial to date will
begin in Sweden in the next few weeks.

Approximately 1,000 HIV-positives will try a vaccine
which may arrest the development of AIDS.

The vaccine which is to be tried is the same one which was
tried on a smaller scale in the United States and Canada
and on 40 HIV-positives in Stockholm’s Sodersjukhus as
well.

It is a so-called therapeutic vaccine which will activate the
immune defense system against HIV of those who are
already infected. The hope is to be able to turn the HIV
infection into a treatable chronic illness.

Internal War

The HIV infection is usually described as a long-term
internal war between the virus and the immune system’s
defense cells, primarily the system’s leader, the so-called
CD4 cells. About 10 years after infection has occurred, the
virus usually wins. At that point the number of CD4 cells
plunges from a normal level of approximately 1,000 per
milliliter of blood to fewer than 300. It is at that point that
HIV becomes AIDS with all its symptoms, such as, for
example, tumors and serious infections.

More Antibodies

The vaccine, which is made from a genetically engineered
protein (gp 160) located in the coating of the virus, aims at
strengthening the immune system.

So far results have shown that it works to a certain degree.
The collapse of the CD4 cells is stopped and the number of
anti-HIV antibodies increases and improves.

“The trials thus far have been too limited for us to be able to
say with certainty whether and how the vaccine works. We
do not know, for example, whether the quantity of virus in
the person vaccinated decreases or even if the. vaccine really
provides protection against the disease. We will try to get
answers to this in our study,” said Prof. Hans Wigzell, chief
of the National Bacteriological Laboratory, SBL.



JPRS-TEP-93-007
23 March 1993

FINLAND

Over 500 HIV Sufferers in Finland by End of

LD1802100193 Helsinki Suomen Yleisradio Network
in Finnish 0900 GMT 18 Feb 93

[Text] The number of people infected with HIV has again
begun to rise in Finland. Some 90 new infections were
discovered last year, which is considerably more than two
years ago. At the end of the year there were over 500 HIV
cases. Of the sexually transmitted HIV viruses, half fol-
lowed from heterosexual and half from homosexual rela-
tions.

FRANCE

Overseas Departments See AIDS Increase
93WE0221A Paris LE FIGARO in French 22 Jan 93 p 11

[Article by Dr. Martine Perez: “AIDS Critical in Far Away
France”; first paragraph is LE FIGARO lead, second
paragraph the introduction]

[Text] Prevention programs tailored to overseas depart.
ments.

In the West Indies, Guyana and Reunion, the epidemic is
increasing at rates two to six times higher than those in the
mother country; transmission of the virus is through essen-
tially heterosexual encounters. First, it is imperative to take
into account local cultural circumstances.

In overseas departments, AIDS is the primary cause of
death among young adults. Since the appearance of the
disease in the West Indies in 1982, 227 cases have been
recorded in Martinique, 342 in Guadeloupe and 271 in
Guiana. In Reunion, where the disease appeared later, in
1987, 91 individuals have already been struck down.

These are stark facts, giving a poor idea of the problem.
Above all, it is the computation of prevalence; that is to
say, the number of recorded cases as compared to the
number of inhabitants, which corroborates the importance
of the problem. Whereas, in France, the recorded average
is 36 cases per 100,000 inhabitants; in Guyana, this figure
is 239 cases per 100,000; in Guadeloupe, 78 per 100,000;
and in Martinique, 59 per 100,000.

These three overseas departments have another pecu-
liarity; the most frequent mode of transmission is through
heterosexual encounters: Homosexuals and bisexuals
account for only 15 percent of the affected people, and
drug addicts, four percent. On an average, men are affected
twice as much as women, and the 30 to 40-year old group
is the age group which is the most at risk. Moreover, the
number of support and handling facilities is still small;
and, more than elsewhere, AIDS is the disease of exclusion
and silence, and of shame and utter taboo.

The RFO [National Company for Overseas Radio and
Television], the first radio and television station of the
DOM’s [Overseas Departments], has decided to launch a
large-scale consciousness raising and information cam-
paign on 13 February 1993. The program, performed in
multiplex with Guyana, Martinique, Guadeloupe, and
Reunion, will be aimed at these regions and will last eight
hours. It is being sponsored by the French Fight Against

WEST EUROPE 27

AIDS Agency and the Overseas Energy Association, under
the aegis of Bernard Kouchner, and the participation,
among others, of several scientific personalities. 08@5

“There Are No Secrets”

Dr. Felix Popotte (AIDS Research and Information
Center) explains: “In view of the seriousness of the epi-
demic, a three-year plan has been in existence in each
overseas department since 1988. A committee made up of
institutional partners—the minister of health and the
French Fight Against AIDS Agency—and associations has
been in charge of implementing follow-up, evaluation, and
prevention strategy programs. Moreover, overseas depart-
ments have a tradition of solidarity that only asks to
express itself and that can be applied to the support of
patients and the assumption of responsibility for them.”

In practice, certain actions clash nonetheless with the
cultural particulars of the islands and with certain charac-
teristics linked to their insularity. Dr. Popotte adds: “This
slant is summarized in the sentence ‘There are no secrets’.
Under such circumstances, the announcement of being
HIV positive is experienced as an individual, family, if not
collective, tragedy.”

Moreover, AIDS is predominant among heterosexuals, as
tends to be the case in the motherland. In this context,
although passed into disuse, the famous American formula
of the four H's (homosexuals, heroin addicts, hemophil-
iacs, and Haitians) has been a tragedy in the overseas
departments, suggesting wrongly that worldwide the dis-
ease remains limited to these groups.

Dr. Popotte notes: “The pandemia is now real, and there
no longer are at-risk groups. The whole world is affected; it
is more precise to speak of at-risk practices.” Finally,
prevention campaigns can no longer ignore the DOM
inhabitants’ own historic and cultural characteristics,
taboos in particular, especially those concerning homosex-
uality and drug addiction which are stronger than any-
where else.

To reduce the HIV impact, four aspects of the problem are
being targeted by this three-year plan, extended to 1993.
First on the list is epidemiological surveillance aimed at
developing mandatory reporting of AIDS cases and orga-
nizing a network of laboratories performing reliable detec-
tion tests; it is followed by prevention and information
campaigns, to improve knowledge of the disease and
promote detection among pregnant women and people
engaged in at-risk behavior; followed still by prevention of
the risks of professional transmission; and finally, the
creation of a psychological and social support network for
HIV positive people and those who are sick with it.

The goal of each departmental AIDS committee, made up,
thus, of institutional and association partners, is not only
to define strategies but also to follow up and evaluate their
implementation. Thus the radio, television, and printed
press campaign conducted between 1988 and 1990 made it
possible to open the consciousness of the population to the
prevention messages. It was determined that the listening
rate for these spots exceeded 90 percent. It was also
determined that knowledge concerning transmission and
prevention methods rose by 3.3 percent and 6.4 percent
respectively. As for the sale of condoms, that rose by 44



4 SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

How many AIDS patients are unseen because of ignorance
or refusal to accept treatment from the appropriate agen-
cies? We must understand that anyone might be HIV-
positive. A seropositive is what is called a healthy carrier,
someone infected by the AIDS virus who has not yet
developed the disease. It is not our purpose to point the
finger of moralistic blame at them: AIDS is a malady like
any other, it must be demythologized. Think of how
society used to treat those afflicted with leprosy or tuber-
culosis.... Once there is an effective vaccine against AIDS,
the opprobrium that attaches so unfairly to sufferers will
dissipate. But that is for the future, and in the meantime
appropriate precautions should be taken. Researchers and
physicians are not even close to victory over AIDS. The
only weapon we have is prevention: technical means or
ethical standards. Although we do not presume to preach
about sexually responsible behavior or sensitivity to part-
ners’ feelings, it is a fact that fidelity for married couples
(or single-partner relationships for others) is one way to
prevent AIDS. Otherwise, though not as foolproof, a
prophylactic (or condom) should be worn during sexual
relations. Although it is easy to recognize the symptoms of
disease in someone suffering from AIDS, an HIV-positive
is completely asymptomatic. The National Committee for
the Struggle Against AIDS says at least 8,000 and perhaps
as many as 80,000 Senegalese are seropositive.

AIDS concerns us all, and it’s no laughing matter.

ZAMBIA

Twenty-Five Percent of Antenatal Women HIV
Positive

93WE0252C Lusaka TIMES OF ZAMBIA in English
20 Dec 92p 1

[Excerpt] Government has revealed that 25 percent of
women who attended ante-natal clinics at the University
Teaching Hospital (UTH) in Lusaka last year tested HIV
positive.

The death toll from HIV related cases stood at 1,649 by
September this year [1992] with figures of HIV positives in
the tuberculosis wards and Sexually Transmitted Diseases
(STD) clinics soaring to 30 percent and 54 percent respec-
tively.

The conference was funded by Norad and the Danish
embassy and the participants met to review their perfor-
mance during the year and initiate new strategies to
respond to new challenges brought by AIDS.

[Passage omitted]

ZIMBABWE

At Least 478 Deaths From AIDS in Manicaland

93WE0251A Harare THE HERALD in English
27 Nov 92 p4

[Text] Mutare—At least 478 people died of AIDS in
Manicaland between January and September this year.

JPRS-TEP-93-007
23 March 1993

The latest statistics compiled by a section of the Provincial
Medical Department (Manicaland) and headed by Dr.
Ruth Shakespeare, revealed that 1,164 AIDS cases were
reported in Manicaland.

Forty-one percent of the people recorded as infected had
died by the end of September.

Statistics for October and November are not yet available.

The majority of the cases reported came from Mutare and
surrounding areas. Many cases were also reported in
Buhera and Makoni districts, while Mutasa, Chipinge,
Nyanga and Chimanimani districts recorded fewer cases.

From the statistics, it was noted that sexually transmitted
diseases continued to be the second most common com-
plaint among adults visiting clinics and hospitals.

This was viewed with great concern as the AIDS virus was
easily transmitted if STDs, particularly genital ulcers, were
present.

An AIDS trust fund has been launched in Bulilima-
Manewe district, to provide material and moral support
for children who lose parents to AIDS.

District medical officwer Dr. Prince Kanjakwa said the
trust fund, launched last month sought to assist orphans as
well as actively involve the community in fighting AIDS.

Since the beginning of the year, 16 people had died in the
district hospital from AIDS-related diseases.

The beneficiaries of the fund have yet to be identified.

A community-based programme has also begun under
which AIDS patients be taken care of at their respective
homes.

Meanwhile, HelpAge Zimbabwe yesterday urged the
nation to remember the elderly who are now having to care
for victims of AIDS as the young fall victim to the
epidemic.

“Elderly people are increasingly being forced to shoulder
the ever-growing burden of caring for orphans and of
having to cope with the needs of relatives of those dying
from AIDS,” director of HelpAge Zimbabwe Cde.
Tavengwa Nhongo said in an interview in Harare.

As Zimbabwe commemorated the National AIDS Week
from November 23 to 27 people needed to review the
effect of AIDS on the elderly.

According to statistics released by the National AIDS
Council, the epidemic was affecting age groups between
zero to four years old and between 20 to 39 years old and
this, he said, meant that the elderly were the ones left to
cope with the aftermath of the epidemic.

He said there was a rising reversal of dependency as the
elderly who often depended on the extended family struc-
ture for their own sustenance were now forced to be the
supporters of the victims of AIDS.



18 NEAR EAST & SOUTH ASIA

IRAN
Paper on New Policy, Reaction to AIDS

Foreigners Subjected to Blood Test

93WE0266A Tehran KEYHAN-E HAVA’ in Persian
6 Jan 93 p4

{Text} Karaj. IRNA. 7 Dey (28 Dec] In order to prevent the
entry of patients with AIDS, from now on all foreign
passengers intending to remain in Iran for more than three
months will be subjected to a blood test.

Dr. *Abd al-Hamid Imam, the secretary of the National
Committee on Fighting AIDS, made this announcement at
the AIDS Training Seminar in Karaj and said: The necessary
coordination will be made with the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs to administer blood tests to foreign passengers.

Referring to the existing shortcomings in public education
to prevent AIDS, he said: Unfortunately, some of the
officials in propaganda affairs do not offer the needed
cooperation with the Anti-AIDS Committee due to lack of
a full understanding of the dangers resulting from the
spread of this disease.

He asked the media to take advantage of the medical
information available from the National Committee on
Fighting AIDS and inform the people about its dangers
and the ways to prevent this disease.

In the continuation of this seminar, Ms. Shirvani, a
member of the National Committee on Fighting AIDS,
spoke about the importance of disinfecting medical equip-
ment, especially dentistry equipment, to prevent the trans-
mission of the virus of this disease.

She said: According to the latest research, the symptoms of
this disease appear and can be identified in the mouths of
90 percent of patients. Hence, if dentists acquire the
necessary medical information, they can easily identify the
symptoms of this deadly disease and send the individuals
suspected of having AIDS to the centers for necessary tests.

As this seminar continued, the physicians and paramedics
of the city of Karaj discussed the ways the disease is
transmitted, prevention of the AIDS virus, and the level of
its spread in the world.

Paper Alleges Diplomat Has AIDS

93WE0266B Tehran KEYHAN-E HAVA’ in Persian
20 Jan 93 p2

[Text] KEYHAN-E HAVA’I News Service. 21 Dey [11 Jan]
The AIDS affliction of a diplomat in the Dutch Embassy in
Tran has caused much anxiety for the members of the
diplomatic agencies residing in Iran.

According to reports from a function attended by diplo-
mats residing in Tehran, despite being fully aware of his
disease, the Foreign Ministry of Holland sent him to Iran
as a consul.

It is said that, considering the lack of control of and the
corruption among the members of the embassy and their
likely relations with some of the corrupt and Westernized
Iranian circles, this disease has certainly been transmitted to
others.

JPRS-TEP-93-007
23 March 1993

Still, there is no information published about the reaction
and position of the officials of the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs of our country regarding this person who has the
AIDS virus.

Medical circles believe that, considering that one of the
ways AIDS is spread is through the use of blood products
and the lack of control of afflicted individuals, the officials
of the country must deal with the entry and exit of foreign
nationals, even under the cover of the diplomatic cadre,
more sensitively and carefully.

Recently, fortunately, in order to prevent the entry of
AIDS patients, it was decided that blood tests would be
administered to all foreign passengers who intend to
remain in Iran for more than three months. This can play
a positive role in preventing the spread of this deadly
disease in the country.

Editorial Urges Ministry To Act

93WE0266C Tehran KEYHAN-E HAVA’ in Persian
20 Jan 93 p 10

{Text]

‘Political AIDS’ or ‘AIDS-Afflicted Politics’

It was reported that foreign diplomats residing in Tehran
have expressed their anxiety about the presence of a Dutch
diplomat who has AIDS. This report stated that the Dutch
Foreign Ministry sent the above-mentioned diplomat to
Tehran, despite knowing that he had the deadly disease of
AIDS.

AIDS is described as a deadly and horrible phenomenon in
the West, and an important part of the news of news
agencies and the media is devoted to this new, deadly
phenomenon, which is the result of the moral decline in
the West. On the other hand, in our country, this disease is
not confronted as it should be. Iran is one of the few
countries that, due to the fact that its people enjoy a
religious culture and believe in social morality and
behavior, have remained immune to some extent from the
ill effects of this deadly phenomenon. But this relative
immunity should not result in lack of proper attention or
negligence on the part of the officials of the country in
preventing the spread of this disease.

Based on world statistics, 75 percent of all AIDS patients
are individuals who have succumbed to gradual death as
the result of sexual relations.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of
Health, Treatment and Medical Education must display
more sensitivity in this regard. If foreign diplomats are
sent to Iran, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs must have full
information about their health. This should not only
include all the diplomats but all foreigners who come to
Iran and reside in the country for a length of time.

The silence of the officials concerning the situation of the
new Dutch consul who has AIDS can by no means be
justified. The first reaction in this connection could have
been the immediate expulsion of this diplomat.

In press circles, this is called “political AIDS” or “AIDS
politics.” Did the Dutch actually not have a mischievous
intention in sending a “patient” as a diplomat?



24 CENTRAL EURASIA

experts of the Global AIDS Control Program (Geneva)
have shown that one out of every four patients is not being
revealed in Europe, only two out of every three AIDS
patients are being registered in American countries, and
only something under 12 to 13 percent in Africa. Thus
according to an estimate of WHO specialists, the number
of AIDS patients is believed to significantly exceed 1.5
million persons.

The number of persons infected with HIV exceeds the
number of patients by approximately 10 times (most of the
world’s countries do not keep track of the number of virus
carriers), and WHO experts believe that there are over 10
million of them.

The AIDS File
Each day in the world, 5,000 persons catch the AIDS virus.

Although susceptibility to HIV infection has not been
established precisely, there are grounds for considering it
to be very high, or even that no one is immune to it.

The infecting dose of AIDS has not yet been precisely
established, but scientists believe that for infection to
occur, just one viral particle is not enough.

The risk of infection of a healthy woman by an infected
partner is approximately twice greater than the risk of a
healthy male becoming infected by a female partner who is
an HIV carrier.

The life span of patients who have developed AIDS is
generally short: Following development of a pronounced
form of disease, a person lives an average of 12 months.
Only a small fraction of those who fall ill live four to five
years. The probability that such patients would survive up
to 10 years is zero in the opinion of, for example, D.
Abrams, director of the USA’s San Francisco General
Hospital.

Mankind will have to deal with the AIDS problem for a
long time to come—for example, in the opinion of Dr L. O.
Kallings [transliteration], a scientific adviser to the
Swedish government, for the next 100 years.

Around 200,000 scientists and physicians are working in
over 1,200 of the world’s research laboratories and clinics
to reveal the secrets of the AIDS virus and find effective
means of treating and preventing this disease.

The Economic Loss Caused by AIDS

AIDS is already having a significant influence upon the
economies of many countries. This is explained by the fact
that in 75 to 90 percent of the cases HIV strikes persons
from 20 to 50 years old—that is, persons in the prime of
life. But this is also the population group that provides the
primary support to the society’s economic well-being. For
example according to the estimates the average cost lost
Broduction resulting from each AIDS death in 1987 was

600,000, while in 1991 the average was $800,000. The
losses associated with this disease were evaluated as fol-
lows in the USA in 1991: outlays to treat the sick—$16
billion, production losses—$55 billion. According to a
tentative assessment the AIDS loss suffered just in coun-
tries of Central Africa in 1991 will exceed the amount of
foreign aid coming to these countries from all sources. The
losses of African and Asian countries due to HIV infection

SJPRS-TEP-93-007
23 March 1993

now total $750-800 billion. If these continents are unable
to gain control over the AIDS epidemic in the next few
years, G. Mann, a well known specialist on AIDS feels that
a number of the region’s developing countries will suffer
economic disaster.

The Cost of Treating an AIDS Patient

Without doubt, AIDS is the most expensive disease; there
are full grounds for believing in this case that its cost will
continue to grow ever larger in the future. Thus, according
to foreign data, hospitalization and treatment of one
patient costs $50,000 to 150,000 in the USA, 150,000
marks in the FRG and from 70,000 to 20,000 pounds
sterling in Great Britain. The annual cost of a complete
course of treatment just with azidothymidine—that is, the
preparation that is the most effective in the arsenal of
AIDS pharmaceuticals—is $8,000 in the USA. Treatment
of a sick child is even more expensive: It averages $56,000
in the USA. And in the near future it is believed that the
cost can reach $247,000.

AIDS Prevention
Contraceptive Behavior of the Population

Although use of condoms in sexual contacts cannot guar-
antee against HIV infection, nonetheless the risk of infec-
tion is sharply diminished. However, these articles (No 2)
are used extremely poorly in our country. Thus according
to data of the Kiev Scientific Research Institute of Pedi-
atrics, Obstetrics and Gynecology, only two percent of
Ukrainian women of child-bearing age use any means of
birth control.

The results of a survey conducted by the Dnepropetrovsk
Social Monitoring Foundation showed that 56 percent of
the respondents do not personally use condoms.

Effectiveness of Condoms in Preventing HIV Infection

According to American data, with regular and proper use
of condoms, less than | percent of sex acts per year can
lead to infection by the AIDS agent.

Given the population’s presently low knowledge of contra-
ceptive practices, as a preventive method the condom can
make it possible to reduce the total number of cases of
infection by | to 11 percent, depending on its proper use.

Propaganda encouraging wide use of condoms can increase
this indicator to 45 percent.

Creation of AIDS Vaccine

By the most optimistic predictions of scientists, an effec-
tive synthetic AIDS vaccine will not be created before the
year 2000.

This information was prepared by specialists of the Ukrai-
nian Health Center and the Ukrainian AIDS Prevention
and Control Center.

AIDS Fund Created in Minsk

93WE0192K Kiev RABOCHAYA GAZETA in Russian
1 Dec 92 p3

{Text] It was noted during an AIDS conference conducted
by CIS countries on 7-9 June in Minsk that the incidence
of this disease is very low in Belarus. However, residents of
the republic feel that preventive measures are inadequate.



JPRS-TEP-93-007
23 March 1993 3 AIDS

NEAR EAST & SOUTH ASIA
INDIA

HIV Positive Cases Said To Number 8,500 /Madras THE HINDU, 17 Jan 93]
Increasing Number of AIDS Patients in Madras (Delhi INDIAN EXPRESS, 8 Feb 93]

IRAN

18
18
18
18

Paper on New Policy, Reaction to AIDS ...
Foreigners Subjected to Blood Test /Tehri f
Paper Alleges Diplomat Has AIDS /Tehran KEYHAN-E HAVA'I, 20 Jan 93]
Editorial Urges Ministry To Act /Tehran KEYHAN-E HAVA’, 20 Jan 93]

PAKISTAN

NWEP Said Experiencing Rapid Increase in AIDS Cases /Peshawar MASHRIQ, 2 Dec 92] .
AIDS Workshop Focuses on Spread, Prevention /Karachi JASARAT, 4 Dec 92] .
Total of 150 Diagnosed as AIDS Patients /Karachi JANG, 15 Dec 92] ...

CENTRAL EURASIA

Over 600 People Diagnosed HIV-Positive [Anna Bakina; Moscow ITAR-TASS, Feb 93]
AIDS in Ukraine Igor Markov; Kiev GOLOS UKRAINY, 2 Dec 92) .......
Tatarstan Starts AIDS Screening of Tourists, Returning Residents {Moscow PRAVDA, 10 Jan 93]
AIDS in Ternopol [Petr Vorobey; Kiev RABOCHAYA GAZETA, 4 Dec 92] ..
Ukrainian Health Official on AIDS /Kiev RABOCHAYA GAZETA, 1 Dec 92]
Ukrainian Health Specialists on AIDS [Kiev RABOCHAYA GAZETA, 1 Dec 92]
AIDS Fund Created in Minsk /Kiev RABOCHAYA GAZETA, I Dec 92]
Prophylactics ‘Expensive’ /Kiev RABOCHAYA GAZETA, | Dec 92]
Unknown Sexually Transmitted Disease in Minsk /Alma-Ata KARA
Belarusian Anti-AIDS Effort Understaffed

[0. Yegorova; Moscow KOMSOMOLSKAYA PRAVDA, | Dec 92) .....
Russian AIDS Statistics, Programs /O. Volkov; Moscow KOMSOMOLSKAYA PRAVDA, I Dec 92] .

WEST EUROPE
FINLAND

Over 500 HIV Sufferers in Finland by End of 1992
[Helsinki Suomen Yleisradio Network, 18 Feb 93] ....

FRANCE

Overseas Departments See AIDS Increase [Martine Perez; Paris LE FIGARO, 22 Jan 93]
Research Minister Calls for End to AIDS Research Dispute Paris AFP, 19 Feb 93]

SWEDEN

Study Looks at Children of HIV-Infected Mothers
[Stockholm DAGENS NYHETER, 29 Nov 92]

Official Explains AIDS Vaccination Trial
[Kerstin Hellbom; Stockholm DAGENS NYHETER, 31 Jan 93] ....



JPRS-TEP-93-007
23 March 1993

engaging in sexual relations, 17.83 percent contracted the
virus from using drugs, and 1.91 percent contracted the
virus from their mother. As for those who have AIDS-
related symptoms, 75.57 percent contracted the virus from
engaging in sexual relations, 18.99 percent contracted it
from using drugs, and 1.78 contracted it from their
mother. A total of 113 of those who have full-blown cases
of AIDS and who have AIDS-related symptoms are
between the ages of 30 and 34. Most of the AIDS patients,
206 people, are laborers and workers in factories and
officials.

Health Official Comments on Vaccine for AIDS
93WE0240A Bangkok DAILY NEWS in Thai 8 Jan 93 p 3

[Text] Dr. Prayun Kunason, the director-general of the
Department of Communicable Disease Control, Ministry
of Public Health, said that to date, no scientist or institute
in the world has been able to discover a vaccine for AIDS
that has succeeded in passing phase-2 testing. Some people
have charged that the Ministry of Public Health is not
interested in bringing in an AIDS vaccine and testing it in
Thailand, but that is not true. The real reason is that there
is still no vaccine that has reached the stage where it would
be worthwhile testing it on Thais.

Dr. Prayun said that at the same time, the Ministry of
Public Health is quickly making preparations on various
fronts in order to coordinate things in testing an AIDS
vaccine on Thais. A program to prepare for studying an
AIDS vaccine has already been submitted to the World
Health Organization for consideration. An AIDS vaccine
study in Thailand must be carried out in accord with the
recommendations of the World Health Organization. The
vaccine must not pose a danger to the lives or health of the
people. The vaccine must first be tested on patients in the
country that produces it during the second phase, and it
must be approved by the National AIDS Control and
Prevention Committee, which is chaired by the prime
minister.

Dr. Suphachai Ruk-ngam, the director of the AIDS Divi-
sion, Department of Communicable Disease Control, said
that to date, about 14 vaccines have passed the phase-1
tests. Several of these vaccines are now undergoing phase-2
testing. These vaccines are being tested on about 200-300
patients. Thus, as of now, no vaccine has passed the
phase-2 tests. However, there have been good reports
about one vaccine, that is GP 160, which has been devel-
oped by the U.S. Army Institute of Medical Research, or
the Walter Reed Institute. It has been announced that the
results of the phase-2 studies will be revealed this coming
March. The AIDS Vaccine Committee of the World
Health Organization will be allowed to examine the data.
This is the first AIDS vaccine to become well-known, and
it is the one that has made the most progress.

VIETNAM

Resolution Issued on Prostitution Control

BK2002094593 Hanoi Voice of Vietnam Network
in Vietnamese 2300 GMT 11 Feb 93

[“Text” of the SRV government’s resolution on prostitu-
tion prevention and control; dated 29 January]

EAST ASIA n

[Text] Prostitution is a social vice. Prostitution was basi-
cally done away with in our country, both in the north and
the south, for many years following the liberation. But in
recent years, this bad practice has reoccurred, thus eroding
our people’s ethics, customs, and tradition, adversely
affecting our cultural and social life, public order and
security, and more seriously, likely enabling the AIDS
disease to spread, and leaving grave consequences for
future generations.

This bad practice is arousing concern and indignation
among the people. The reasons for this situation are that a
segment of the people who are not adequately educated on
how to lead a wholesome lifestyle have indulged them-
selves in a debauched and pleasure-seeking life, that the
state mangement on the social aspect from the central
down to local levels has been lax, and that legal actions
against prostitution have not been strict enough.

In order to gradually dispel and then eradicate the scourge
of prostitution and to ameloriate the social life, the gov-
ernment hereby decides on the following policies and
measures:

1, Resolutely eradicate the scourge of prostitution,
including sex buying and selling under any forms. This is a
very complex and difficult job, the responsibility of which
Tests with the state management organizations, with var-
ious echelons, sectors, mass and social organizations, and
with the entire people. In the immediate future, measures
should be taken to promptly avert and eradicate the
scourge of prostitution, particularly in big cities and indus-
trial and tourist centers. Didactical propaganda and
administrative measures and legal actions should be com-
bined with organizing the treatment of diseases and con-
ducting vocational training to create appropriate jobs for
those entering into prostitution due to economic difficul-
ties.

2. Widely spread propaganda on the danger of the course
of sex buying and selling—which is associated with the
catastrophe of AIDS—so everyone can understand and
find it necessary to eradicate the scourge of prostitution
from social life. It is necessary to teach a wholesome
lifestyle, preserve the fine national ethical tradition among
the people, especially youths and teenagers.

3. Map out an interministerial anti-prostitution pro-
gramme whose main contents consist of:

a. Conducting a survey for classification of prostitutes.
With those professional prostitutes, it is necessary to
round them up for vocational training and to create jobs
for them in each populated area. The state shall set aside a
necessary operational fund for this program.

Beginning 1993, the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids, and
Social Welfare shall discuss with the Ministry of Finance
to set aside part of the social security budget for this
program.

b. Severe punitive actions shall be taken against those
acting as procurers and pimps under any forms and at
anywhere such as at hotels, convalescence homes, restau-
rants, and night clubs in accordance with the criminal
code. If these facilities are privately run or non-
governmental establishments, their business licenses shall
be revoked and their operators shall be prosecuted



JPRS-TEP-93-007

23 March 1993 EAST EUROPE 13
ROMANIA [Text] According to a statement made by Rodica Matusa,

a representative of the Constanta County Hospital, each

Constanta County Holds European ‘Record’ of month 30 new cases of AIDS are discovered in that county.
AIDS Cases Sadly enough, Constanta County is the holder of both the
AU2202082893 Bucharest EVENIMENTUL ZILEI national and the European records of AIDS cases. At the
in Romanian 21 Feb 93 p 8 end of last year, there were 1,300 recorded AIDS patients

there, of whom 800 were children. According to Dr.
[Lucian Tudorancea, Lucian Doroftei signed article: ““Con-  Rodica Matusa, the children were infected by their
stanta: Alarming Increase of AIDS Cases”} mothers during pregnancy.



JPRS-TEP-93-007
23 March 1993 2 AIDS

MALAYSIA

Minister—5,294 Confirmed To Be HIV Carriers
[Kuala Lumpur Radio Malaysia Network, 13 Mar 93]

SINGAPORE

Ministry—158 Singaporeans Infected With HIV Virus
[Singapore THE SUNDAY TIMES, 17 Jan 93]

Seven Foreign Workers Test HIV Positive
[Mathew Pereira; Singapore THE STRAITS TIMES, 17 Feb 93]

THAILAND

Public Health Ministry Seeks AIDS Aid Funding /Bangkok BAN MUANG, 14 Nov 92] .
Up to 4 Million AIDS Victims by 2000 /Bangkok DAILY NEWS, 21 Nov 92] .....
New Immune System Virus, AIDS Vaccine /Bangkok BAN MUANG, 23 Nov 92]
Doctor Discusses AIDS Imitator /Bangkok THAI RAT, | Dec 92
Ubon AIDS Up Tenfold /Bangkok BAN MUANG, 4 Dec 92) ..

AIDS Cases Grow by 35,000 Yearly /Bangkok SIAM RAT, 7 Dec 92]
Chiang Rai AIDS Statistics /Bangkok NAEO NA PHU YING, 16 Dec 92] ..
Doctor Comments on AIDS-Infected Infants /Bangkok THAI RAT, 21 Dec 92]
AIDS Statistics in Bangkok Bangkok DAILY NEWS, 25 Dec 92]
Health Official Comments on Vaccine for AIDS {Bangkok DAIIY

VIETNAM

Resolution Issued on Prostitution Control /Hanoi Voice of Vietnam Network, 11 Feb 93] .
Vietnam Claims 45 HIV Cases So Far [Hanoi Voice of Vietnam, 8 Mar 93] .....

EAST EUROPE
ROMANIA

Constanta County Holds European ‘Record’ of AIDS Cases
{Lucian Tudorancea, Lucian Doroftei; Bucharest EVENIMENTUL ZILEI, 21 Feb 93 p 8] ss. 13

LATIN AMERICA
REGIONAL AFFAIRS

Southern Cone Health Report 15-21 January /Various Sources, 15-21 Jan 93]
Southern Cone Health Report 29 Jan-4 Feb 93 {Various Sources, 29 Jan-4 Feb
Southern Cone Health Report 5-11 February /Various Sources, 5-11 Feb 93]...
Southern Cone Health Report 19-25 February /Various Sources, 19-25 Feb 93]
Regional Health Report 7-16 January Various Sources, 7-16 Jan 93] ....
Regional Health Report 16-22 January (Various Sources, 16-22 Jan 93]
Regional Health Report 22-29 January /Various Sources, 22-29 Jan 93]

Regional Health Report 31 Jan- 5 Feb Various Sources, 31 Jan-5 Feb 93] 15

Regional Health Report 5-12 February /Various Sources, 5-12 February] 15

Regional Health Report 12-19 February /Various Sources, 12-19 Feb 93] .. 16

Regional Health Report 26 Feb-5 Mar [Various Sources, 26 Feb-5 Mar 93] 16
GUATEMALA

Public Health Reports 629 Cases of AIDS (Guatemala City PRENSA LIBRE, 5 Dec 92] 16



2 CENTRAL EURASIA

effort the world community solves international and
national problems of fighting this unique infection, the
pandemic of which threatens to destroy a third of the
African continent’s population by the end of the century.
And while there are not enough beds in civilian hospitals
of some cities of the civilized countries of Western Europe
to accommodate AIDS patients, may God let us remain as
long as possible in this fragile, blessed tranquillity, that
currently exists in Ukraine with its 109 HIV carriers.

FROM THE EDITOR: We believe that Ukrainian Min-
ister of Health Yuriy Spizhenko has his own point of view on
the problems raised in this article. We invite him to present
them in GOLOS UKRAINY for the sake of making readers
fully informed.

Tatarstan Starts AIDS Screening of Tourists,
Returning Residents

93WE0192E Moscow PRAVDA in Russian 10 Jan 93 p 1

[Article: “If You Don’t Have AIDS, Then Please Visit!”]

[Text] Preventive measures against AIDS have been stiff-
ened in Tatarstan. Henceforth every foreigner who visits
the republic for more than a month must undergo HIV
testing. The same requirement is imposed on residents of
Tatarstan who go abroad for over a month. As of now, four
cases of HIV infection have been revealed in Tatarstan.

AIDS in Ternopol

93WE0192G Kiev RABOCHAYA GAZETA in Russian
4 Dec 92p1

[Article by Petr Vorobey]

[Text] Often when we speak of the acquired immunodefi-
ciency syndrome, we cite examples from life in countries of
the far and near frontier, where as of now the plague of the
20th century has cut short several hundred thousand lives.

But now it seems that this misfortune is knocking on our
doors as well. In any case the disease officially crossed the
threshold of the city of Ternopol on 2 November. It was on
this day that laboratory analyses confirmed that one of the
city’s inhabitants is a carrier of the dangerous virus. The
corresponding services are searching for persons who have
been in contact with the virus carrier.

Ukrainian Health Official on AIDS

93WE0192I Kiev RABOCHAYA GAZETA in Russian
1 Dec 92 p3

[Interview with Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Health
Viktor Fedorovich Mariyevskiy by Tatyana Mozgovaya;
place and date not given: “Sex We Have. But Unfortu-
nately We Also Have AIDS as Well”]

[Text] The World Health Organization proclaimed 1
December of this year to be World AIDS Day. Mankind
learned its first lesson in the first decade of the fight
against the AIDS pandemic, and namely: It cannot be
bested without extensive public participation. We asked
Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Health Viktor Fedorovich
Mariyevskiy to describe the features of the epidemic
situation in Ukraine.

Mozgovaya: Victor Fedorovich, 295 HIV carriers are
known to have been revealed as of 1 October of this year,

SJPRS-TEP-93-007
23 March 1993

with 186 of them being foreigners and 109 being Ukrai-
nian citizens. Who are these people, what is their way of
life?

Mariyevskiy: It was believed at the beginning of the
pandemic that AIDS strikes only certain groups of people,
the so-called risk groups. And in fact, homosexuals, drug
addicts and prostitutes did make up the majority of AIDS
patients in the USA and Western Europe in 1981-1984
(around 90 percent). But after a certain while the conclu-
sion was reached that this view was simplistic. As it turned
out, AIDS does not recognize differences between “them”
and “us.” It is already causing suffering in children,
hemophiliacs, blood recipients, women who have bisexual
men as their sexual partners, and other people who are
normal from our point of view. Consequently given the
absence of effective pharmaceuticals, which are sometimes
totally unavailable to us, the sole real means of stopping
the spread of AIDS is to enlighten the public, to enlist its
aid in an active struggle against AIDS. Having begun
predominantly within the risk groups, the AIDS epidemic
is gradually spreading to population strata of which risky
forms of behavior are atypical. WHO considers this to be
the most threatening tendency in the development of the
epidemic process of HIV infection.

Mozgovaya: Are there unique features to the spread of
AIDS in Ukraine?

Mariyevskiy: We are troubled by the fact that juveniles are
showing up among infected individuals (an infected girl
from Ivanovo-Frankovsk is only 16 years old). Two HIV-
infected Georgian citizens who had shared needles and
were detained by oblast internal affairs organs for distrib-
uting narcotic materials were revealed in August and
September in Chernovtsy Oblast. One of them was
deported out of Ukraine, but we have no guarantee that he
will take advantage of the “transparent borders” and
return to us to continue his drug business. The second HIV
carrier escaped from the hospital, but in October he was
once again detained, now in Cherkassy Oblast, where he
occupied himself with searching for drugs together with a
female companion S. from Odessa, also a drug addict.
Conditions promoting penetration of AIDS agent into the
drug addict milieu are being created, and the threat of
appearance of an uncontrollable epidemic wave among
this category of the population exists. A similar situation
evolved over two years ago in Poland, where over 70
percent of the infected persons are ones who shared
needles. Given that the borders are open, this also creates
a threat to the Ukrainian population.

Mozgovaya: Recently the newspapers have been carrying
ads like this: ‘Men! Pleasant relaxation and charming
young ladies for you around the clock!” Or: “Beautiful,
charming young ladies free of venereal disease wish to
make some good money! Call us!” But the absence of
venereal disease does not guarantee absence of HIV infec-
tion. Are the “beautiful and charming” being tested?

Mariyevskiy: We need to legalize prostitution, because
repressive measures do not produce the anticipated results.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Health drafted a new wording
for the first part of Article 7 of the Ukrainian law “On
AIDS Prevention and Social Protection of the Population”



Epidemiology
AIDS

JPRS-TEP-93-007 CONTENTS 23 March 1993

{This EPIDEMIOLOGY report contains only material on AIDS. Other epidemiology topics are covered in a later
issue.]

SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

REGIONAL AFFAIRS

Disease Report From 23 December - 25 January (Various Sources, 23 Dec 92 - 25 Jan 93] .
Epidemiological Reports 11-17 January [Various Sources, 11-17 Jan 93]
Epidemiological Reports 18-24 January /Various Sources, 18-24 Jan 93]
Epidemiological Reports 25-31 January [Various Sources, 25-31 Jan 93]
Epidemiological Reports 1-7 February /Various Sources, 1-7 Feb 93] ..
Epidemiological Reports 22-28 February [Various Sources, 22-28 Feb 93]
Epidemiological Reports 1-7 March [Various Sources, 1-7 Mar 93] ....

CAMEROON

Over 150,000 Citizens Said HIV-Positive
[Michel Minka Mayemi; Yaounde CAMEROON TRIBUNE, 23 Nov 92]
Blood Bank Director Cites HIV Statistics
[Anyee Anyee; Yaounde CAMEROON TRIBUNE, 24 Nov 92] .....

IVORY COAST

Information Center for AIDS Prevention Commissioned
[Abidjan Radio Cote d'Ivoire Chaine Nationale-Une Network, 8 Mar 93]

SENEGAL

Some 200 New AIDS Cases in Seven Months /Die Maty Fall; Dakar LE SOLEIL, ! Dec 92] .......
ZAMBIA

Twenty-Five Percent of Antenatal Women HIV Positive
[Lusaka TIMES OF ZAMBIA, 20 Dec 92] .....

ZIMBABWE

At Least 478 Deaths From AIDS in Manicaland /Harare THE HERALD, 27 Nov 92]

CHINA

‘Experts’ Say ‘High’ Risk of Contracting AIDS

[Shi Chuan; Hong Kong ZHONGGUO TONGXUN SHE, 19 Feb 93] ...
Guangdong Province Suspends AIDS Tests for Travellers {Hong Kong AFP, 23 Feb 93] .
Beijing, Other Cities Open AIDS, Venereal Disease Hotline Beijing XINHUA, 9 Mar 93] ..

EAST ASIA

CAMBODIA

Officials, Foreigners Assess AIDS Threat [Andrew Nette; BANGKOK POST, 5 Feb 93]

RNNeEeee

wan



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JPRS-TEP-93-007
23 March 1993

This is precisely why a benefit function titled “Culture, the
Arts and Creative Youth Against AIDS” will be conducted
in Minsk from 23 November to 2 December. Associates of
the AIDS center would like to see the collected money used
to organize an AIDS Fund. There is very positive support
for this idea in Belarus.

By the way, there are 87 HIV carriers in Belarus—that is,
almost four times less than in Ukraine. And there are no
AIDS patients at all.

Prophylactics ‘Expensive’
93WE0192L Kiev RABOCHAYA GAZETA in Russian
1 Dec 92 p3

[Article: “It Is Oh, So Expensive to Protect Yourself”

[Text] “If you want to protect yourself against AIDS, use
condoms”—such advertisements are forever on the televi-
sion screens “over there.” Of course, these items are often
even given away free of charge over there. But here, we
have to pay for everything. Consequently we will have to
shell out not less than eight coupons for each such prophy-
lactic. And “specialty” types cost up to 150 coupons in
cooperative kiosks.

Unknown Sexually Transmitted Disease in Minsk

93WE0209A Alma-Ata KARAVAN in Russian
24 Jul 92 p 26

[Article: “Woman Washed Floor and Robbed Men of Sex
Life”)

[Text] An article in the Belorussian newspaper RESPUB-
LIKA had the impact of an exploding bomb. In the
opinion of venerologist N., who desired to remain anony-
mous, this was an outbreak of an unknown sexually
transmitted disease.

Here is what N. said. There are already several young men
in a venerological treatment center with similar symp-
toms—acute inflammation of the genitalia, ulcers,
abscesses. Three patients have already died. Those who
survived became, first, incomplete men, and second, inva-
lids: They suffered afflictions of the urinary bladder, the
kidneys and the prostate. Antibiotics and other pharma-
ceuticals traditionally used against venereal diseases are
ineffective, and the agent never was revealed.

And now the most unusual.

The virus strikes men exclusively. Because the incubation
period of this unknown disease is relatively short—less
than a week, the chain of disease could be followed
quickly. It was revealed that all women who had sexual
contact with the stricken men were healthy and feeling
quite well. No unusual circumstances were revealed in
discussions with them. Except for one patient.

N. is certain that this woman is the main character of this
story. It turns out that she used to work as a laboratory
technician in a certain biological institution, in an isola-
tion room. As she herself told the story, once while
cleaning up the laboratory she accidentally broke a vessel
containing some sort of liquid. So as not to raise a
commotion she picked up the fragments and washed the
floor. When the vessel was found to be missing later on, she
said she knew nothing about it.

CENTRAL EURASIA 25

The woman did not have any sexual contact with men
immediately after this incident. It was not until recently
that she acquired a boyfriend. It was he who became the
first patient.

Only after his symptoms were repeated in other patients
did doctors sound the alarm. But it was apparently too late.
The genie had been released from the bottle. More and
more young men in the prime of life are going to the
hospital with similar signs of illness. It is impossible to
recognize them after a few days. What does the future
hold? By the way, many of them did use condoms during
sex, but this was found to offer no defense.

The piece in RESPUBLIKA ends with an interesting
historical analogy. Long ago, when AIDS had just been
announced in America, the USSR was the loudest of all in
offering the hypothesis that it had something to do with
leakage of bacteriological weapons. Could that have been
because we ourselves had just those sorts of weapons right
at hand? And mightn’t this be an instance where we are
now suffering an evil we wished upon someone else?

Belarusian Anti-AIDS Effort Understaffed

93WE0209E Moscow KOMSOMOLSKAYA PRAVDA
in Russian 1 Dec 92 p 1

{Article by O. Yegorova, “Belarus: One Physician for the
Oblast,” under the general title “Each Minute on the
Planet, Three Persons Are Infected by the AIDS Virus:
Today is World AIDS Day”]

[Text] Medical personnel and representatives of culture
and the arts are conducting a fund drive in Minsk devoted
to the fight against AIDS.

The goal of the drive is to attract attention to a “danger-
ous” topic, to finally bring about the realization that the
problems of HIV infection are not just medical but also
social, ethical and even ecological. This is especially
important to Belarus, if we consider that the immune
system of a fourth of the republic’s population was weak-
ened by the Chernobyl disaster.

Only 30 people are involved in AIDS prevention in Minsk,
and that includes orderlies and cleaning women. The
number is even smaller in other oblasts. And when it
comes to Vitebsk Oblast (can you believe it!) just one single
doctor is fighting AIDS!

In the meantime there are 87 carriers in Belarus, including
six children. Thirteen persons are ill, and three are already
no longer with us.

How are these people to live? With what are they to be
treated? It’s not just that highly scarce pharmaceuticals are
lacking—even reagents used to establish a diagnosis are
unavailable.

Russian AIDS Statistics, Programs

93WE0209F Moscow KOMSOMOLSKAYA PRAVDA
in Russian 1 Dec 92 p 1

[Article by O. Volkov: “Russia: Things Could Be Worse,”
under the general title “Each Minute on the Planet, Three
Persons Are Infected by the AIDS Virus: Today is World
AIDS Day”]



JPRS-TEP-93-007
23 March 1993

discuss whether permission should be given to test the
GP-160 AIDS vaccine developed by the American Walter
Reed Institute on Thais. Previously, the committee dis-
cussed a vaccine developed in Japan. At that meeting, it
was decided that permission should not be given to test the
Japanese vaccine on Thais, because there were no clear
data indicating that the vaccine was safe.

Doctor Discusses AIDS Imitator
93WE0213A Bangkok THAI RAT in Thai 1 Dec 92 p 5

[Excerpt] [passage omitted] Another new disease has
appeared and caught the attention of the world. Dr.
Praphan Phanuphak, the director of the Thai Red Cross
AIDS Program (Niranam Clinic), discussed the serious-
ness and symptoms of this new disease.

“Last July, I attended an international conference on
AIDS in Amsterdam. One doctor got up and told the
conference that he had discovered a new type of disease
whose symptoms are similar to those of AIDS. But the
blood tests to check for the presence of the HIV virus and
the tests to cultivate the virus found that the patients did
not have the AIDS virus.

“Thus, those at the conference were excited by the fact that
that doctor may have discovered a new type of disease. I
myself had begun to wonder about that, because three
years ago, at the Chulalongkorn Hospital we had a patient
who exhibited symptoms similar to those described by that
doctor. The symptoms included secondary infections,
which is similar to what happens in the case of AIDS
patients. And there was a change in the T cells of the body.
But when we checked for the presence of antibodies (AIDS
blood test), the results were negative. Even the tests for the
presence of AIDS virus antigens were negative.

“We have found three people at the Chulalongkorn Hos-
pital with these symptoms. Of these, two are men and one
is a woman. To date, two of these people have died. The
interesting thing is that the tests done have not found any
type of virus in their blood. And those patients had not
engaged in risky behavior. They were not, for example,
addicted to drugs, and the woman was not a prostitute. But
their symptoms were exactly like those exhibited by people
with AIDS. They suffered from secondary infections such
as viral pneumonia, fungal meningitis, fungal skin and
blood infections, chronic diarrhea, and chronic fever. All
of these symptoms are the same as those seen in patients
with full-blown cases of AIDS. But we were not able to
detect the AIDS virus.

“Studies conducted abroad by doctors using microscopes
have found that some of the people with this disease have
viral-like cells in the blood. Most of these people have one
thing in common and that is that they have immunodefi-
ciencies and so they easily contract secondary diseases.
This is just the opposite of lupus, in which the immune
system produces autoantibodies to an endogenous antigen.
These two diseases are just the opposite of each other.

“For this reason, some doctors think that this may be a
common immunodeficiency disease, because there is a low
T-cell count, which means that the immune system is
weak. But something else worth noting is that a low T-cell
count may be hereditary or it may stem from the use of
drugs used to treat cancer, which suppress the body’s

EAST ASIA 9

immune system. Or it may be that the immune system has
weakened with age. But looking at the backgrounds of the
three patients in Thailand, they do not fit into any of these
categories.

“For this reason, some doctors think that this is a new type
of viral disease. But that is just an assumption, because as
of now, no one knows the real cause of this disease. And
because of this, we don’t know the risk factors or how
people can protect themselves. Moreover, this disease has
not yet been given a name. When talking about it, we
usually name it based on its symptoms, that is, we refer to
it as ‘unexplained severe immunosuppression without evi-
dence of HIV infection.”

“Because there is no treatment for this disease and because
the cause is not known, doctors must treat the secondary
diseases and give medicine to strengthen the immune
system. Doctors have also concluded that this disease is
not contagious. It affects certain people only, but the cause
is not yet known. At the meeting of the World Health
Organization that I attended, it was concluded that
another disease resembling AIDS has appeared. This dis-
ease may have existed before, with people just becoming
aware of it during the past three to four years. People
should not become alarmed about this, because so far there
have been only three cases of this disease in Thailand. And
fewer than 100 cases have been found worldwide.

“As a doctor, whenever we discover such a disease and
don’t know the cause of it, the only thing we can do is
inform other doctors and be aware that there is a new
problem that we must monitor. As far as the people are
concerned, now that we know that one of the common
factors among those with this disease is an immunodefi-
ciency, we must turn our attention to maintaining the
health of people. People should exercise regularly and get
enough rest. They should not weaken themselves by
drinking or taking drugs. And what is important is that
people should remain calm. If people do these things, their
immune system will function properly.”

This is something else that will keep doctors busy. Studies
will probably get underway very soon, and this disease will
probably be monitored very closely at both the interna-
tional and domestic levels. This is another step in which
the world is evolving in step with diseases.

Ubon AIDS Up Tenfold
93WE0213B Bangkok BAN MUANG in Thai 4 Dec 92 p 8

[Excerpt] Ubon Ratchathani: Dr. Samroeng
Yaengkrathok, the public health officer in Ubon Rat-
chathani Province, discussed the AIDS situation in the
province. He said that based on reports on the number of
people with AIDS, as of 24 November 1992 there were 23
cases of AIDS. Of these, six people have died and eight
have AIDS-related symptoms. It is estimated that more
than 7,000 people have the AIDS virus but do not yet
exhibit any symptoms. The average age of those with AIDS
is 25 to 34. Most of those with this disease are workers.
The ratio of women to men is 2:10. There were only 700
cases of AIDS in 1991, which is a 10-fold increase. That is
a very high rate. [passage omitted]



122 EAST ASIA

according to the criminal code. If these facilities are state
establishments, the managers of these establishments shall
also be prosecuted according to the criminal law while
their responsible, next-higher echelons shall also be made
to face administrative penalties.

c. With regard to sex buyers, including civil servants of
whatever positions, a violation report shall be made with a
copy of which to be forwarded to their parent agencies.
They shall be made to face severe administrative dis
plinary actions and their offense may be publicly
announced on the mass media as a deterrent for all. If the
offender is not a civil servant, a violation report shall be
made and he will be delivered to the local authorities who
will have him pledge not to commit the offense again.

4. The responsibilities of the administration at various
levels and of relevant ministries and sectors: The chairmen
of the people’s committees at various levels shall ascertain
the prostitution situation in their areas of responsibility
and shall map out prostitution prevention and control plan
for each specific time in their localities. As an immediate
task, they shall take prompt measures to do away with
those places offering prostitution under any forms and
shall severely punish the procurers and those lending a
helping hand to them.

The Ministry of Interior shall intensify the control of those
places such as hotels, restaurants, and convalescence
homes where there are indications of prostitution, and
shall round up prostitutes into social establishments for
education, disease treatment, and vocational training. The
Ministry of Public Health is duty bound to provide med-
ical treatment to prostitutes at public health units, social
welfare centers, or when they are with their families.

The General Tourist Department must strengthen its con-
trol over units under its jurisdiction. If prostitution exists
in areas under these units, the unit heads will be dealt with
according to criminal law.

The Ministry of Justice and agencies concerned must
study, supplement, and amend laws on prosecution of
prostitution for submission to the government, which will
then seek National Assembly approval.

JPRS-TEP-93-007
23 March 1993

The Ministry of Education and Training and the Ministry
of Culture and Information must strengthen their coordi-
nation to formulate methods to provide information on
the consequences of prostitution at schools and other
social establishments. Efforts must be made to motivate
sectors, agencies, and people to prevent and eliminate this
social vice.

The Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Welfare is
dutybound to launch and supervise a campaign to elimi-
nate prostitution while creating more jobs and fighting
against hunger and poverty. It is imperative for the min-
istry to set up a number of centers for medical treatment,
education, and training of ex- prostitutes. Efforts must be
made to set up vocational training courses for these people,
especially on tailoring, weaving, and knitting. More jobs
should be offered to them by the various new economic
zones, especially by the Tan Hiep project in Ho Chi Minh
City and the Soc Son project in Hanoi.

Efforts must be made by the Vietnam Fatherland Front,
the Vietnam Women’s Union, the Confederation of Viet-
namese Workers, the Vietnam Peasants Association, the
Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union, and other social
welfare establishments to educate and motivate their
members to struggle against prostitution and to participate
in campaigns to prevent and eliminate this social vice.

Ministers and heads of organizations at ministry level,
chiefs of government agencies, and people’s committee
chairmen of provinces and municipalities directly subor-
dinate to the central government must take measures to
effectively implement this resolution.

Vietnam Claims 45 HIV Cases So Far

BK0803152893 Hanoi Voice of Vietnam in English
1000 GMT 8 Mar 93

[Text] Up to March 5, 1993, five more residents in Ho Chi
Minh City have been tested HIV positive, bringing to 37
the total number of carriers of this deadly virus in the city.

According to statistics, Vietnam has found 45 cases of HIV
positive, including 44 cases in South Vietnam and one in
North Vietnam.

A recent directive issued by Ho Chi Minh City Health
Service urged medical stations to get blood samples of
those patients who are drug addicts and send them to the
AIDS Committee for examination.