14 EAST ASIA

The report stated that the number of people with AIDS-
related symptoms has increased. Of the 235 people with
AIDS-related symptoms, 196 are men. Of these, 19 are
homosexual, eight are bisexual, 73 are heterosexual, 85
are intravenous drug addicts, two received blood trans-
fusions, two received the virus from their mother, and
seven contracted the virus from an unknown source. Of
the 39 women who have the virus, 33 are heterosexual,
two are intravenous drug addicts, one contracted the
virus from her mother, one received a blood transfusion,
and two contracted the virus from an unknown source.

At present, 203 of the people with AIDS-related symp-
toms are still alive.

There are a total of 25,031 people with the AIDS virus
who exhibit no symptoms. Of these, 19,797 are men, of
whom 80 are homosexuals, 103 are bisexual, 2,652 are
heterosexual, 14,702 are intravenous drug addicts, 21
received blood transfusions, and 2,239 contracted the
virus from an unknown source. There are 5,234 women
in this category, of whom 4,462 are homosexual, 596 are
intravenous drug addicts, 14 received blood transfu-
sions, and 162 contracted the virus from na unknown
source. Today, 24,767 of these people are still alive.

The latest news report on AIDS stated that as of last
January, there was a total of 26,144 people who had
full-blown cases of AIDS or who had contracted the
AIDS virus. This is an increase of 802 cases since the end
of 1990. Of these, 88 have full-blown cases of AIDS, 260
have AIDS-related symptoms, and 25,916 have the
AIDS virus but no symptoms.

Mr. Sakun Siphrom, the deputy minister of education,
said that AIDS is now spreading rapidly among children
and youths ages 5-25. A survey conducted among 2,000
lower secondary students in three provinces showed that
1.08 percent had the AIDS virus. The Ministry of
Education has established a committee to take quick
action on this problem.

Bangkok AIDS Profile Updated
91WE0286E Bangkok SIAM RAT in Thai 28 Feb 91
p3

[Excerpt] [passage omitted] Dr. Suphak Wanitseni, the
director of the Narcotics Control and Rehabilitation
Division, Health Department, Bangkok, discussed the
AIDS situation in Bangkok since the first case of AIDS
was reported in 1984 through 31 January 1991. A report
issued by the Epidemiology Section, Communicable
Disease Control Division, Health Department, Bangkok,
stated that the statistics on the number of patients who
live in Bangkok are as follows: 40 full-blown cases of
AIDS, of whom 29 have died; 76 cases in which people
have AIDS-related symptoms, of whom 4 have died; and
7,382 cases in which people do not exhibit any symp-
toms, of whom 66 have died.

The director of the Narcotics Control and Rehabilitation
Division said that blood tests have shown that the

JPRS-TEP-91-010
10 May 1991

number of people testing positive for AIDS is increasing
rapidly. Our rate of increase is the highest in the world.
This is because Thailand is well-known for prostitution
and narcotics. Those with the AIDS virus look just like
any other person and appear not to have any symptoms
for two to nine years. Prostitutes spread the virus to their
customers. Each day, the number of people who contract
the virus increases greatly. This is because they don’t use
condoms.

Dr. Suphak said that based on the first reports issued by
the Ministry of Public Health, those with full-blown
cases of AIDS were homosexuals, people who had
received blood transfusions, or people who had been
operated on abroad. Later on, the disease began
spreading among prostitutes and drug addicts. Narcotics
addicts can change their behavior so that they don’t
contract or spread the virus. They can do this by
reducing the number of injections and not sharing nee-
dles. [passage omitted]

Sttivists Cite AIDS Worries as U.S. Navy Lays
er

BK2403133491 Bangkok THE NATION in English
24 Mar 91 p A3

[Article by Ann Danaiya Usher]

[Text] As thousands of American military personnel are
expected to arrive on the beaches of Phattaya today for
“rest and recreation,” a prostitutes’ welfare group is
warning sex workers to protect themselves, and ser-
vicemen to wear condoms to avoid the spread of AIDS in
either direction.

A fleet of U.S. ships are scheduled to arrive at the
Popular beach resort today from the Persian Gulf with
about 8,000 men aboard.

“Girls working with foreigners—whether they’re tourist
or soldiers—are realy aware of the AIDS risk and many
are insisting that their clients use condoms,” said Chan-
thawipa Aphisak of Empower, which works with prosti-
tutes in Bangkok,

She said some women complained that on past Rand R
stops they were abused by servicemen who refused to use
condoms.

“Please don’t mistreat the women,” said Chanthawipa.

The Public Health Ministry estimates that there are
between 200,000 to 250,000 people carrying the AIDS
virus in Thailand today, with the rate of infection rising
steeply among prostitutes and Thai men who frequent
the sex industry.

Tourist provinces in the North and South show the
highest levels of infection among sex workers, but the
actual AIDS figures for Phattaya have never been made
public by government officials.



IJPRS-TEP-91-010

10 May 1991 WEST EUROPE

Evolution of the Disease

At the beginning of the epidemic, the duplication time
for new cases was one year, which occurred in Portugal
until December 1988. During 1989 the reporting rate
declined, and the time calculated for duplication of new
cases was 16 months. In early 1990, the total number of
patients reported with AIDS was 351. The 22 discovered
during the course of 1990 represent a duplication time of
19 months,

If we note the number of cases by date of diagnosis, we
find that every year there is a smaller number of persons
diagnosed in comparison with those reported. Of course,
this stems from the delay in reporting. Nevertheless, this
difference is particularly obvious in 1990, a time when
only 162 of the 222 reported were diagnosed during that
year.

Increase Among Women

In the evolution by year of diagnosis and sex, one
observes a proportional decline in the number of
patients of the male sex from 1985, a year in which 26
cases (96.2 percent) were recorded, to 1989, when the
134 males accounted for 83.8 percent. In the female sex,
the rise in numbers is irregular; however, an increase in
reports occurred.

By age groups, we find that 71.2 percent of the patients
belong to the 20-to-44-year age groups. This is consid-
ered to be “of particular concern” because these are
individuals at the height of their productive activity.
Among women, in view of the risk of vertical transmis-
sion, the consequences stemming from the affected age
groups are even more distressing.

The Risk Groups

Male homosexuals and bisexuals constitute 15.9 percent
of the reported cases. Heterosexuals represent the second
risk group most often reported (27.2 percent), followed
by the drug-addicted group, with 11.5 percent of the
reported cases.

Nearly 50 percent of the patients afflicted with AIDS
eventually die.

Only Portalegre Without Deaths

In the distribution of cases and deaths by district of
residence, we find that 51.6 percent of the cases were
detected in the Lisbon district; 48 percent of the deaths
also occurred in that district. The other deaths were
distributed among all districts of the continent and
autonomous regions, with the exception of Portalegre,
where no deaths were recorded.

A total of 41 reported cases pertains to citizens residing
abroad when diagnosed with AIDS. Generally speaking,
these are individuals who returned to Portugal in a
condition marked by advanced deterioration in their
state of health.

31
Distribution of Cases and Deaths by Residence
1 Jan 1983-31 Dec 1990
Cases Deaths
Portugal 497 244
Aveiro 8 2
Beja 2 1
Braga 13 5
Braganca 1 1
Castelo Branco 2 1
Coimbra i 10
Evora 3 0
Faro 20 9
Guarda 3 2
Leiria if 6
Lisbon 296 139
Portalegre 0 0
Porto 44 22
Santarem 3 2
Setubal 51 27
Viana do Castelo 14 7
Vila Real 3 2
Viseu 5 3
Acores 2 2
Madeira 5 3
Abroad 41 26
Africa 21 W
Europe 10 7
North America 4 2
South America 6 6
Asia 0 0
Oceania 0 0
Unknown 35 15
Total $73 285
Distribution of Cases by Age and Sex
1 Jan 1983-31 Dec 1990
‘Age Group Male Female | Unknown | Total
0-11 months 1 1 0 2
1-4 years 1 2 0 3
5-9 years 2 0 0 2
10-12 years 3 0 0 3
13-14 years 3 0 0 3
15-19 years 2 3 0 5
20-24 years 31 6 0 37
25-29 years 1 16 0 87
30-34 years 86 10 0 96



8 SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

A pilot study of patients attending a Harare clinic
showed that in 60 to 80 percent of cases concerning
sexually transmitted diseases patients had used aphrodi-
siacs.

This figure was given by a University of Zimbabwe
researcher at a meeting in Harare of African medical
students.

They were told that in Africa, the use of aphrodisiacs was
widespread and it was possible this was a factor contrib-
uting to the promotion of HIV infections, but to ask
people to abstain totally from sexual activity as a means

IJPRS-TEP-91-010
10 May 1991

of AIDS prevention was unrealistic. Sex education and
counselling should be part of the school curricula.

The researcher, Norman Nyazema, called for an open
debate on sexuality and AIDS.

The meeting also heard that a survey at Wits University
[University of the Witwatersrand] showed that most
students did not consider themselves to be at risk of
contracting AIDS.

Only one quarter of the students interviewed said they
used condoms.



18 EAST ASIA

Meeting in Support of AIDS Plan Held in Hanoi

BK3003151091 Hanoi VNA in English 1454 GMT
30 Mar 91

[Text] Hanoi VNA March 30—A resource mobilization
meeting in support of the AIDS medium-term plan of
Vietnam has been held here.

This meeting was participated by the Vietnam national
AIDS committee, representatives of the World Health
Organization, the United Nations Development Pro-
gramme, the United Nations Fund for Population Activ-
ities, the World Vision International, the United Nations
Children’s Fund, and representatives of some foreign
embassies here.

SJPRS-TEP-91-010
10 May 1991

The participants were informed of the latest information
about AIDS in Vietnam and in the world. They agreed
on necessary measures to prevent the disease, especially
since the first HIV seropositive has been found in
Vietnam. Speaking at the meeting several foreign dele-
gates pledged to cooperate with Vietnam and help it with
experience, scientific information and funds to prevent
the disease.

With financial aid from WHO, the 1991-1993 medium-
term plan include major orientations and specific mea-
sures to prevent and control HIV seropositive and help
AIDS patients.



SJPRS-TEP-91-010
10 May 1991 4 AIDS

EL SALVADOR

Health Ministry Reports on Growing Number of AIDS Cases
[San Salvador Canal Doce Television, 4 Apr 91] ....

GUATEMALA

Increase in AIDS Cases Termed ‘Alarming’ {Guatemala City SIGLO VEINTIUNO, 15 Apr 91] .... 23
MEXICO

Increase in Number of AIDS Cases [Mexico City NOTIMEX, 11 Mar 91] .....
ST. LUCIA

Health Ministry AIDS Committee Emphasizes Education
[Peter Richards; Bridgetown CANA, 18 Apr 91] .....

NEAR EAST & SOUTH ASIA
BANGLADESH
Seminar Told No AIDS Cases in Country {Dhaka THE NEW NATION, 19 Feb 91]
INDIA

AIDS Said To Create Panic in Manipur
[Gautam Chaudhuri; Calcutta THE STATESMAN, 14 Feb 91] ....
New AIDS Virus, More AIDS Cases Discovered
Bombay Virus Detected (Calcutta TELEGRAPH, 11 Mar 91]
Cases in Haryana /New Delhi PATRIOT, 16 Mar 91] .....

IRAN
Minister Addresses AIDS, Pollution, Population Issues {Tehran IRNA, 30 Mar 91] ...
PAKISTAN
‘Source’ Reports AIDS Patients Increasing [Beijing XINHUA, 12 Apr 91]
SOVIET UNION

26

Delay Noted in Development of AIDS Epidemic
[Eleonora Sutotskaya; Moscow TASS International Service, 21 Mar 91]
Anti-AIDS Program Expected Soon {Moscow TAS, 25 Apr 91] .
WEST EUROPE

DENMARK

28
28

New AIDS Ward in Fredriksberg Hospital
[RITZAUS BUREAU; Copenhagen BERLINGSKE TIDENDE, 21 Feb 91]

FRANCE

Rocard Reaffirms Support for AIDS Research [Paris LE MONDE, 7 Mar 91]
Imuthiol Approved for AIDS Patients /Paris LE MONDE, 4 Apr 91] ...

GREECE

‘Alarming’ Increase of AIDS Carriers [Athens I KATHIMNERINI, 21 Feb 91]



IJPRS-TEP-91-010
10 May 1991

DENMARK

New AIDS Ward in Fredriksberg Hospital

91WE0232B Copenhagen BERLINGSKE TIDENDE
in Danish 21 Feb 91 p 2

[Report by RITZAUS BUREAU: “New AIDS Ward in
Fredriksberg Hospital”]

[Text] AIDS patients in the municipality of Fredriksberg
will no longer have to go to Hvidovre Hospital, the
National Hospital, or Bispebjerg Hospital. Local elected
officials have decided that Fredriksberg Hospital will be
offering treatment to AIDS patients as well as HIV-
positive individuals. The municipality of Fredriksberg
contains the highest percentage of AIDS patients in
Denmark. In 1990 Fredriksberg’s AIDS patients used up
1,500 days in bed in Copenhagen Municipality hospitals.
“We will force none of the patients against their will to
be moved from another hospital to Fredriksberg. The
changeover will be handled on a step-by-step basis,” said
Chairman of the Board Stig Hvidtfeld at Fredriksberg
Hospital.

FRANCE

Rocard Reaffirms Support for AIDS Research

91WE0255A Paris LE MONDE in French 7 Mar 91
pl2

[Text] On Tuesday, 5 March, Prime Minister Michel
Rocard spoke at a ceremony marking the official opening
of the new Pasteur Institute building to house research
on AIDS and the retrovirus, stressing “that all credits
allocated for AIDS will be continued” and should there-
fore not be affected by budget cuts made necessary by the
war in the Gulf. Reminding his listeners that between
1988 and 1989, this government “quadrupled budgets
for prevention and tripled those earmarked for
research,” Rocard added: “It is up to us to pursue our
effort and mobilize our energies for the fight against the
plagues besieging mankind, including AIDS.”

Furthermore, according to statistics published by the
BULLETIN EPIDEMIOLOGIQUE HEBDO-
MADAIRE, the number of AIDS cases in France by 31
December 1990 was an estimated 14,762. According to
health officials, “If one assumes underreporting of 10 to
20 percent of all declared cases, then the number of cases
diagnosed since the beginning of the epidemic would be
between 16,200 and 17,700.”

Based on an analysis of the 13,145 cases counted (includ-
ing 279 children and 1,945 women), men have been the
most affected by the disease (5.8 men for every one
woman). However, the proportion of women diagnosed
in 1989 continues to rise (15.9 in 1989 compared with
16.4 in 1990). The average diagnostic age in women rose
from 27 in 1985 to 34 in 1990. This “aging trend” has
not been observed among men.

WEST EUROPE 29

Such data show that since 1988, onset of the disease has
been accompanied by frequency of the cachectic syn-
drome and, since 1985, cerebral toxoplasmosis. Other
conditions associated with infection by the AIDS virus,
such as Kaposi’s sarcoma (since 1986) and herpes (since
1984), are declining.

The region hardest hit remains the Antilles-Guyana (699
cases per | million inhabitants), followed, in decreasing
order, by Ile-de-France (659 per million), Provence-
Alpes-Cote d’Azur (438), Aquitaine (186), Languedoc-
Roussillon (166), and Midi-Pyrenees (143). Of the
13,145 cases, 766 resulted from transfusions and 173 are
hemophiliacs.

Imuthiol Approved for AIDS Patients :

91WE0306A Paris LE MONDE in French 4 Apr 91
p13

[Article entitled: “Imuthiol To Be Issued on a “‘Compas-
sionate’ Basis to AIDS Patients”—first paragraph is LE
MONDE introduction]

[Text] The French Ministry of Health has decided to
authorize the pharmaceutical company Pasteur-Merieux
Serums and Vaccines to issue a new immunoprotective
medication, disulfiram (Imuthiol), to AIDS patients.

This authorization, not to be construed as permission to
market the drug, is a first in France in that it establishes
a new category of medications, so-called “compassionate
treatments.”

According to the entourage of Mr. Bruno Durieux,
deputy minister of health, the measure aims to “avoid
depriving AIDS patients who do not respond to antiviral
medications of a product that several studies suggest
would have some effectiveness in treating their illness.”

The announcement follows the publication last week, in
the Journal of the American Medical Association, of a
vast multicenter study conducted in the United States.
The study apparently showed that Imuthiol is innocuous
and can reduce the frequency of opportunistic illnesses
in AIDS patients.

The first therapeutic trials with disulfiram began in
France in 1983. Based on the encouraging results, the
Food and Drug Administration authorized experimen-
tation with the drug in the United States in 1985. Several
studies subsequently demonstrated that the medication
was able to slow the progess of the disease, apparently
without triggering major side effects. The immunopro-
tective effects of the molecule seem to be due to its
antioxidizing power and its ability to trap free radicals
involved in the viral infection.

Disulfiram was officially authorized for the first time in
1990, in New Zealand. In France, until authorization to
market the drug is given, the Ministry of Health has thus
decided to act somewhat along the same lines as his



SJPRS-TEP-91-010
10 May 1991

When women’s groups protested previous R & R stops,
US. military officials argued that their men would not
be spreading AIDS to prostitutes because they had all
been tested before entering the forces.

But activists noted that there can be a time lag of several
months between contraction of the virus and the growth
of a sufficient level of antibodies to show up on a test,
and men who have been in a war zone for several months
may have caught the disease since their last tests.

Prostitutes working near U.S. military installments in
the Philippines—Olongapo near Subic Naval Base and
Angeles City near Clark Air Base—are tested regularly
for AIDS to protect the servicemen. :

But no known similar testing is done in Phattaya.

Local AIDS activists worry that with thousands of men
arriving at once, the beach town becomes a magnet for
sex workers not only in the Eastern region but also from
around the country.

They fear that without the promotion of condom use, so
much potential sexual activity could hasten the spread of
AIDS in both directions.

Phattaya became well-known during the latter years of
the Vietnam War when U.S. troops spent their furloughs
at the Eastern beach resort. Since then the town has
become infamous as a booming international sex centre.

Prostitution remains illegal in Thailand.

One in Eight Prostitutes Carries AIDS Virus

BK2803030591 Bangkok BANGKOK POST in English
28 Mar 91 p 3

[Text] About one in every eight “service girls” in Thai-
land is estimated to have contracted the deadly AIDS
virus, according to the Thai Red Cross.

Its two-year field study revealed yesterday puts the
number of prostitutes in Thailand at between 150,000
and 200,000.

The study, conducted by the agency’s anti-AIDS project
last year and in 1989, shows AIDS is spreading at an
alarming rate, with an estimated 12 percent of prosti-
tutes having the virus, according to Dr. Wirasit Sitthitrai
of Chulalongkon University’s Institute of Population
Studies.

Government agencies estimate 200,000 to 300,000
people are already carrying the virus.

To tackle the problem, Dr. Wirasit said in addition to
safe sex through use of condoms, the attitude of Thai
men needs to be reformed.

“Stop blaming tourism and foreigners for prostitution,”
he said, adding the study shows most sex industry
customers are Thai.

EAST ASIA 15

By sending researchers to gather first-hand information
on the streets, the study was aimed at coming up with a
reliable estimate of the number of prostitutes. So far,
estimates by different agencies have been debatable, he
said. Some put it at up to 700,000.

Dr. Wirasit said the study found the size of the sex
industry varies from 150,000 to 200,000 prostitutes,
depending on demand at different times.

While the Public Health Ministry said prostitutes in
Bangkok totalled 28,000, the study indicates the figure is
actually more than 40,000.

Prostitution had been increasingly hidden behind fronts
such as cafes, where prosttutes are disguised as singers.

Those in the sex industry can be divided into three
groups: Female, male, and child prostitutes.

Dr. Wirasit said the last group is driven into prostitution
by broken homes and child abuse.

High rates of AIDS-infection are recorded among “ser-
vice girls,” rising to more than 50 percent in most
provinces and to as much as 90 percent in some.

Dr. Wirasit said these high rates, which used to be
confined to the North, have begun to spread to the
South.

In Bangkok, the rate shot up from three percent in 1989
to 20 percent by the end of last year, he said.

About 20 million condoms have been distributed but
their use remains limited, according to Dr. Wirasit.

Infection is increasing rapidly among women who got
the virus from their husbands or partners and passed it
on to their newly born infants.

As of last December, five out of 100 women who went to
hospitals for pregnancy check-ups tested HIV-positive,
he said.

Northern Province Reports 3,429 Test HIV
Positive

BK0904021391 Bangkok BANGKOK POST in English
9 Apr 91 p3

[Text] Chiang Rai—More than 3,000 people tested for
the AIDS virus here have been found HIV positive.
More than a third are prostitutes.

Public Health Ministry permanent secretary Uthai
Sutsuk said yesterday the number of HIV positive vic-
tims had gone up to 3,429 with 1,842 being prostitutes,
599 farmers and 362 having other jobs.

More prostitutes have become HIV carriers and only 30
percent of their customers used condoms. Teenagers and
labourers rarely use condoms, Dr. Uthai said.

The number of HIV victims in the northern province has
risen by 100 to 200 per month, he said.



IPRS-TEP-91-010
10 May 1991

The discovery of such unprecedented AIDS epidemics
among children, Mrs. Barbara Geary, representative of
the Red Cross League of Geneva, said, caused us to work
out an AIDS information programme, to be carried out
by the League in collaboration with the Romanian Red
Cross. Files containing basic information on AIDS have
already been distributed to the 41 counties of Romania.

The disease was not passed down from mother to child,
it was spread chiefly by repeated use of infected syringes.
According to Mr. Patrick Couteau, former League dele-
gate to Romania, “that problem is still not solved in
Romania: the available quantity of syringes is insuffi-
cient and imports inadequate.”

The Red Cross League of Geneva organized 3 training
units in Bucharest, Bacau and Tirgu Mures for nurses
and personnel who come daily in touch with AIDS-
infected patients. For the future, the Red Cross League
of Geneva envisages, in collaboration with the Roma-
nian Ministry of Health, a programme meant to increase
the awareness and improve the knowledge of medical
students about the AIDS phenomenon.

EAST EUROPE 21

YUGOSLAVIA

Assembly Briefed on AIDS Cases

AU2904114891 Belgrade BORBA in Serbo-Croatian
20-21 Apr 91 p 4

{B.P. report: “There Are 187 AIDS Victims”]

[Excerpt] Belgrade—Since 1985, when our country
started to keep records of those who fell ill with AIDS,
187 people have contracted the disease. Out of these, 109
have died. This was stated by Dr. Branko Pocek, director
of the Federal Institute for Medical Protection,
addressing members of the Committee for Labor,
Health, and Social Welfare of the Federal Chamber of
the SFRY Assembly.

The bulk of those suffering with AIDS are drug users,
38.4 percent. They are followed by homosexuals and
pisexuals, 21.2 percent, hemophiliacs, 16 percent, and
heterosexuals, 12 percent. There is only a negligible
number of those belonging to other categories. Out of the
total number of those suffering with AIDS, 87 percent
are men and 13 percent are women. [passage omitted]



JPRS-TEP-91-010
10 May 1991

protection to women, children, and employees infected
with AIDS against discrimination on jobs and social
services.

The minister said a national campaign would be
launched to educate students in high schools and univer-
sities on AIDS. The programme would aim to effect
changes in attitude among Thai teenagers about prosti-
tution which has been mainly responsible for the spread
of the virus.

The campaign would also target government employees
in all ministries and state enterprises and involve the
private sector, he said.

Mr Michai said state television would be instructed to
devote one minute of every hour of airtime to anti-AIDS
messages.

The campaign, he said, would aim to get across two types
of information to the public. One is basic facts about
AIDS; the other is to foster understanding and compas-
sion for AIDS victims.

Meanwhile, Communicable Disease Control Depart-
ment Director- General Thira Ramasut said the Public
Health Ministry had already requested the Interior Min-
istry to lift its ban on foreign AIDS victims from entering
the country.

WHO withdrew its delegation from an international
conference on AIDS in Bangkok last December in pro-
test at the ban.

Dr. Thira said the request for the ban to be revoked was
made to the Interior Ministry on March 25.

Mr. Michai said the measure had proved ineffective in
countries which had imposed similar bans to prevent
local people from contracting AIDS.

Dr. Thira said the ministry would submit to the Cabinet
a proposal for setting up a new national coordinating
committee on AIDS prevention to be chaired by the
Prime Minister.

AIDS ‘Increasingly Serious’ in Chiang Mai Area

BK2704045591 Bangkok THE NATION in English
27 Apr 91 p A4

[Text] Chiang Mai—AIDS has killed three people in this
northern province and infected more than 4,000 others,
including about 1,700 prostitutes, a senior health official
said yesterday.

Chiang Mai public health chief Anan Lapsomthop
blamed the “increasingly serious” situation on the sex
industry in the province, where there were more than
200 sex-related entertainment businesses.

Anan said 10 people had developed full-blown AIDS,
while 4,283 people were found in a survey taken earlier
this months to be carriers.

EAST ASIA 17

Most of the infected people were men aged between 18
and 50, Anan said.

Sixty-five percent of the AIDS carriers were infected
through sexual intercourse, while 12 percent were intra-
venous drug users. The remainder were babies who had
contracted AIDS through their mothers or were people
who had caught the disease from unknown causes.

Prostitutes made up 40 percent of the infected people,
followed by workers (21 percent), farmers (10 percent),
soldiers and policemen (4 percent) and government
officials (1 percent).

“I’m worried about the high rate of infection among
farmers,” Anan said.

“This group of people will allow AIDS to spread in rural
areas,”

Anan said many prostitutes in Chiang Mai were young
hilltribe people or had been lured from neighbouring
countries, Those girls were poorly educated and were not
aware of the danger of AIDS, according to the doctor.

“A factor encouraging the AIDS spread here is the very
low education of those prostitutes and their total lack of
awareness to protect themselves,” Anan said.

AIDS carriers had been found in all 20 Chiang Mai
districts. Ten districts had more than 100 carriers each.

There was “limited success” in authorities’ efforts to
educate prostitutes, Anan said. Some prostitutes would
not have sex with customers who refused to use con-
doms.

“But the sex industry is large. What we need is full
cooperation from all parties concerned,” Anan said.

VIETNAM

AIDS Prevention Measures Carried Out

BK3103093691 Hanoi International Service in English
1000 GMT 29 Mar 91

[Text] The Vietnamese National AIDS Committee just
mapped out a medium term plan of AIDS prevention
from 1991 to 1993 and it initially carried out this plan. It
is reported that an international seminar on AIDS pre-
vention in Vietnam was held on March 26 and 27 by the
National AIDS Committee, the Health Ministry and the
World Health Organization.

Over the past years with technical and financial assis-
tance from the World Health Organization, the Vietnam
National AIDS Committee has closely coordinated with
ministries and social organizations in polarizing AIDS
prevention measures and has achieved initial results.



30 WEST EUROPE

American counterpart, by authorizing prescription of the
medication to AIDS patients on certain conditions.

The conditions for issuing the drug—at no cost to the
patient—are a failure to respond to antiviral medica-
tions (essentially AZT) and nonparticipatory ‘status in
experimental protocols.

The Ministry of Health describes the move as “plugging
a legal gap” and “responding to the publication of
scientific results.” The ministry further points out that
disulfiram prescriptions will be written only in hospital
centers, at the request of physicians specializing in
AIDS. The Pasteur-Merieux Company says that an
application to register the drug will be filed in all EC
countries, as well as Austria and the Scandinavian coun-
tries, during the second half of 1991.

In the United States, another “compassionate” treat-
ment—DDI, produced by the Bristol-Myers Squibb
firm—should soon be authorized for sale. Thus, in the
short term, American AIDS patients should be able to
choose between two antiviral medications: AZT and
DDI.

GREECE

‘Alarming’ Increase of AIDS Carriers

91ES0252A Athens I KATHIMNERINI in Greek
21 Feb 91p 6

[Text] Thessaloniki: “The frequency of identifying new
AIDS carriers is increasing in Northern Greece at an
alarming rate. Especially disturbing is the fact that we
have an increase of carriers among women and among
people outside the groups considered to be high risk.”
This was stated to KATHIMERINI by Dr. I. Doutsos,
professor at the Thessaloniki University Medical School
who is in charge of the AIDS Report Center.

According to data gathered by the Ministry of Health, up
to the end of 1990, 410 carriers were identified
throughout the country and 200 of them were “defeated”
by the virus. Professor Doutsos said that in the next few
months the number of carriers will increase since it is
expected that the disease will appear in those who were
infected during the past five years.

In 1987-88, one new carrier was identified in Northern
Greece each month. By the end of 1990 one new carrier
was identified every 10 days. Today, in the AIDS Report
Center, 20 to 40 individuals each week come to be tested.
Out of that number there is usually one identified as a
carrier.

According to Doutsos’ estimates, the chances for new
infections are considerable because by the time the
symptoms become evident the carriers may have trans-
mitted it to other persons. Many of those carriers will do
so unknowingly, as we find out later, because they are
heterosexual with no homosexual contacts and they are
not drug users.

SJPRS-TEP-91-010
10 May 1991

IRELAND

Increase in AIDS Cases Continues

91WE0302A Dublin IRISH INDEPENDENT
in English 22 Feb 91 p 3

[Text] New Department of Health figures reveal that 77
deaths have now been caused here by the AIDS virus—
an increase of three in little more than a month.

The rising tally of cases emerges from new data showing
that 186 full-blown cases of the disease have now been
notified.

This confirms that four new cases have emerged in the
period while it is now known that the total number of
HIV positive patients is 1,000.

It is understood that of the 186 AIDS patients, 17 were
haemophiliacs who contracted the disease from infected
Factor 8 in blood transfusions.

And the Department’s figures are also understood to
reveal that of the total tally of deaths from AIDS, 10
were haemophiliacs.

The figures have emerged as continuing delays mark the
appointment of a new AIDS consultant and a hold-up in
a planned walk-in treatment centre on Dublin’s north-
side. Both moves are designed to take pressure off the
existing Baggot Street Hospital facility.

Department sources indicated that the appointment of
the consultant has been approved but has to be processed
and filled according to regulations.

PORTUGAL

Detailed Statistics on AIDS Cases
91WE0300A Lisbon O DIABO in Portuguese 19 Mar 91
pa

[Text] In connection with a topic discussed in this
section of our last edition by reader Elsa Roque of
Lisbon, we have received from the Center for Epidemi-
ological Surveillance of Communicable Diseases further
supplementary data on the evolution of AIDS in Por-
tugal up until 31 December 1990.

Because this is an issue of major social importance, we
have decided to return to the subject. We take this
opportunity to correct our reader: Professor Machado
Caetano is not dean of the Order of Physicians; that
position is held by Professor Machado Macedo—a nat-
ural confusion associated with the fact that their first
names are the same.

But let us discuss the information and tables provided by
the center.



12 EAST ASIA

BURMA

Health Department Sponsored AIDS Training
Course

91WE0283A Rangoon THE WORKING PEOPLE'S
DAILY in English 26 Feb 91 p7

[Text] Yangon, 25 Feb—A Training course on HIV and
AIDS jointly sponsored by Health Department and
Yangon Division Health Department was opened with a
ceremony in the meeting room of the Yangon Division
Health Department with a speech by Division Health
Department head Dr. Daw Hnin Yi.

Present on the occasion were Deputy Division Health
Department heads, Division Health Officers, lecturer
from VD department, VD Specialist Dr. U Aye Nyein,
Health Education Bureau Deputy Director Dr. Daw Yin
Yin May, AIDS research team leader Dr. U Swe Myint
and members, Division Health Education Officers,
Child Health Officers and trainees among others.

Authorities Lists Prevention of AIDS as National
as!

OW1304110291 Beijing XINHUA in English
1037 GMT 13 Apr 91

[Text] Yangon, April 13 (XINHUA)}—The Myanmar
authorities have listed prevention of the AIDS disease as
a national task to be carried out by the entire people of
the country.

Maj-Gen Khin Nyunt, secretary of the State Law and
Order Restoration Council (SLORC), who is concur-
rently chairman of the National Health Committee,
made the remarks on Friday when he delivered an
address at the committee’s seventh meeting here.

The SLORC secretary said that “the infection of the
disease in areas becomes widespread through cross-
border trade and so.”

Khin Nyunt said that educative and preventive work
against AIDS disease must be accelerated more than at
present.

He added that “as a first priority, projects are to be laid
down for border areas, and then, the task is to be
extended throughout the country.”

Khin Nyunt pointed out that “all kinds of health per-
sonnel will be trained and turned out to enable the health
activities to gain success.”

At the meeting, Pe Thein, minister for health and edu-
cation, explained that international organizations are
ready to render help in educative and preventive work
on the disease and personnel concerned are to carry out
the task as a national duty.

SJPRS-TEP-91-010
10 May 1991

HONG KONG

District Board Member Suggests Ban on AIDS
Mothers

91WE0271 Hong Kong SOUTH CHINA MORNING
POST in English 27 Jan 91 p 4

[Text] Women known to be AIDS carriers should be
banned from having babies, a Wan Chai District Board
member who is standing for re-election in the March
polls said yesterday.

“Until we know how to suppress the virus that is the best
thing to do,” said Dr. Albert Cheung Chi-piu, predicting
the number of locals infected with the virus that leads to
AIDS would soar past the 10,000 level within the next
few years.

He called for prostitutes diagnosed as carrying the
human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) to be barred from
plying their trade in local red-light districts, although he
declined to single out Wan Chai as a particularly high-
risk area.

“If they are AIDS carriers then they should be forbidden
by law from having any other business with their profes-
sion,” Dr. Cheung said, admitting, however, there would
be practical difficulties in enforcing any such ban.

The biochemist and company director—who has repre-
sented the Happy Valley constituency for the past eight
years—revealed yesterday he was quitting the middle-
of-the-road Hongkong Democratic Foundation (HKDF).

The District Board member, who is being challenged by
two other candidates in the double-seat Happy Valley
constituency, said he was confident of bettering his 1988
performance, when he polled 1,350 votes and came
second in the seat.

His two challengers are solicitor Ms. Helen Chung Yee-
fong and executive director Mr. Ng Kam-chun.

Another Confirmed AIDS Case

0W2703194691 Beijing XINHUA in English
1614 GMT 27 Mar 91

[Text] Hong Kong, March 27 (XINHUA)}—One more
case of AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome)
has been confirmed, bringing the total number of cases
in Hong Kong to 46, a spokesman for the Department of
Health said here today.

So far, a total of 32 AIDS patients including the new
AIDS sufferer have died and 14 others are either under
counselling and treatment or have left Hong Kong, the
spokesman said.

Releasing the statistics on the AIDS surveillance pro-
gram for last month, the spokesman said three more men
were found to be positive for the HIV antibody test,
bringing to 168 the total number of HIV carriers who
have not yet developed AIDS.



4 SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

Insurance

The rationale for this new programme is two-fold: HIV
infection and conventional STD are transmitted in sim-
ilar ways and some STD such as genital ulcers, facilitate
the transmission of HIV. STD control, therefore, serves
to curb AIDS.

Secondly, STD are important causes of morbidity and
mortality. They influence female reproductive health
and outcome of pregnancy, the two experts said.

The Kenya National STD Control Programme has four
main areas of activities.

1. Training through updating of curricula in medical and
paramedical education programmes, on the job training,
distance education for health workers and training of
traditional birth attendants and healers.

2. Clinical services and laboratory facilities, the devel-
opment of a national clinical and laboratory referral
system and of an essential drug and laboratory kit for
STD.

3. The incorporation of an STD component in the AIDS
information, education and communication pro-
gramme.

4. Lastly, the inclusion of STD surveillance in the HIV
sentinal surveillance system.

Dr. D.M. Owili, chief consultant Dermatologist, at the
Kenyatta National Hospital, said that when AIDS was
first recognised, the disease seemed limited to a single
nation and a single group characterised by the sexual
orientation. But today it has become a global problem.

He said although the immunologic consequences of HIV
infection seemed similar in Africa and in Western coun-
tries, the epidemiology and clinical features of HIV
infections in Africa were quite particular, depending on
cultural, environmental, socio-economic and other uni-
dentified factors.

Dr. Owili told the delegates that the clinical presentation
of AIDS in Africa was rather different from those seen in
Europe and America. The differences are linked to
different spectrum of latent infections owing to environ-
mental factors common to developing countries of the
tropical area.

He said the most characteristic clinical presentations of
HIV infections in Africa were diarrhoea, loss of weight
and persistent fever.

Dr. Owili told the meeting that the steady increase in the
number of cases diagnosed in Africa “is a warning,” and
he wondered how Africa would cope with this problem.

Dr. Owili stressed that given the present economic
structure in most of Africa, countries must be involved
in prevention, efficient cost effective diagnosis, treat-
ment and rehabilitation of the increasing number of
AIDS victims.

IJPRS-TEP-91-010
10 May 1991

AIDS Victims’ Care To Shift From Hospitals to
Homes

AB1004130091 Nairobi Domestic Service in English
0400 GMT 9 Apr 91

[Text] The head of the Kenya National AIDS Informa-
tion, Education, and Communication Subcommittee,
Dr. Sobi Mulinde has said that the management of AIDS
victims will shift from hospitals to home-based care. He
called on the general public for their support in the new
approach in order to cope with the large number of AIDS
cases in hospital confinement. Dr. Mulinde was
addressing leaders attending a two-day workshop on
AIDS control in Kakamega. He pointed out that care
provided to patients within their own communities has
Positive psychological effects, reduces costs for relatives,
and will create more beds for the hospitals for other
emergency cases. Stressing that there was still no cure for
AIDS, Dr. Mulindi called on leaders to spearhead the
campaign on AIDS awareness in their communities to
help curb the spread of the scourge.

MOZAMBIQUE

Red Cross Conducts AIDS Program in Nampula

91P40194A Maputo NOTICIAS in Portuguese
26 Feb 91p8

[Text] The AIDS program set up by the Mozambican
Red Cross in Nampula has benefited 1,032 war-
displaced persons who have been settled on the outskirts
of Nampula and Nacala Port and Monapo districts. The
Red Cross AIDS program is carried out by volunteers
who were trained in October and are now working in the
settlement camps, giving lectures and distributing pam-
phlets and condoms.

The head of the Red Cross delegation in that part of the
country, Lucia Assane, believes that the work has pro-
duced positive results, since attendance at the lectures is
steadlily increasing. According to Lucia Assane, evalua-
tion of the program is done through surveys which yield
information as to the number of people taking part in the
program. “By evaluating the results and the number of
condoms distributed, we can conclude that the program
is being accepted by the target group,” she said.

Lucia Assane explained that the reason the program has
been limited to three districts rather than implemented
throughout the province is that it is recent and appro-
priate conditions do not yet exist for expansion. Further-
more, the inaccessibility of some of the districts because
of war restricts the activities of volunteers,

The program, financed by the Swedish Red Cross in
cooperation with the Ministry of Health’s AIDS coordi-
nation center, expects to branch out to the rest of the
province this year, if circumstances permit. It is cur-
rently operating in refugee centers in the Muatala, Nam-
icopo, Napipine, Murrapaniua, and Natikir areas of the
city, in addition to the districts named.



IJPRS-TEP-91-010
10 May 1991

The paper reported that of more than 100,000 persons
tested up till March, 84 persons have been affected, 14 of
them have fully blown AIDS while the remaining carry
human immuno-deficiency virus (HIV) which can lead
to AIDS.

The report said that in 1986 only four HIV positive cases
were recorded in Pakistan, but in 1989 another 12
persons were infected with the deadly virus and seven
others had full blown AIDS. In 1990 this trend con-
tinued and 29 cases of HIV positive and one case of
AIDS was again reported.

In Pakistan, the major sources of the spread of AIDS are
considered to be through blood transfusion, hetero-
sexuality, sharing of syringes, overseas Pakistanis,
mother-to-baby infection, foreign tourists and sailors.

There are now more than three million overseas Paki-
stanis, most of them live alone abroad, and there are

NEAR EAST & SOUTH ASIA 27

numerous blood donors in the country who cannot be
scanned before transfusion, as it involves huge amounts
of resources which Pakistan lacks.

Keeping in view the threat posed by AIDS, the govern-
ment of Pakistan launched AIDS control program in
1988 with a fund of 20 million rupees (about one million
USS. dollars).

A national AIDS committee has been formed with full
provincial representation. A short term plan to combat
AIDS has been drawn up and 19 laboratories for blood
scanning for HIV have been made operational in all the
major cities. The government has started to issue AIDS
free certificates to foreigners who wish to stay in the
country for more than a year.

AIDS free certificates have also been declared riecessary
for imported blood products, and blood screening is
done at airports and seaports.



24 LATIN AMERICA

and deaths: 165 patients were recorded and there have
been a total of 80 deaths, according to a report by the
Ministry of Public Health and the Pan American Health
Organization [PAHO].

The 28 February 1991 PAHO report states that among
the AIDS infected patients there are 50 homosexuals, 67
heterosexuals, 25 bisexuals, three drug addicts, two pros-
titutes, and two hemophiliacs. In addition, three persons
were infected due to drug addiction and homosexuality,
10 due to blood transfusions, and three due to unknown
causes, [passage omitted]

MEXICO

Increase in Number of AIDS Cases

PA2003033691 Mexico City NOTIMEX in Spanish
1852 GMT 11 Mar 91

[Text] Mexico City, 11 Mar (NOTIMEX)—wWith an
increase of close to 2,500, or 40.1 percent, in the number
of reported AIDS cases in 1990, Mexico ranks third on
the American continent and 11th throughout the world.

According to the most recent figures of the Secretariat
for Health and Public Assistance’s [SSA] Center for
Exchange, Documentation, and Information on AIDS
{CIDIS], 6.6 new cases occurred daily in 1990, 42.3
percent of which were reported to this agency.

According to the report, the greatest number of AIDS
cases occur in the largest urban areas, such as Mexico
City, with 2,000, Jalisco, with 800, and the state of
Mexico, with 780.

CIDIS also said that in Mexico one out of every 2,730
males between 25 and 44 years of age has either been
infected or killed by AIDS. In addition, AIDS has been
diagnosed on and reported to one out of every 5,684
males between 45 and 64 years of age, and one out of
every 12,725 males between 15 and 24 years of age.

The agency reported that in the cases associated with
heterosexual transmission, the trend is upward, although
the information presented in the 1990 bulletin indicates
a high proportion of cases reported as heterosexual
transmission in males, a situation that suggests these
men are really homosexual or bisexual.

Finally, regarding the present condition of the patients,
the report said that 44.4 percent are still alive and 49.6
percent have died. The report did not give any follow-up
figures for 5.9 percent of the patients.

JPRS-TEP-91-010
10 May 1991

ST. LUCIA

Health Ministry AIDS Committee Emphasizes
Education

FL1804194591 Bridgetown CANA in English
1708 GMT 18 Apr 91

[Article by Peter Richards]

[Excerpts] Castries, St. Lucia, April 18, CANA—St.
Lucia’s health officials agree condoms are one of the best
means of preventing the spread of the deadly Acquired
Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). But there is a
problem as to how best to advertise its use.

The Health Ministry’s AIDS Action Committee, empha-
sising higher levels of preventive education and stronger
emphasis on patient counselling as a means of combating
the disease, has been told that a radio advertisement
urging greater use of condoms is not fit to be aired.
[passage omited] Acting general manager of the state-
owned radio St. Lucia Ernie Seon told CANA [CARIB-
BEAN NEWS AGENCY] that the advertisement in
French Creole contained words not fit for air play.
[passage omitted]

Joseph Medar, acting director of the Bureau of Health
Education said that the advertisement would have the
desired effect since most people “do not feel free to talk
about sex—and condoms.” [passage omitted]

Valerie Albert, a senior executive at Helen Television
Service (HTS), whose advice had been sought by the
AIDS Action Committee said she found nothing wrong
with the advertisement. “AIDS is a serious issue. Here is
an ad which you can get humour from but it has a serious
message,” she said. [passage omitted]

Radio call-in programmes carry lively debate on the
issue. But health officials are more worried about the fact
that since 1985 when the first AIDS case was diagnosed
here, 56 people have tested positive for the virus which
causes AIDS and almost half of them have died.

Medar said the main constraint facing the committee is
that most St. Lucians, though aware of how the disease is
spread are not changing their behaviour.

“Youths in this country seem to think they are not at
risks to AIDS,” he said pointing out that the majority of
cases fall within the 20-44 age group. A survey conducted
by the Bureau of Health Education among 600 people in
the age group 15-60 years found that while most were
aware of the disease, they were reluctant to discuss the
use of condoms. [passage omitted]



JPRS-TEP-91-010
10 May 1991

REGIONAL AFFAIRS

Abidjan Conference Views Spread of AIDS

AB2803184591 Paris AFP in English 1726 GMT
28 Mar 91

[Text] Abidjan, March 28 (AFP)—Africa’s major prob-
lems dealing with widespread AIDS are due not only to
a lack of equipment and qualified staff but also to
politics and social barriers, specialists have concluded at
a meeting here.

Early this year, the U.N. World Health Organization
(WHO) reported some 81,650 AIDS cases in Africa, with
a further 100,000 Africans carrying the HIV virus that
causes the deadly disease. But medical experts from 12
countries gathered in Ivory Coast this week agreed that
the real number of cases must be considereably higher.
Nigeria has notified just 48 cases of AIDS—Acquired
Immune Deficiency Syndrome—in a population esti-
mated at more than 110 million.

Several specialists pointed out that political leaders tend
to argue that malaria and diarrhoea-causing diseases that
debilitate people and are well-known enemies of devel-
opment still kill more people than does AIDS. A relative
lack of interest helps to explain the scarcity of laboratory
equipment needed to diagnose AIDS in the continent.
Most countries also lack specialized care centres for
people with AIDS, who are generally taken into general
hospitals in the large urban areas, which are a little better
equipped than the rare rural clinics.

On WHO figures, Uganda has 17,422 AIDS cases,
heading the list before Zaire with 11,537 and Ivory Coast
with 3,647.

Africa’s many civil wars are an important factor in
spreading the disease, the conference heard. It was
impossible to estimate the impact on neighboring Ivory
Coast, Guinea and Sierra Leone, for instance, of some
500,000 refugees from Liberia, which has been seriously
affected by AIDS. Tens of thousands of African city-
dwellers have been displaced by conflict.

Almost every government has now set up a special
anti-AIDS team whose main task is to inform people of
the disease and the ways in which it is transmitted—via
sexual intercourse, infected blood or dirty needles—but
these workers face problems of language barriers and
illiteracy.

Abdurahman Mohamed of Djibouti told the conference
that the mass media were in his view not a good way of
reaching African people and suggested instead the cre-
ation of anti-AIDS sub-committees at village level. A
Rwandan doctor said doctors found it difficult to help
HIV-positive people understand that they were not yet ill
but nevetheless could represent a serious danger to their
partners.

The fight against AIDS is also a struggle against religious
authorities, a number of experts said. In Rwanda, which

SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA 1

is 80 percent Roman Catholic, church leaders have
protested that the use of condoms as an incitement to
“debauchery.” Similar attitudes have been expressed by
Moslem leaders elsewhere.

Specialists said they wanted more support from local
authorities, but mainly traditional chiefs who are more
“credible” than Europeanized officials. African healers,
too, are listened to more than doctors, and there are
many more of them, they said.

The meeting here gathered experts from Burkina Faso,
Burundi, the Central African Republic, Congo, Djibouti,
Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal and Zaire for
a training course on treating AIDS patients.

ANGOLA

Health Sources Report 211 AIDS Cases up to Dec
1

MB1604212791 Luanda ANGOP in Portuguese

1927 GMT 16 Apr 91

[Text] Luanda, 16 Apr (ANGOP)—ANGOP learned in
Luanda today that a total of 211 AIDS cases had been
reported in Angola up to December 1990.

Elsa Montez, director of the national anti-AIDS pro-
gram, says that that figure might not be accurate. She
said that many sufferers of that disease do not go to
hospitals.

Luanda is the province with the most AIDS cases. Zaire
and Cabinda Provinces show the next highest AIDS
levels because they border the Congo and Zaire, two
countries with high AIDS figures.

BOTSWANA

Health Spokesman Comments on AIDS, Infant
Mortality Rate

MB1904210191 Gaborone Domestic Service in English
1910 GMT 19 Apr 91

[Text] The acting permanent secretary in the Ministry of
Health, Dr. John Mulwa, says the total number of people
having the AIDS virus in Botswana is 2,065 including
those who have died.

He said the government has had some success and
failures in implementing programs aimed at prevention
and control of the disease AIDS. Dr. Mulwa said this
today when opening a one-day meeting of the resources
mobilization for the 1992-93 medium-term plan for the
prevention and control of AIDS in Botswana held at the
(Bipisa) Hall in Gaborone.

He said, to date, the Ministry of Health has established
counselling services for HIV-positive and AIDS patients
in most districts and hospitals. Dr. Mulwa appealed to
the World Health Organization and other donor agencies



JPRS-TEP-91-010
AIDS

10 May 1991 : 5
IRELAND
Increase in AIDS Cases Continues /Dublin IRISH INDEPENDENT, 22 Feb 91] .... 30
PORTUGAL

Detailed Statistics on AIDS Cases [Lisbon O DIABO, 19 Mar 1991] .



JPRS-TEP-91-010
10 May 1991

Under the AIDS surveillance program which started in
1985, a total of 186,820 blood specimens have been
tested for the AIDS virus.

MALAYSIA

Minister Says 948 People Detected as HIV
Carriers

BK2503111291 Kuala Lumpur NEW STRAITS TIMES
in English 22 Mar 91 p 11

[Excerpt] Kangar, Thursday—About 948 people in the
country have been detected to be HIV carriers, Health
Minister Datuk Lee Kim Sai said here today. He said a
majority of the HIV carriers were drug addicts.

Speaking to reporters after visiting the Kangar General
Hospital here, he said that of the number, 32 HIV cases
were in Perlis.

“The number is quite big in Perlis in view of its popu-
lation of only 180,000,” he said. But out of the 24 AIDS
cases detected in the country, none were from Perlis, he
added. [passage omitted]

SINGAPORE

Three Men Infected With AIDS Virus in
February

BK0404102491 Singapore THE STRAITS TIMES
in English 30 Mar 91 p 21

[Text] Three Singaporean men were found to be infected
with the AIDS virus last month. Of the three, two had
already developed AIDS when they sought treatment, a
Health Ministry statement said.

The three men, aged between 20 and 30, are believed to
have been infected through sexual contacts here and
overseas.

During the month, two AIDS patients died.

To date, 69 Singaporeans have been infected with the
virus. This figure includes 28 who developed AIDS, 18
of whom have died.

Among the 69 are 40 carriers without symptoms of the
disease and one with the AIDS-related complex.

The Ministry of Health was also notified of 27 cases of
infectious syphilis and 249 cases of gonorrhoea last
month, compared with 20 and 312 cases respectively for
February last year.

EAST ASIA 13

THAILAND

Burmese Cited as AIDS Carriers in Ranong
91WE0286A Bangkok SIAM RAT in Thai 29 Jan 91
poé

[Excerpts] [passage omitted] After visiting the Public
Health Office in Ranong Province, Mr. Den Tomina, the
deputy minister of public health, said that many Bur-
mese have come here to work. [passage omitted] In
particular, many of these people are working as crewmen
on fishing boats or as prostitutes. [passage omitted]
Because of this, the incidence of AIDS in the province
has increased greatly. The number of Burmese with the
AIDS virus is about double the number of Thais with the
disease.

Mr. Den said that the Ranong provincial Public Health
Office has implemented a project to search for AIDS
carriers and control this disease among the Burmese
coming here to work aboard fishing boats and in other
occupations. This project was launched in Pak Nam
Subdistrict, Muang District, in order to search for people
with this disease and prevent these Burmese from
spreading the disease. Officials will provide information
on this disease. They will also examine these Burmese for
malaria and elephantiasis. A total of 18,450 Burmese
who crossed into Thailand have been tested for AIDS,
malaria, and elephantiasis. No one was found to have
full-blown AIDS, but two people with AIDS-related
symptoms were found (one has died and the other has
been sent for treatment). A total of 426 people were
found to have the AIDS virus, but they did not exhibit
any symptoms. Of these 426 people, three have died, and
another six have been sent for treatment. Of these, 138
are people who had come here to work temporarily.
Steps are being taken in accord with provincial regula-
tions to expel 177 of these Burmese. Fifty-nine have been
returned to their homes, and 43 now live in Ranong
Province.

Dr. Klahan Limsiriphat, the public health officer in
Ranong Province, said that in carrying on this project, it
has been found that the number of AIDS cases is
increasing rapidly in all groups, particularly among pros-
titutes, prisoners, drug addicts, and crewmen aboard
fishing boats. [passage omitted]

Health Ministry Updates AIDS Statistics
91WE0286D Bangkok NAEO NA in Thai 15 Feb 91 p 3

[Text] The AIDS Division, Department of Communi-
cable Disease Control, Ministry of Public Health,
reported that as of the end of 1990, 20 people with
full-blown cases of AIDS were still alive. Of these, 17 are
men, one of whom is homosexual, three are bisexual, and
nine are heterosexual, three are intravenous drug
addicts, and one received a blood transfusion. Of the
three female patients, two are heterosexual and one
caught the disease from her mother.



JPRS-TEP-91-010
10 May 1991

country’s two main cities, were AIDS patients from all
social and professional groups.

The association asked for more government involve-
ment in the campaign to prevent the disease from
spreading further, adding that its steep increase called
for political solutions to the problem. It also called for
the closure of pharmacies run by non- professionals to
ensure that people received the right medicine.

GHANA

Committee Reviews Performance of AIDS Control
Program

AB3003131091 Accra Domestic Service in English
1800 GMT 27 Mar 91

[Excerpt] A national AIDS Review Team today pre-
sented its report to the Ministry of Health in Accra. The
review team examined the progress and efficiency of
AIDS control programs. Hanna Adukyea Amakye wit-
nessed the presentation of the report: [Begin Amakye
recording]

The review, jointly sponsored by the Ministry of Health
and the World Health Organization, was also meant to
examine the relevance of such programs and suggest
measures to improve the implementation of the AIDS
control program. Areas considered included finance,
education, communication, and blood transfusion. The
team found out that there are no clear cut policies on
who is responsible for the formulation and implementa-
tion of the AIDS Control Program.

It explained that the National AIDS Control Program is
not decentralized enough for the effective implementa-
tion of programs, and in most cases, regional and district
committees either do not exist or are inactive. On
information, education, and communication, much is
said to have been achieved within the first year of the
medium-term plan especially by non-governmental orga-
nizations.

The report however noted that more would have been
achieved in this area if conditions and work environ-
ment had been more favorable and encouraging.
According to the report, the AIDS Control Program lacks
funds at the regional and district levels. It said only few
health personnel have participated in workshops on
AIDS. In the light of these problems, the report recom-
mended the strengthening of the Health Education Divi-
sion through training and the provision of equipment. It
also advised that the industrial sector should be included
in the information, education, and communications,
technical advisory subcommittee.

In a speech, the secretary for health, Nana Akuoku
Sarpong, emphasized the government’s concern over the
AIDS situation in the country. [passage omitted]

SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA 3

KENYA

Health Ministry To Study Anti-AIDS Drug

91WE0282A Nairobi DAILY NATION in English
9 Feb 91 p3

[Article by Otula Owuor: “Kemron Study in Hospitals
Begins”]

[Text] The Ministry of Health has started a six-month
study of the anti-AIDS drug, Kemron, in provincial
hospitals, the director of medical services, Professor J.
Oliech, said yesterday.

Prof. Oliech, who was closing the 12th annual medical
scientific conference at the Kenya Medical Research
Institute (Kemri), said:

“The Ministry was ready to take tangible research find-
ings from the conference proceedings to utilise them in
uplifting the national health care system.”

He said that the Ministry was keen on picking up results
from research—on highland malaria, meningitis, plague,
cholera and others—which could help the country to
control epidemics.

The presiding chairman, Professor G.P.M. Mwaluko,
from Tanzania, said that the conference had set high
standards.

He praised the local media for covering the proceedings.

He said that there was a need to work out a system that
would make it easy for the research findings to be put
into practical use.

STD Program To Complement AIDS Control

91WE0282B Nairobi SUNDAY NATION in English
10 Feb 91 p 12

[Article by Constantine Owuor]

[Text] The Government is committed to controlling
sexually transmitted diseases (STD) and has developed a
two-year National STD Control Programme (NASCOP)
to complement the National AIDS Control Programme.

Delegates attending the Fifth Pan African Congress of
Dermatology of the African Association for Derma-
tology (AFRAD) heard this at the Kenyatta International
Conference Centre, Nairobi, where the congress opened
last Wednesday.

In a presentation, Dr. M. Kahindo and Dr. J. Labeeuw,
of the STD Control Unit in the Ministry of Health, said
Kenya has a population of 23 million of which approx-
imately half is over 15 years of age and thus at risk of
acquiring the human immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)
infection and sexually transmitted diseases (STD).



JPRS-TEP-91-010
10 May 1991

BULGARIA

New Medicine Claims To Be Cure For AIDS

AU0404183591 Sofia BTA in English 1806 GMT
4 Apr 91

[Cure For AIDS”—BTA headline]

[Text] Sofia, April 4 (BTA)—Tias is a new Bulgarian
medicine which, according to its inventors, could prove
an efficient remedy for AIDS. The inventors have sent a
strain to a world famous laboratory (which they decline
to identify) to test Tias. The inventors: two veterinary
surgeons, a pharmacologist and a chemist, who have
been working on their invention for 20 years, hope that
the new medicine will prove a major advance in medi-
cine.

Mr. Mikhail Budorov, head of the team, told a press
conference today that Tias kills the viruses causing ten
other human and animal diseases. The inventors said
they used methods and equipment which were foolproof
against negligent application. Mr. Budorov said the
medicine had no side effects. No residue of it has been
found in the meat and milk of the treated animals.

Asked by the BTA to elaborate on the remedy, Mr.
Budorov said: “It is a tricky thing which no one has
thought of so far. I am optimistic about its efficacy
against AIDS.”

POLAND

Number of AIDS Cases Increases

LD2604082491 Warsaw PAP in English 0803 GMT
25 Apr 91

[Text] Warsaw, April 25—Three Poles, including two
women and one man, fell ill with AIDS last February and
another three cases of developing AIDS were reported
last March. Out of the six ill persons, five were drug
addicts and one got infected with AIDS by heterosexual
contacts, RZECZPOSPOLITA reported.

All in all, fifty-seven people have contracted AIDS and
thirty- three have died in Poland, according to official
data.

ROMANIA

Official Discusses AIDS Situation

91BA0377A Bucharest ROMANIA LIBERA
in Romanian 28 Feb 91 p 5

[Interview with Dr. Ionel Victor Patrascu, chairman of
the AIDS Association in Romania, by Petre Mihai
Bacanu; place and date not given: “AIDS—Belated Rec-
cognition and Current Inertia”)

EAST EUROPE 19

[Text] AIDS has become one of the major health prob-
lems in our country because of the authorities’ indiffer-
ence especially during the Ceausescu period. WHO
experts who visited in 1990 pointed out that the current
situation concerning the AIDS evolution in Romania (as
much as we knew of it at that time) was similar to that
observed in other countries that did not recognize and
declare the disease early enough. We bring you a dia-
logue on this topic with’ Dr. Ionel Victor Patrascu,
chairman of the AIDS Association in Romania.

Bacanu: Please begin by bringing us up to date con-
cerning the most recent aspects of the disease.

Dr. Patrascu: All the experts in this area who contacted
us had some reservations about the figures obtained in
1989-90, which they viewed as too low; they suspected
that behind the figures indicating an unparalleled fre-
quency of the disease among children in our country,
there must certainly have been additional HIV-infected
or ill persons, especially among the adult population.
Experts often state that this is only the tip of an iceberg
whose form and size we do not know. Before too long, by
the end of 1990, we recorded increasingly more frequent
cases of persons who tested HIV positive or suffered with
AIDS. Infected persons were detected among blood
donors, mothers of HIV-positive children, prostitutes,
etc.

Bacanu: Is AIDS one of the special problems of 1990?

Dr. Patrascu: No. The spread of the disease in Romania
cannot be correctly assessed as long as we do not have
systematic and extensive studies apt to provide the
elements required to understand this AIDS episode. We
cannot extrapolate figures or observations from the
study of AIDS hotbeds in other countries. We must work
intensively, gather our own experience, and intervene in
direct relationship with thé situation prevailing in this
unique center of disease known so far in the world. We
are only now discovering what we should have known
already in 1988. We are now timidly attempting to
organize what could have beén organized two years ago.
The hotbed of disease was discovered in June 1989; the
specialists in the area are members of the AIDS Associ-
ation in Romania who for a time worked illegally under
the Ceausescu dictatorship, because we were forbidden
either to recognize the situation or to continue studying
it. No official approval was received for such studies, all
the proposals made in 1988-89 were rejected, no docu-
mentation was followed through, but neither was any
official response received. In fact, the same method
continues now, too. During the period between
December 1989-September 1990 proposals were sub-
mitted to organize research and diagnostic activities in
cooperation with foreign experts as a nongovernmental
activity; the campaign was turned down without any
related document.

Bacanu: There seem to exist many aspects which indicate
that we are still not prepared to carry out nongovern-
mental actions in the area of public health care. There is



_ JPRS-TEP-9 1-010
| 40 MAY 1991 MAY 199d

Foreign
Broadcast
Information
Service

ANNIVER S AR Y |
1941 - 1991

PRS Report—

STA’

Approved for public rolewetm
Distribwiioa Unlimited a.

Epidemiology

AIDS

19980506 127

(pric QUALITY INSPECTED 5

[REPRODUCED BY a
| U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

; NATIONAL TECHNICAL INFORMATION SERVICE
| SPRINGFIELD, VA. 22161



6 SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

According to AIDS expert, Denis Paterson of Natal
University’s medical school, the situation has reached
such proportions that the blood blank has to avoid
collecting blood in certain areas, because the level of
HIV positive was so high among would-be donors there.

Speaking at a conference in Durban yesterday, Paterson
said that at one stage last year, one in 50 black women
blood donors carried the HIV virus. Areas of high
population density tended to produce more people
testing HIV positive. These areas included Durban,
Pietermaritzburg, and Richard’s Bay.

SWAZILAND

Report Details AIDS Figures for December 1990

MB0404115591 Mbabane THE SWAZI OBSERVER
in English 4 Apr 91 p 1

[Report by Albert Masango: “30 More Added to AIDS’
List in December”]

[Text] Mbabane—About 30 people were in December
diagnosed to be suffering from the deadly AIDS and
some are reported to have since died.

This is contained in a report by the AIDS Control Unit
in the ministry of health. But the exact number of those
who have since died is not reflected.

There was also no immediate comment from officials of
the control unit nor from the ministry.

Statistics further showed that of the 30 people affected,
17 were males and 10 females while three of them were
not specified.

The AIDS victims ranged from babies to elderly persons
above 60 years of age.

Most people who have contracted AIDS were between 15
to 29 years. These were followed by people who were
above 60 years and newly born babies.

There were some AIDS victims aged between nine and
14 years.

Separate reports from Reuter said that world AIDS toll
jumped 10 percent in the first quarter of this year,
according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The report said the total, which rose to 345,533 from
314,610, was reported from 162 countries.

It included 11,318 new cases in March.

WHO, which says many nations under-report their AIDS
figures, believes the true number of those with Acquired
Immune Deficiency Syndrome, may be closer to 1.3
million.

The United States reported the highest total, 167,803
cases, an increase of 6,515 in March and 13,012 over the
quarter.

JPRS-TEP-91-010
10 May 1991

The report said that Uganda continued to lead Africa
with 17,422 cases, a figure not updated since the begin-
ning of the year.

Health Official Reports 3.6 Percent Rise in HIV
Infection

MB1304100191 Mbabane WEEKEND OBSERVER
in English 13 Apr 91 p 1

[Report by Vusi Sibisi: “AIDS Figures Shock”]

[Text] Mbabane—The Director of Health Services, Dr.
John Mbambo, yesterday warned that unless the
National AIDS Prevention Control programme was
intensified, the killer disease would decimate the popu-
lation.

Dr. Mbambo said while he was not an alarmist, there was
good enought reason for one to be alarmed at the rate the
disease was spreading.

He was particularly alarmed by the 3.6 percent rise in the
number of people who have tested positive in the first
quarter of this year, the Human Immunodeficiency
Virus (HIV) infection test covering January up to the end
of March,

He said during this quarter, 1 208 people were tested for
the HIV and of this sum, 43 tested positive. This, he said
reflected a 3.6 percent positivity rate rise in relation to
figures for the last quarter for 1990 where 1 715 people
were tested and 44 tested positive—representing a posi-
tivity rate of 2.5 percent.

“The 3.6 percent positivity rate is good enough reason to
cause alarm,” Dr. Mbambo said, before adding that four
babies had been found to have the HIV infection.

“The mother to child transmission is becoming a big
problem, one we must plan for before it is too late,” he
said.

He said since the beginning of the AIDS programme in
1987, there were 35 reported cases of infected people and
2 deaths.

But he warned that this could be a tip of the iceberg since
there may be cases which were not reported. He believed
that there were many cases which went unreported.

“The reporting system is not perfect yet,” he said.
“There is a lot of under-reporting and a lot has to be
done to improve this area because all we know is that we
are feeding the public on wrong statistics.”

He said new forms of reporting AIDS cases had already
been developed and these would soon be distributed to
health workers all over the country.

Dr. Mbambo said the ministry of health owed a lot of
gratitude to those doctors who had co-operated by
reporting suspects and cases though he conceded that
many cases still went unreported.



SJPRS-TEP-91-010
10 May 1991

Official Reports 189 Confirmed AIDS Cases

MBO0104180391 Maputo Domestic Service in Portuguese
1030 GMT 1 Apr 91

[Text] Ricardo Trindade, an official with the AIDS
Coordinating Center in the Health Ministry, has told our
correspondent that 189 confirmed AIDS cases have been
diagnosed in the country. The source said that at least 50
percent of the patients might have died.

The AIDS Program does not have the exact number of
deaths as many of the infected persons have not been
admitted to hospitals.

Ricardo Trindade revealed that in February alone 19
new AIDS cases were diagnosed in Maputo, Gaza, Tete,
Manica, Nampula, and Cabo Delgado Provinces, and in
Maputo city. He added that most of the people infected
with AIDS are aged between 20 and 39.

Nine Cases of AIDS Detected in Maputo Province

MB2504210091 Maputo Domestic Service in Portuguese
1730 GMT 25 Apr 91

[Text] A total of nine cases of AIDS was detected in
Maputo Province over the past 12 months. This was
revealed by AIDS Prevention Coordinator Andre Sim-
bine. Speaking at the Mozambique Red Cross headquar-
ters during the first anniversary of AIDS Prevention
Program, Andre Simbine said that more than 1,100
people were able to attend educational lectures held
during this period.

NIGERIA

Predicting 83,000 AIDS Deaths by 1995

AB2503164091 Paris AFP in English 1527 GMT
25 Mar 91

[Text] Lagos, March 25 (AFP)—Nigeria, the world’s
biggest black nation with a population of about 120
million, is expecting 83,000 deaths from AIDS during
the period covering 1991 until end 1995, Health Min-
ister Professor Olikoye Ransome-Kuti said Monday in
Ota, near here. Women would make up half this total
while children would be about 29,000, he said opening a
conference on AIDS for health workers, organised by the
Nigerian Medical Association (NMA).

Last year, World Health Organisation (WHO) estimated
that there were 154,000 HIV-infected persons in Nigeria,
8,000 of whom are already down with the disease. There
were about 5,000 newly-born babies infected by the virus
in the same year, the minister said. The prevalence of the
disease in Nigeria is about 45 per 10,000 persons, based
on the population already tested, he said. The rate rose
from 3 to 12 percent among prostitutes in the country
over the last three years.

SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA 5

In the first week of last month, a total of 323,399 cases of
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome have been offi-
cially notified to WHO from 156 countries. Of this
figure, 83,000 were from Africa, he said. But between
eight and 12 million persons are believed to be carrying
the HIV virus, including 3 million women. More than
500,000 are children. AIDS would be the number one
killer disease in Nigeria in the 1990’s and in the year
2,000 and beyond “if precise steps are not taken now”,
Vice President Augustus Aikhomu told the conference
which is organised as part of a national efforts to combat
AIDS and provide guidelines for health workers on the
disease.

Health Ministry Pledges To Check Spread of
AIDS

AB2804230091 Lagos Domestic Service in English
0600 24 Apr 91

[Text] The federal Ministry of Health has reaffirmed its
determination to check the spread of the Acquired
Immuned Deficiency Syndrome, AIDS, in the country.
The minister, Professor Koye Ransome Kuti, gave the
pledge in Calabar in a message to the opening of a
four-day national training workshop on AIDS preven-
tion in Nigeria. Femi Babade was there: [Begin
recording]

Prof. Ransome Kuti pointed out that it was to demon-
strate this that a medium-term plan for the prevention
and control of AIDS in the country focused on the
prevention of sexual transmission of HIV. He explained
that the high rate groups will be educated through
sustained and acurate dissemination of information on
how to preserve themselves and their partners from
contracting infection.

The minister’s address was delivered by the assistant
national AIDS program coordinator, Dr. Jimola Oramo.
He expressed delight that those in the high rate groups
are now likely to be identified and reached. Prof. Ran-
some Kuti, however, stated that the task could not be
achieved by government alone, even with the best of
intention and especially in the light of deepening eco-
nomic recession. [end recording]

SOUTH AFRICA

Figures Show High AIDS Increase in
Natal-Kwazulu Region

MB2003072191 Umtata Capital Radio in English
0500 GMT 20 Mar 91

[Text] New figures show AIDS is increasing dramatically
in Natal. Carmel Rickard has details on the shock
findings:

Rickard: The latest figures indicate that in the Natal-
Kwazulu region 100 people a week are being confirmed
as HIV positive, and a total of more than 3,590 people
have so far been confirmed as HIV positive.



26 NEAR EAST & SOUTH ASIA

two centres at one place when there’ are places like
Churachandpur with a large number of HIV positive
cases,”

Churachandpur is a congested border town of 25,000
people, barely 60 km from Imphal town, drug-trafficking
is rampant. At least one person in each family is said to
be a drug-addict. Since intravenous drug-users constitute
the majority of the HIV sero-positive cases (about 95
percent), it is little wonder that AIDS is rampant here.

“It is a very hard place to bring up your children,”
according to the manager of a nationalized bank and a
doctor at the local hospital, both recently transferred to
Churachandpur.

By a conservative estimate, the State has about 30,000
drug addicts. The purest quality of heroin is available
freely in Manipur, coming from the Golden Triangle of
Laos, Thailand and Burma, the latter sharing a 352-km
border with the State, most of it being heavily forested,
with only seven outposts entrusted with the manning of
the border. It was in 1982 when heroin first started
arriving in Manipur. Now it has become the most
popular route for the drug-traffickers to channelize the
stuff to other countries. The purest heroin here is very
cheap, a kg costing only Rs 1 lakh or so while it fetches
at least Rs 1 crore in Western countries.

New AIDS Virus, More AIDS Cases Discovered

Bombay Virus Detected

91WD0637 Calcutta THE TELEGRAPH in English
11 Mar 91 p5

[Text] New Delhi, 10 March (PTI)—The AIDS situation
in India has become worse with the discovery for the first
time of another strain of the human immunodeficiency
virus. The virus, HIV-2, has been detected in Indian
patients by doctors in Bombay.

Until recently all 4,000-odd infections in India were
caused by HIV-1. Doctors at the STD clinic of the G.T.
Hospital in Bombay have reported that four out of 22
blood samples screened in January showed double reac-
tion to both HIV-1 and HIV-2 while one sample from a
25-year-old pregnant prostitute was positive only for
HIV-2.

Confirmation of antibodies to HIV-2 virus came from
chemotherapy research in Frankfurt, Germany.
Reporting their findings in the British journal LANCET,
the Bombay doctors, Dr. J.K. Maniar and Dr. P.K. Rao,
said more HIV-2 infections are probably present in India
“than have so far been identified.”

The report said HIV-2 probably existed for some time in
India due to old connections between India and Africa,
where HIV-2 was first discovered.

According to the Bombay doctors the “spread of HIV-2
in India is substantial.” According to the report, doctors

SPRS-TEP-91-010
10 May 1991

in Madurai in Tamil Nadu have also recently detected
HIV-2, although this was not yet confirmed by other
tests.

The report said “Asia can no longer be considered free of
HIV-2” and warned that blood products in India must be
tested for both HIV-1 and HIV-2. The test kits currently
imported by India can detect only HIV-1. With the
appearance of HIV-2, India may henceforth have to
import kits to screen both strains of HIV.

Cases in Haryana
91WD0637 New Delhi PATRIOT in English 16 Mar 91
p2

[Text] Chandigarh, 15 March (PTI)—Three AIDS cases
had been detected in Haryana, the State Vidhan Sabha
was informed during question hour here today.

In his written reply, State Health Minister O.P. Bhard-
waj, said one AIDS case was detected at Panchkula and
the concerned person was under regular treatment at the
PGI here. Two foreign students had developed AIDS in
1988 and one was deported back while the other com-
mitted suicide in Karnal jail, he said.

IRAN

Minister Addresses AIDS, Pollution, Population
Issues

£D3003122591 Tehran IRNA in English 1015 GMT
30 Mar 91

[Text] Ganaveh, Bushehr Prov., March 30, IRNA—
Minister of Health Reza Malekzadeh Saturday warned
against spread of AIDS in the country. Malekzadeh who
arrived in this southern province Friday afternoon said
that passengers visiting Western countries have brought
the disease into the country and called for educational
programs to inform the public of ways of protecting
themseleves against it. Turning to dangers posed on the
environment by air pollution in the Persian Gulf caused
by the burning Kuwaiti oil wells, the minister appealed
to the World Health Organization (WHO) to help con-
trol the pollution. On government measures to control
population growth, he said that during the past Iranian
year (ended March 20) some 70,000 women at child-
bearing age were sterilized.

PAKISTAN

‘Source’ Reports AIDS Patients Increasing

OW1204104291 Beijing XINHUA in English
0830 GMT 12 Apr 91

[Text] Islamabad, April 12 (XINHUA)—Acquired
immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) patients are on the
increase in Pakistan, official paper “THE PAKISTAN
TIMES” quoted an informed source at the National
Institute of Health as saying today.



JPRS-TEP-91-010
10 May 1991

BANGLADESH

Seminar Told No AIDS Cases in Country

91WD0603 Dhaka THE NEW NATION in English
19 Feb 91 pp 1,8

[Text] Prof. Zillur Rahman Siddiqi, Presidential Adviser
for Education, has called for creating mass awareness
against AIDS and said mass media could play a vital role
in this regard, says BSS.

The Adviser was inaugurating a three-day seminar at the
Nipson auditorium in the city on Sunday which was
jointly organised by the Bureau of Health Education and
National AIDS Committee.

Presided over by Prof. M.A.T. Siddiqi, Director General
of Health, the inaugural function was also addressed by
Prof. K.M. Fariduddin. Additional Secretary of the
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Dr. A.M.A.
Abesunderi, Representative of the WHO and Mr. Gfas
Kamal Chow- dhury, a journalist. Prof. Siddiqi said the
Government had taken proper steps to check AIDS in
the country and added so far blood samples of 42,000
people had been tested and no AIDS virus was found.

He said nearly 700,000 people of 158 countries of the
world were infected by AIDS and 100,000,000 more
people were expected to contact this deadly disease in
the next few years. “Prevention of AIDS in Bangladesh
should be handled with priority as majority of the people
are suffering from various diseases and malnutrition,”
he told the seminar.

Fifty representatives from different mass-media
including Press Information Department (PID), Bang-
ladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS) and Bangladesh Televi-
sion are taking part in the seminar.

INDIA

AIDS Said To Create Panic in Manipur

91WD0557 Calcutta THE STATESMAN in English
14 Feb 91 p 12

[Article by Gautam Chaudhuri]

{Text] Imphal, 13 Feb—AIDS has created panic among
the people of Manipur, the “jewel of India” where
hapless youth, both educated and uneducated are falling
easy prey to this lethal disease, while a listless State
administration is content watching the tragedy with
seeming indifference. The death toll till mid-January was
officially six, but the enormity of the problem cannot be
gauged by mere statistics.

Over 1,000 persons, mostly young men, are said to have
been found Human Immuno Virus (HIV) sero-positive,
confirmed by the Western Blot test. About 97 percent of
them are between 15 and 35 years of age. “The situation
is worsening every day. A major part of the new gener-
ation will be wiped out by this killer disease, unless

NEAR EAST & SOUTH ASIA 25

serious efforts are made immediately to contain the
spread of AIDS,” experts said.

“The situation here will soon be akin to Africa, where
AIDS has wasted millions of lives, especially that of
children,” according to the experts. They point out that
most of those found HIV sero-positive cannot be traced
easily since they are spread far and wide in the valley and
the hills. “Not all of them will be full-blown cases, but a
sizable part may have the capacity to transmit the
disease knowingly or unknowingly to a vast number of
people,” the experts said.

They wonder why the government is taking an ostrich-
like attitude in the face of this impending catastrophe.
They feel that all the HIV sero-positive cases should have
been segregated from the people, put in a sort of quar-
antine, with the health officials monitoring their day-
to-day conditions. “This step would have ensured proper
treatment of the affected people and could have checked
the rampant spread of the disease. They need to be
closely watched all the time because many of them may
be potential carriers of AIDS.”

The Chief Minister R.K. Ranbir Singh, is aware of the
problem but pleads helplessness because of lack of funds
and sufficient man-power. “The State has no resources
and we are heavily dependent on the Centre. Unless the
Centre helps we cannot do much in this regard,” he said.
He also points out that he has “inherited the budget of
the previous Congress(I) Government, the coalition
Government having come to power after the budget for
this financial year was passed in the House.” In the
coming budget, he said at least Rs 1 crore would be kept
apart for combatting AIDS.

Surprisingly, though AIDS is raging in Manipur for some
years, the previous Government, which framed the
budget for 1990-91 had not earmarked a single paisa for
tackling the disease. “I am just scraping as much as I can
by transferring funds from other projects to dealing with
AIDS. We sought Rs 76 lakhs from the Centre for
making arrangements for the AIDS programme, but
received only Rs 20 lakhs. It is a herculean task and
without generous Central assistance, we cannot make
much headway,” Dr. P.K. Singh, Director of Health
Services, said.

Not surprisingly, the State has not yet developed an
infrastructure to handle the disease and its victims. The
Director of Health Services talks of plans to set up
special beds, well-equipped laboratories and other fcili-
ties, but the situation has come to such a pass that ad hoc
measures will no longer suffice. “We need full-scale
efforts, proper infrastructure and committed personnel
immediately,” the experts said.

The steps taken are not coordinated well and lack
foresight, which have compounded the problems. Two
surveillance centres have been set up in Imphal town and
the proximity of these two centres has created a sort of
rift among experts at the centres. “Why should there be



2 SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

to help in the implementation of the 1992-93 AIDS
control program. Dr. Mulwa said the gloomy part of the
health story in Botswana is that a lot of people still see
AIDS as a distant or foreign problem mainly because a
few people have personally known any case of AIDS
physically.

On other health issues Dr. Mulwa said Botswana has
achieved one of the lowest infant-mortality rates in
Africa, now estimated at 37 per 1,000. He said this has
come about as a result of a combination of efforts by
various donors who have become Botswana’s partners in
health matters which has resulted in improved access to
health facilities.

BURUNDI

Over 3,500 AIDS Patients Recorded, 812 Deaths

ABO0104091291 Paris AFP in French 1721 GMT
27 Mar 91

[Excerpt] Bujumbura, 27 Mar (AFP)—Over 3,500 AIDS
patients have been recorded in Burundi between 1984
and 1990, with 812 of them reported dead, according to
a medical source here today. The source says the number
of new AIDS patients has been decreasing significantly
due to an information campaign initiated by the epide-
miological unit of the National Program on AIDS and
Sexually Transmissible Diseases.

According to the same source, the downward trend is
expected to continue rapidly in the next few years and
stabilize in 1993-94, The number of dead among AIDS
patients, however, is not expected to decline during that
period. [passage omitted]

CAMEROON

WHO Reports 243 AIDS Cases; True Figure
Deemed Higher

91WE0269A Yaounde CAMEROON TRIBUNE
in French 23 Jan 91 p7

[Excerpts from an article by Waffo Mongo: “To Inform
Without Shocking”; first paragraph is CAMEROON
TRIBUNE introduction]

[Excerpts]—To urgently train people to be able to take
care of patients and their families in health and social-
service facilities—What advice to give to HIV-positive
individuals, AIDS patients, and their families without
causing psychological shock.

Should every HIV-positive individual be systematically
informed that he is carrying the terrible virus? If so, how
can this be done tactfully to blunt the psychological
shock? How should the subject be brought up with a
couple of which one member is a healthy carrier? Can an
HIV-positive woman be made to accept the fact that she
must no longer become pregnant? How? Should families

SJPRS-TEP-91-010
10 May 1991

necessarily be informed when it is determined that one
of their members has been in contact with the virus and
may develop it?

All these questions and many others are the focus of a
very special seminar on AIDS that has been in progress
since last Monday at the Red Cross building in Yaounde.
Organized by the anti-AIDS division, the seminar has, in
fact, two objectives. First, to respond to an urgent need,
given the disease’s capacity to mushroom: that of
training people able to take care of patients and to
counsel their families in Yaounde’s various health and
social-service facilities. Second, the seminar, which is the
first of its kind, is a preliminary test for a national
meeting on the same topic.

That is why the seminar’s participants are men and
women whose professions bring them into regular con-
tact with the population: nurses, teachers, social workers,
Red Cross emergency workers, and even men of the
cloth. [passages omitted]

Certain skeptics wave away this advice or, most of the
time, are simply ignorant of it—even while the disease in
Cameroon is reaching proportions that bode ill for the
future. According to the latest figures put out by the
World Health Organization (WHO), there are currently
243 declared clinical cases and the prevalance rate is 1
Percent, or an estimated 110,000 HIV-positive people in
a population of 11 million inhabitants. But as Dr.
Monny Lobe points out, those figures are just the tip of
the iceberg—they are far from reflecting the whole
reality.

Indeed, one wonders how many people have died of
AIDS in the hinterland without ever having been in a
hospital, and whether it is even possible to count all
those who have died after multiple treatments from our
traditional medical practitioners.

CONGO

Group Reports AIDS Figures to Conference

AB2303141891 Dakar PANA in English 1307 GMT
23 Mar 91

[Text] Brazzaville, 23 March (ACI/PANA)—Congo’s
anti-AIDS campaign group, the AIDS Health Associa-
tion, has warned that the number of HIV-infected people
in the country could rise to 19,000 carriers in 1992 from
the current available 1990 figure of 2,405 people.

In a report to the on-going national congress in the
Congolese capital Brazzaville, the association said the
1990 figure represented one out of 20 people or five
percent of the population as having been infected by the
human immune-deficiency virus (HIV) which causes the
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS).

It said that 15 percent of all the people admitted to the
main hospitals in Brazzaville and Pointe Noire, the



16 EAST ASIA

The permanent secretary told local people to stop selling
sex.

Men were urged to use condoms.

Chiang Rai Province Faces AIDS Problem

OW 1004141791 Beijing XINHUA in English
0740 GMT 10 Apr 91

[Text] Bangkok, April 10 (XINHUA)—AIDS (acquired
immune deficiency syndrome) is the most serious health
problem affecting Chiang Rai, a northern province in
Thailand, with 100-200 people being infected by the
disease each month.

According to a report of the Chiang Rai Public Health
Bureau, 3,429 people in the province, including 1,842
prostitutes, 599 farmers and 362 laborers, have been
found to be infected by the deadly disease,

Chiang Rai is one of 10 provinces in Thailand recording
such high figures of AIDS infection. The report said the
farmers and laborers who frequent prostitutes and do not
use condoms are the main cause for the spread of AIDS.
Their wives and children would in turn get infected by
the disease,

According to latest figures given by the Thai Communi-
cable Disease Control Department, there were 311 con-
firmed cases of AIDS in the country, 99 of whom had
already died. It is estimated that Thailand may have as
many as 28,000 carriers of AIDS virus by last month.

AIDS Spreading in Prisons

BK1204054791 Bangkok BANGKOK POST in English
12 Apr 91 p 3

[Text] Deputy Interior Minister ACM [Air Chief Mar-
shal] Anan Kalintha yesterday expressed concern over a
report by the Corrections Department that so far 2,527
inmates in prisons nationwide have been found to be
AIDS carriers.

He said there must be measures to prevent and control
the spread of AIDS in prisons.

Prisoners carrying AIDS must be separated from others
and the inmates must be educated on AIDS prevention
and control, ACM Anan said.

ACM Anan, who made an inspection trip to Klong Prem
Prison at Lat Yao yesterday, also received a report that a
500-bed hospital for AIDS-infected prisoners is being
built at the prison.

He said he had ordered the Corrections Department to
consider moving prisons which are situated in towns to
new locations outside towns.

SJPRS-TEP-91-010
10 May 1991

Government Adopts New Tactics in AIDS War

BK2004043291 Bangkok BANGKOK POST in English
20 Apr 91 pI

[Text] The Government yesterday pledged to combat the
spread of AIDS through education campaigns rather
than legal measures, suggesting that two strategies—a
draconian draft bill and a ban on foreign AIDS carriers’
entry—might be dropped.

The Government is to launch a national anti-AIDS
programme focusing on AIDS education which will
involve cooperation from all sectors, said Prime Minis-
ter’s Office Minister Michai Wirawaithaya.

Mr. Michai said legislation might not be the most
effective means to fight the AIDS virus, which is
believed to have infected between 200,000 and 300,000
people in Thailand.

The minister yesterday chaired a panel discussion where
legal experts from the World Health Organisation were
invited to give opinions on how to improve an AIDS bill.

Also at the meeting were foreign envoys, senior public
health officials, experts, and AIDS activists.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Mr. Michai said
the participants shared the view that there was no need
for the Government to legislate to specifically cope with
the spread of AIDS.

The problem, he said, could be effectively tackled by
existing laws and measures if they were seriously
enforced.

The controversial draft law has been under attack from
AIDS activists who charged that many of its provisions
would violate basic rights and lead to discrimination
against AIDS victims.

Under the bill, for instance, authorities are empowered
to conduct blood tests on any prostitutes, prohibit those
who test positive from working, and confine them to
rehabilitation centres.

Assoc. Prof. Withit Muntaphon said the draft law would
force AIDS carriers to.go underground, making it even
more difficult for authorities to check the epidemic.

He said there were currently three laws dealing with
prostitution but they were not seriously enforced by
authorities.

At one point in the meeting a foreign envoy said he
doubted if the passing of an AIDS law would be of any
use in a country which, despite all existing laws, had
failed to suppress prostitution.

Mr. Michai, who has been an outspoken anti-AIDS
activist, said the meeting agreed that if any legislation is
needed, it would be of a type which would give legal



2 LATIN AMERICA

ARGENTINA

AIDS Cases Expected To Rise

PY2204223791 Buenos Aires NOTICIAS
ARGENTINAS in Spanish 2059 GMT 20 Apr 91

[Summary] The number of reported cases of AIDS since
1985 totals 205.

According to a report from the Health Ministry of the
Buenos Aires province, this number is expected to rise to
565 this year and to 1235 in 1992.

The method of contagion. by percentage, in decreasing
order, is drug consumption (50 percent), sexual contact
(35 percent), blood transfusions (7 percent), and congen-
ital exposure (5 percent) [figures as received]. The ratio
of occurrence of the disease, woman to man, is one to
seven.

BRAZIL

AIDS Spreading Among Rio Drug Addicts

91WE0292B Rio de Janeiro O GLOBO in Portuguese
17 Mar 91 p 37

[Report by Helio Hara]

[Text] A study done by UERJ [State University of Rio de

‘Janeiro] on AIDS and intravenous drugs indicates that
the AIDS virus is spreading among addicts in Rio and
reveals some surprising data about that group. Almost
half (42 percent) of the addicts examined by UERJ’s
Studies and Research Unit on the Use of Drugs
(NEPAD) now carry the HIV virus. NEPAD researcher
Elson Lima says that the results would tend to be
identical as regards the city’s total addict publication. In
the United States, however—except for New York—the
average is 20 percent.

“During the interviews, most of the addicts described
themselves as careless. They know how the disease is
transmitted, but are not giving up drugs. This shows how
difficult it is to change behavior,” said Lima.

NEPAD'’s work revealed a circumstance not commonly
found in other countries: among the infected individuals
whose data have already been tabulated, more than
half—66.6 percent—are homosexual or bisexual males.
That suggests that in the case of this chain, gays and
bisexuals serve as “warehouses” for the virus. They
presumably become infected through sexual relations
and, even if they change their habits (using condoms, for
example), would continue to spread HIV through con-
taminated needles.

NEPAD interviewed 97 addicts—81 percent of them
men—last year and 47 more this year; 48 underwent
blood tests. Their average age was 28.3 years and they
had been using intravenous drugs for an average of 11.5

JPRS-TEP-91-010
10 May 1991

years. Cocaine is injected by 80 percent of the addicts.
Forty percent of the respondents were hospitalized for
treatment in clinics.

The percentage of heterosexual men among the addicts
who had been examined by the end of last year was 25
percent. Only one woman was an HIV carrier.

Lack of Funds Threatens Research

NEPAD’s work is part of a study being conducted
simultaneously in 12 cities worldwide to collect data on
AIDS and intravenous drugs. Unfortunately, says
researcher Elson Lima, the project may have to be
suspended this month for lack of funds. Of the $66,000
(15.18 million cruzeiros) received from the World
Health Organization, $10,000 (2.3 million cruzeiros)
were blocked under the Collor Plan. The rest has already
been spent.

Each research center is supposed to collect data on 450
addicts (some of them at treatment clinics). They answer
a standard questionnaire and, if they consent, are given
tests to detect the virus,

It is estimated that as many as 3,000 people in the city of
Rio de Janeiro are addicted to intravenous drugs. In
New York, there are more than 300,000.

CHILE

Significant Increase in AIDS Cases Projected

91WE0264A Santiago EL MERCURIO in Spanish
25 Feb 91 p A-2

[Commentary by Dr. Juan Bernal, President, National
Foundation Against AIDS]

[Excerpts] The disease of AIDS, which we normally
know through statistics, is actually the second epidemic,
the epidemic of AIDS patients. Before this there was the
epidemic of healthy carriers. The third epidemic will
come with the consequences resulting from the death of
a large group of young adults. From an epidemiological
viewpoint, only by stopping the first epidemic will we be
able to control AIDS in Chile. In exponential growth
models, when the rate of increase equals one unit, we
have the best known rate of increase which is geometric
progression. This is equivalent to an annual doubling of
AIDS cases. AIDS in Chile has grown at a rate of 1.08,
more than doubling AIDS cases each year. Moreover,
despite 10 years of education in the United States, the
curves continue to rise there; so in the short term,
education does not help to halt the epidemic. [passage
omitted]

The behavior of the AIDS epidemic in Chile between
1984 and 1989 demonstrates our precise situation;



JPRS-TEP-91-010
10 May 1991 3 AIDS

SINGAPORE

Three Men Infected With AIDS Virus in February
[Singapore THE STRAITS TIMES, 30 Mar 91] ...

THAILAND

Burmese Cited as AIDS Carriers in Ranong [Bangkok SIAM RAT, 29 Jan 91]
Health Ministry Updates AIDS Statistics /Bangkok NAEO NA, 15 Feb 91] ..
Bangkok AIDS Profile Updated /Bangkok SIAM RAT, 28 Feb 91] ....
Activists Cite AIDS Worries as U.S. Navy Lays Over

[Ann Danaiya Usher; Bangkok THE NATION, 24 Mar 91] ....
One in Eight Prostitutes Carries AIDS Virus [Bangkok BANGKOK POST, 28 Mar 91]
Northern Province Reports 3,429 Test HIV Positive /Bangkok BANGKOK POST, 9 Apr 91] ..
Chiang Rai Province Faces AIDS Problem [Beijing XINHUA, 10 Apr 91]
AIDS Spreading in Prisons {Bangkok BANGKOK POST, 12 Apr 91]
Government Adopts New Tactics in AIDS War /Bangkok BANGKOK POST, 20 Apr 91]
AIDS ‘Increasingly Serious’ in Chiang Mai Area [Bangkok THE NATION, 27 Apr 91) ..

VIETNAM

AIDS Prevention Measures Carried Out [Hanoi International Service, 29 Mar 91]
Meeting in Support of AIDS Plan Held in Hanoi [Hanoi VNA, 30 Mar 91] .....

EAST EUROPE
BULGARIA
New Medicine Claims To Be Cure For AIDS [Sofia BTA, 4 Apr 91]

POLAND

Number of AIDS Cases Increases {Warsaw PAP, 25 Apr 91]

ROMANIA
Official Discusses AIDS Situation ;
[Petre Mihai Bacanu; Bucharest ROMANIA LIBERA, 28 Feb 91] ....
Over 1,000 Registered AIDS Cases in Romania [Bucharest ROMPRES, 20 Mar 91]

YUGOSLAVIA

Assembly Briefed on AIDS Cases [Belgrade BORBA, 20-21 Apr 91]
LATIN AMERICA
ARGENTINA
AIDS Cases Expected To Rise /Buenos Aires NOTICIAS ARGENTINAS, 20 Apr 91]

BRAZIL
AIDS Spreading Among Rio Drug Addicts [Helio Hara; Rio de Janeiro O GLOBO, 17 Mar 91... 22
CHILE

Significant Increase in AIDS Cases Projected
[Juan Bernal; Santiago EL MERCURIO, 25 Feb 91]



JPRS-TEP-91-010
10 May 1991

Herbal Medicine for AIDS Treatment Produced

91WE0087A Beijing RENMIN RIBAO in Chinese
6 Oct 90 p 4

[Article by Ai Xiao [5337 4562], RENMIN RIBAO
reporter: “Chinese Medicine ‘Hong Bao’ Exhibits
Amazing Therapeutic Effect, Restores Immune Func-
tion”]

[Text] Professor Zhang Beisong [1728 0554 1529] and
co-workers at the Chinese Military Medical Sciences
Academy have developed a very effective immune func-
tion strengthening drug, “Hong Bao” [4767 1405], which
has been derived entirely from traditional Chinese med-
icines. Results of a clinical trial of this drug, conducted
by Dr. Shan Ka La [phonetic] of the AIDS Control
Center in California, on 18 cases over nine months are
encouraging. The international medical community is
excited about the prospects for therapies that combine
the best of traditional Chinese medicines and modern
Western medical technology to conquer AIDS.

In China, “Hong Bao” has been used to restore body
immune function for old people; it also has a remarkable
effect in improving disorders associated with “kidney
deficiency,” such as headache, fatigue, chest tightness,
poor appetite and insomnia. For cancer patients, in
addition to alleviating symptoms, this drug can also raise
their immune function index. Treatment with “Hong
Bao” also lowers the virus level in hepatitis B patients as
indicated by diagnostic assay.

The collaboration between Zhang Beisong and Shan Ka
La began in March last year and “Hong Bao” was sent to
the AIDS Control Center in California for clinical trial in
San Francisco. Approximately 70 percent of AIDS
patients receiving therapy with “Hong Bao” alone have
experienced significant increases in immune function
index in one month; in one unique case, the index was
raised more than 10 times in four months. Another 20
percent of the patients in the study also responded well
to the treatment; their conditions were generally stabi-
lized and the once-unrelenting progress of the disease
appeared to be checked. Further tests have shown that
“Hong Bao” is no less effective in raising T4 lymphocyte
vitality in patients than the most prominent drug in
AIDS treatment, AZT. In addition, “Hong Bao” is also a
potent agent in elevating the level of p24 antibody, a
clinical diagnosis index for AIDS specificity.

The clinical trial data was presented, in part, at the Fifth
International Conference on AIDS in June 1989 (Mon-
treal), American Conference on AIDS in October 1989
(San Francisco), and the Sixth International Conference
on AIDS in June 1990 (San Francisco), respectively and
has generated deep interest and enthusiasm in the med-
ical community.

CHINA 9

Series of Herbal Medicine for AIDS Treatment
Introduced

91WE0087C Taiyuan SHANXI RIBAO in Chinese
12 Oct 90 p 3

[Article: “Series of Herbal Medicine for AIDS Treatment
Introduced by Medical Specialists,” Source: Xinhua
News Agency]

[Text] Capitalizing on their researches on the application
in AIDS treatment conducted abroad, a group of Chi-
nese medical specialists have recently developed a line of
remedies for AIDS treatment. The remedies, named
“Tai Shi” [0100 1102], have been introduced into many
countries and regions where there is an AIDS epidemic.

The “Tai Shi” remedies are color-coded in white, yellow,
red, and green for use with different phases of the disease
and come in the form of tablets, pills, capsules, powders,
and oral tonics. All told, there are 28 various types and
forms of “Tai Shi” remedies. The white type treats
opportunistic infections; the yellow alleviates and elim-
inates symptoms; the red strengthens body resistance to
consolidate the constitution and restore immune func-
tion; and the green prevents infection.

More AIDS Cases Involving Chinese Citizens

91WE0087B Beijing RENMIN RIBAO in Chinese
19 Oct 90 p3

[Article by Feng Junjun [7458 6511 6511], RENMIN
RIBAO reporter: “Two AIDS Cases Involving Chinese
Citizens Reported, Every Person Is Advised To Exercise
Abstinence and Self-Control To Protect Himself From
Infection”)

[Text] Beijing, 18 Oct—AIDS ADVISORY: Dai
Zhicheng [2071 1807 3397], director of the Department
of Disease Control, the Ministry of Public Health, today
confirmed the report of the first discovery of two AIDS
cases in residents of mainland China. One of the patients
was a farmer in the province of Yunnan; the second, a
resident in Beijing. Both patients are now dead.

Dai Zhicheng said, in addition, 250 more cases tested
positive for HIV antibodies have been reported from
January to September of this year. This pushes the total
count of people with HIV infection to 446. A breakdown
showed that 68 cases are aliens and 378, Chinese citizens
residing on the mainland, of which 368 are in Yunnan.
These statistics came as a result of monitoring a popu-
lation of 300,000 of high-risk groups in China by means
of AIDS serological test. Of the five diagnosed AIDS
cases, three patients came from abroad and two were
Chinese residents.

According to Dai Zhicheng, a preliminary investigation
had shown that AIDS virus was first carried into China
in the early eighties. Its spread was, at one time, very
severe and some wide, localized epidemics had been
discovered. Epidemiologically, AIDS is transmitted
through either blood or sexual intercourse. One of the



JPRS-TEP-91-010
10 May 1991

pestilence of the 20th century’, The pharmocological
principles of using traditional Chinese medicine in AIDS
treatment are: (1) Prevent HIV attack—For example, in
Africa the onset rate of some HIV carriers who took
Chinese herbal medicine is only 1 percent after one year
of preventive treatment in contrast to the 8 percent onset
rate of those who did not take the medicine. (2) Improve
patient’s condition—Long-term herbal medicine intake
can improve patient’s appetite, reduce fever, regain
weight, stop diarrhea, reduce sizes of tumor and lymph-
node, recapture patient’s hemogram and strength. (3)
Attack and kill HIV virus—Research results revealed by
the University of Florida in U.S. shows that the extract
from the cones of five-needled pine is very effective in
inhibiting HIV viral infection. In addition to pine cone,
others such as trichosanthes root, Bulbus allii (garlic)
extract, burdock fruit, purple cistanche, green chiretta,
climbing ragwort, ricin, and ternate buttercup root also
have certain degrees of anti-AIDS virus activity. (4)
Strengthen body resistance to eliminate pathogenic fac-
tors—The idea of differentiating symptoms and signs of
the traditional Chinese medicine may be the guidance
for AIDS treatment. The idea emphasizes on nourishing
‘yin’ to promote body fluid production in the patient,
and eliminating pathogenic dampness in order to
detoxify poisonous materials in the body. Many Chinese

CHINA 1

herbal medicines have the capability of fulfilling the
above purpose—to alleviate symptoms and kill patho-
gens.

Symposium on Hepatitis, AIDS Held in Beijing
OW 1604062891 Beijing XINHUA in English
0608 GMT 16 Apr 91

[Text] Beijing, April 16 (XINHUA)—An international
symposium on the hepatitis and AIDS viruses opened in
Beijing Monday.

A total of 198 chinese and foreign experts are attending
the meeting.

During the four-day meeting, Chinese and foreign
experts will present 140 papers and exchange experience
in using Chinese traditional medicine and western med-
icine to prevent and cure hepatitis and AIDS.

Hepatitis is presently of greatest concern in China. The
incidence of the infectious disease is 120 per 100,000
persons.

On the other hand, some 493 citizens in China are
reported to be infected with the AIDS virus.



SJPRS-TEP-91-010
10 May 1991 2 AIDS

SOUTH AFRICA

Figures Show High AIDS Increase in Natal-Kwazulu Region
[Umtata Capital Radio, 20 Mar 91]

SWAZILAND

Report Details AIDS Figures for December 1990

[Albert Masango; Mbabane THE SWAZI-OBSERVER, 4 Apr 91] 6
Health Official Reports 3.6 Percent Rise in HIV Infection
[Vusi Sibisi; Mbabane WEEKEND OBSERVER, 13 Apr 91] 6
TANZANIA
AIDS Figures for Western Region Supplied [Dar es Salaam Domestic Service, 11 Apr 91] ..... 7

UGANDA

Joint Research Into Local AIDS Virus Planned
[Ndyakira Amooti; Kampala THE NEW VISION, 8 Mar 91] ......

ZAMBIA

Kaunda Warns Zambians ‘Against Loose Sexual Behavior, AIDS
[Lusaka Domestic Service, 23 Mar 91]

ZIMBABWE

Aphrodisiacs Said Instrumental in Spread of AIDS
[Robin Drew; Johannesburg SUNDAY STAR, 31 Mar 91] ....

CHINA

Herbal Medicine for AIDS Treatment'Produced [Ai Xiao; Beijing RENMIN RIBAO, 6 Oct 90] ..
Series of Herbal Medicine for AIDS Treatment Introduced (Taiyuan SHANXI RIBAO, 12 Oct 90]
More AIDS Cases Involving Chinese Citizens [Feng Junjun; Beijing RENMIN RIBAO, 19 Oct 90]
Few Addicts Know How to Avoid AIDS

[Denise Wong; Hong Kong HONG KONG STANDARD, 3 Dec 90]
Chinese Medicine for AIDS Treatment :

[Yang Mingliang; Beijing RENMIN RIBAO OVERSEAS EDITION, 7 Mar 91]
Symposium on Hepatitis, AIDS Held in Beijing ~/Beijing XINHUA, 16 Apr 91] ...

EAST ASIA
BURMA

Health Department Sponsored AIDS Training Course

[Rangoon THE WORKING PEOPLE'S DAILY, 26 Feb 91] 12
Authorities Lists Prevention of AIDS as National Task /Beijing XINHUA, 13 Apr 91] 12
HONG KONG
District Board Member Suggests Ban on AIDS Mothers
[SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST, 27 Jan 91] ... 12
Another Confirmed AIDS Case (Beijing XINHUA, 27 Mar 91] 12
MALAYSIA
Minister Says 948 People Detected as HIV Carriers
[Kuala Lumpur NEW STRAITS TIMES, 22 Mar 91] 13



IJPRS-TEP-91-010

32 WEST EUROPE 10 May 1991
Distribution of Cases by Age and Sex Distribution of Cases and Deaths
1 Jan 1983-31 Dec 1990 by Opportunist Disease Category
~ (Continued) 1 Jan 1983-31 Dec 1990
‘Age Group Male Female | Unknown | — Total Disease Category Cases Deaths
35-39 years 99 10 0 109 Opportunist infection 450 21
40-44 years B 6 0 79 Kaposi sarcoma 56 29
45-49 years 50 3 0 53 Opportunist infection + Kaposi 56 29
50-54 years 30 7! 0 37 sarcoma
55-59 years 18 0 0 18 Lymphoma 1s 10
GO.64 years 1 2 7 18 Encephalopathy 7 5
Se yeen 3 7 n D Emaciation syndrome 4 2
Unknown 3 7 0 9 Lymphoid interstitial pneumonia 1 0
Total 502 7 0 573 Others ° o
Total 573 285
Pathology/Risk Groups Distribution
1 Jan 1983-31 Dec 1990

Risk Behavior Groups Pathology

or O1+KS Lymph Enceph EmacS. LP Total
Homosexuals or bisexuals 177 41 33 9 2 1 0 263
Drug addicts 64 1 0 0 1 0 0 66
Hemophiliacs 23 1 0 0 0 0 0 24
Homosexual drug addicts 4 1 0 1 1 0 0 7
Heterosexuals 135 9 5 5 1 1 0 156
Transfused 23 1 0 0 2 1 0 27
Mother/child 3 0 0 0 0 1 1 5
Unknown, 21 2 2 0 0 0 0 25
Total 450 56 40 15 7 4 1 573

OI = Opportunist infection; KS = Kaposi sarcoma; OI + KS = Opportunist infection + Kaposi sarcoma; Lymph = Lymphoma; Enceph = Encephal-
opathy; Emac. S. = Emaciation syndrome; LIP = Lymphoid interstitital pneumonia



20 EAST EUROPE

confusion between nongovernmental and private
actions, which are treated with frank indifference...

Dr. Patrascu: While in our country such actions run into
serious professional, administrative, and financial diffi-
culties, in all the civilized countries a good percentage of
the medical and social actions are carried out by non-
governmental institutions that enjoy every consider-
ation. I had opportunities to become familiar with such
situations in England, France, Germany, Switzerland,
and the United States. Many of those institutions are not
partly supported by the government at a national and
international level, so that in those countries one does
not find situations like the one in our country, where in
the matter of nongovernmental actions official state
Persons are accepted in relations with foreign organiza-
tions [as published]. For that reason we encountered
difficulties in organizing cooperation with similar for-
eign institutions.

Bacanu: Who do you think was interested in not
revealing the AIDS situation in our country?

Dr. Patrascu: I think this is the time to recall the efforts
made under the Ceausescu dictatorship by several per-
sons at the Health Ministry, by some specialists involved
in the national AIDS program coordinated by the Secu-
ritate in order to disinform the public and the interna-
tional bodies and to curtail the teams of experts who had
the potential to work in that professional area. The
National AIDS Commission was as good as nonexistent;
it was reorganized according to interests or “needs,” but
the medical personnel knew almost nothing about the
real AIDS situation in Romania. The 13 September 1989
meeting of the National AIDS Commission, which I also
attended, will remain as a negative example; the com-
mission practically decided not to treat the children in
our country, not to intervene at the “chancellery” to
make the situation public, and refused to use the term
AIDS, whereas the disease was to be disguised as “‘con-
tagious hepatitis.” That meeting was typical of the
manner in which we, the specialists, did our job.

Bacanu: When did the world first become aware of the
situation in our country?

Dr. Patrascu: A relatively small group of experts
assumed the risk of informing the WHO, of presenting
and demonstrating the actual situation prevailing in
Romania, while the Ministry of Health totally opposed
it, even after 22 December 1989. That program, whose
purpose was to inform the WHO and international
public opinion, began already on 1 December 1989 with
unsuccessful attempts to send reports by telex. I think
that the fact that the first telex went through on 22
December 1989 at 0800 was solely due to the events that
were occurring in the Palace Square and to the fact that
the Securitate lost control of the telex traffic.

Bacanu: What did the Romanian medical institutions
do?

SJPRS-TEP-91-010
10 May 1991

Dr. Patrascu: We received no material or moral support
from either the Health Ministry or the Academy of
Medical Sciences. No foreign currency funds were allo-
cated for such research in 1990 either, so we organized
cooperation actions with French, English, and U.S. spe-
cialists. Had we not received assistance from abroad and
chad we not continued the activities organized already in
1988, no progress would have been made in this respect
and we would not have learned the truth. Along this line
I want to take this opportunity to express thanks to the
people of Medicine du Monde [MDM] and especially to
its chairman Mr. Jacques Lebars, as well as to Mr. Jan
Gabriel Barben, the coordinator of the MDM program
for Romania. During 1989 cadres were trained with the
cooperation of our specialists and are now working in
this area; a program began to test children in orphanages,
etc, We are forced to regretfully note that not too much
has changed in the “working style and methods” of
Health Ministry officials. The figures currently in circu-
lation (even in the press) have not been updated since
August 1990; we no longer know what the real situation
in the country is, and the medical personnel is com-
pletely misinformed. Ever more frequently we hear
about initiatives taken by foreign charity organizations
and international organizations, but we hear very little
or nothing about actions by the Health Ministry. Why
are innocent children allowed to continue to be infected
without anything being done about it? Just like in the
Past, specialists are not invited to help and there is no
cooperation in this area. In 1990 I attended one of the
few meetings held by the AIDS Commission and found
out that “the right hand did not know what the left was
doing,” which was the method used not so long ago
under the Ceausescu dictatorship. Concretely, we don’t
have a program to unite and coordinate the efforts of all
those who can contribute, in one form or another, to
preventing and fighting AIDS in Romania.

Bacanu: Why are such activities not organized and
assisted under direct WHO oversight as is the case in
other countries?

Dr. Patrascu: Up to now there has not been one meeting
between the Ministry of Health and the nongovern-
mental institutions active in Romania. Up to now the
National AIDS Commission has not organized any
action in cooperation with the nongovernmental institu-
tions active in this area.

And now a piece of good news. Two telephone lines have
been installed at the AIDS Association offices (135 Calea
Victoriei)—50 40 82 and 59 77 91—at which people can
anonymously obtain information about AIDS.

Over 1,000 Registered AIDS Cases in Romania

AU2003142691 Bucharest ROMPRES in English
1253 GMT 20 Mar 91

[Text] Bucharest, ROMPRES—Romania has at the
moment 1,055 declared AIDS cases and another 2,000-
4,000 seropositive persons. Out of the 1,055 cases 983
are children under the age of 4.



Epidemiology
AIDS

JPRS-TEP-91-010 CONTENTS 10 May 1991

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

SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
REGIONAL AFFAIRS
Abidjan Conference Views Spread of AIDS [Paris AFP, 28 Mar 91]
ANGOLA
Health Sources Report 211 AIDS Cases up to Dec 1990 /Luanda ANGOP, 16 Apr 91] .....
BOTSWANA

Health Spokesman Comments on AIDS, Infant Mortality Rate
[Gaborone Domestic Service, 19 Apr 91]

BURUNDI

Over 3,500 AIDS Patients Recorded, 812 Deaths /Paris AFP, 27 Mar 91] ...
CAMEROON

WHO Reports 243 AIDS Cases; True Figure Deemed Higher
[Waffo Mongo; Yaounde CAMEROON TRIBUNE, 23 Jan 91]

CONGO
Group Reports AIDS Figures to Conference [Dakar PANA, 23 Mar 91] ...
GHANA

Committee Reviews Performance of AIDS Control Program
[Accra Domestic Service, 27 Mar 91] ....

KENYA

Health Ministry To Study Anti-AIDS Drug /Otula Owuor; Nairobi DAILY NATION, 9 Feb 91] ... 3
STD Program To Complement AIDS Control

[Constantine Owuor; Nairobi SUNDAY NATION, 10 Feb 91] ...... 3
AIDS Victims’ Care To Shift From Hospitals to Homes [Nairobi Domestic Service, 9 Apr 91] 4
MOZAMBIQUE
Red Cross Conducts AIDS Program in Nampula [Maputo NOTICIAS, 26 Feb 91] 4
Official Reports 189 Confirmed AIDS Cases [Maputo Domestic Service, 1 Apr 91] 5
Nine Cases of AIDS Detected in Maputo Province {Maputo Domestic Service, 25 Apr 91] 5
NIGERIA
Predicting 83,000 AIDS Deaths by 1995 [Paris AFP, 25 Mar 91] .... 5
Health Ministry Pledges To Check Spread of AIDS /Lagos Domestic Service, 24 Apr 91] 5



28 SOVIET UNION

Delay Noted in Development of AIDS Epidemic

LD2203061991 Moscow TASS International Service
in Russian 1827 GMT 21 Mar 91

[Article by TASS correspondent Eleonora Sutotskaya]

[Excerpts] Moscow, 21 March (TASS)—“There are now
594 people in the USSR infected with the AIDS virus
and 54 sufferers from this grave disease, 33 of whom
have died. This was stated today at a session of the
USSR Academy of Medical Sciences by its president,
Valentin Pokrovskiy, who heads Soviet research in this
field. Commenting on the figures, he said they are three
times lower than predicted. ”We seem to have succeeded
in delaying the development of the epidemic somewhat,
but there is no cause for complacency. This highly
dangerous infection has been introduced into the
country and is affecting more and more victims‘. [pas-
sage omitted]

Pokrovskiy continued: “Every case of infection is being
investigated, and this enables the source and the modes
of transmission to be discovered. More than 1,000
diagnostic laboratories and 21 republican and regional
centers are engaged in this work. There are 61 institutes
studying the scientific problems of AIDS. Diagnostic
tests and medicines are being developed and the virus
and the ways in which it is transmitted are being studied.
One of these—from infected infant to mother—has been
described for the first time by Soviet scientists.”

JPRS-TEP-91-010
10 May 1991

Anti-AIDS Program Expected Soon

LD2504130591 Moscow TAS in English 1029 GMT
25 Apr 91

[Text] Moscow April 25 TASS—An anti-AIDS state
programme is expected to be adopted soon by the USSR
Cabinet of Ministers, the “SOVETSKAYA ROSSIYA”
daily reports today.

There are 619 HIV-positive and less than 60 full-blown
AIDS patients in the Soviet Union today, but their
number is expected to grow because of lack of medical
equipment and preparations and due to “extensive tour-
ism”. Experts say the Soviet Union will have 1,5 million
HIV-positive people by the year 2000.

Allocations for the anti-AIDS fight will have to be
doubled in the near future if the spread of the virus is not
stopped. All republican health ministers, except the
Georgian one, took part in the discussion of the anti-
AIDS programme in the Soviet health ministry. The
programme is to be financed from the union budget,
which is not getting much from the republics.

Until recently it has been generally thought in the Soviet
Union that there is no AIDS threat for people outside the
“risk group”, the daily writes. But there are 21 children
among those killed by the disease in the USSR, and there
are other facts proving that not only drug addicts,
homosexuals and prostitutes face the threat.

Today the Soviet Union has a system of early preventive
measures. Thirty-three million analyses have been car-
ried out, 90 million people underwent AIDS blood tests.
With the opening of 110 anti-AIDS centres a massive
attack on the virus begins. A new method of electrodial-
ysis, designed by Soviet specialists, will provide quick
and safe sterilisation of medical equipment, the daily
stresses.



JPRS-TEP-91-010
10 May 1991

without effective measures, the extrapolation of this
situation will produce chaotic figures by the year 2000.
The short term projections (six to 10 years) are irre-
futible and cannot be denied, based on current analyses,
and we must prepare ourselves for this. For the end of
1990, the projections were for 470 patients. The health
authorities confirmed this figure in December 1990. For
the medium- and long-term periods, the figures will
depend on changing the sexual behavior of the Chilean
people. To date, statistics do not reflect that such a
change has taken place in the developed countries. Nor
has the exponential growth rate of AIDS diminished in
these countries. A change in behavior did occur among
homosexuals, but only when the majority of the group
had been infected. At some point in Chile, the figures
will begin to decline, due to the high number of patients,
groups which become monogamous, infected persons
who become aware of the problem, etc. If we assume,
rather optimistically, a change in behavior that becomes
evident by 1995, and from that year on the number of
patients decreases exponentially, we still reach the year
2000 with almost 300,000 AIDS patients. The long-term
projections may be debatable, but in the short-term these
projections are inescapable. By 1994, when people who
are now infected become ill, there will be about 9,266
patients. This is a rate of 70 cases per 100,000 inhabit-
ants, a figure simliar to the current rate in the United
States, This will mean a cost of $100 million for Chile.
The cost of stopping the epidemic is close to $50 million,
and Chile has the resources to do this. This exponential
growth has outstripped all the educational campaigns in
the world, and that is why it is urgent to take compre-
hensive steps to halt the epidemic faster than its rate of
propagation.

The invisibility of the first epidemic, the exponential
growth rate, the slowness of educational measures, the
slowness of any effective remedy, the failure to stop the
epidemic in countries that have had the problem far
longer than we have in Chile, and Cuba’s experience,
which has erradicated AIDS from the island, all lead us
to the conclusion that the only way to stop the epidemic
is for the great majority of the people with AIDS to learn
that they are carriers, to take care of themselves, and to
avoid infecting the general population. To do this, we
must make the first epidemic visible, and therefore
perform AIDS tests (blood tests) of the sexually active
population, not in order to isolate or discriminate
against carriers, but rather to give them medical and
spiritual support, to delay the onset of the disease, and to
have the group identified prior to the development of
medications, After a month, they could freely and anon-
ymously rejoin society, along with an intensive and
repeated information and educational campaign and
appropriate laws to protect society and the people
infected. Trying to change sexual behavior in the short-
term in the entire Chilean population is a utopia; it is
easier and more feasible to educate a highly motivated
group, like healthy carriers. The final solution for this
problem is political, and the state must play its part as
soon as possible. [passage omitted]

LATIN AMERICA 2B

EL SALVADOR

Health Ministry Reports on Growing Number of
AIDS Cases

PA1304155091 San Salvador Canal Doce Television
in Spanish 0300 GMT 4 Apr 91

[Passages within quotation marks are recorded]

[Text] Health authorities have discovered 31 new cases
of AIDS during the last 12 months, thus bringing the
number of infected people in our country to 357. Doctor
Romulo Vides, member of the Health Ministry’s Epide-
miology Department, said that El Salvador now has one
of the highest rates of AIDS cases in Latin America. Dr.
Vides: “Brazil is in the lead in Latin America, followed
by Mexico. Honduras has the largest number of cases of
AIDS in Central America, but we cannot fail to admit
that it is a serious public health problem in El Salvador.
It is really a challenge to the public health system, and we
must face the challenge.”

El Salvador is slowly becoming a country with one of the
highest number of AIDS cases in Latin America. A total
of 357 AIDS cases have been detected so far, and 63 of
them have already died. The Health Ministry is truly
concerned about this problem.

Dr. Vides: “The WHO has calculated that between 50
and 100 persons carry the virus for every case that is
diagnosed.”

This means that 3,570 Salvadorans could already be sick
with AIDS, and this number will continue to increase
unless the campaign currently being waged against the
disease proves successful. The campaign encourages the
use of condoms, among other things. The first cases in El
Salvador were detected among citizens who had returned
from the United States, but the myth no longer exists.

Dr. Vides: “We began to detect our own cases shortly
afterwards. We have information about 171 persons who
did not travel abroad and have been diagnosed as
carriers of the AIDS virus. Due to the conflict, a large
number of persons move from one part of the country to
another, aside from those who travel abroad, and the
AIDS virus is quickly circulating throughout the coun-
try.”

Dr. Vides also said that the AIDS virus has spread
throughout the country’s urban zones, particularly in the
eastern and western zones, where the authorities have
detected AIDS carriers—most of them men—whose ages
range between 15 and 34 years.

GUATEMALA

Increase in AIDS Cases Termed ‘Alarming’
PA2504213391 Guatemala City SIGLO VEINTIUNO
in Spanish 15 Apr 91 p 3

[Excerpt] As of February 1991, Guatemala has experi-
enced an alarming increase in the rate of AIDS infection



JPRS-TEP-91-010
10 May 1991

“We hope more doctors will join this struggle to combat
this pandemic,” he said. “The ministry’s attitude is to be
open about this disease and the information, education
and communication component of the AIDS programme
needs further strengthening.”

World Health Organization (WHO) experts from the
global programme on AIDS which is based in Geneva, he
said, were in the country to review the operation of the
AIDS programme in its medium term plan.

Dr. Mbambo said they were looking forward to the
report by the WHO experts after which they hoped to
initiate a lot of activities before the end of the year, ina
concerted bid to contain the AIDS menace.

He said to date, the ministry had trained about 95 AIDS
counsellors. These counsellors, he said, were available to
the public.

TANZANIA

AIDS Figures for Western Region Supplied

EA1104194591 Dar es Salaam Domestic Service
in Swahili 1700 GMT 11 Apr 91

[Text] Kigoma—Ninety-two villages in Kigoma region
have AIDS patients, and 45 of these patients have
already died of the diséase, while 145 are still suffering—
all this in the last nine months. The coordinator in
charge of AIDS control in Kigoma region, Ndugu
Emanuel (Mtisi), said that the Kigoma urban area now
leads with the largest number of AIDS deaths and
patients. He disclosed that the reasons for this were the
population increase and the unchanging habits of some
of the area’s people involving prostitution, which is the
main factor spreading AIDS.

UGANDA

Joint Research Into Local AIDS Virus Planned

91WE0289 Kampala THE NEW VISION in English
8 Mar 91 pp 8, 9

[Article by Ndyakira Amooti]

[Excerpt] Uganda Virus Research Institute UVRI, and
the British Medical Research Council MRC, are to begin
a study on the nature of AIDS virus present in Uganda.
The isolation of the types of human immunodeficiency
virus HIV would help in the future trials of possible
AIDS vaccine or drugs.

A memorandum of understanding to this effect has been
signed between the government of Uganda and MRC.
The Director of Medical Services (DMS) Dr. Eriab
Muzira signed for the government and the Director of
AIDS Directed Programme ADP of MRC, Dr. Geoffrey
Schild signed for MRC.

SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA 7

Dr. Schild, who headed a four-man team of immunolo-
gists, virologists and epidemiologists from MRC, said at
the end of this visit to Uganda recently, that research will
be carried out by the UVRI and MRC directed at
detailed analysis of the structure of HIV, the virus that
causes AIDS, and the degree to which it varies in
Uganda.

Dr. Schild who is also chairman of Biological Committee
on WHO's Global Programme on AIDS (GPA) said the
AIDS virus varies in several ways.

He stated that the virus varies as it progresses in an
individual, between individuals and on geographical
basis.

“Understanding such variations of the AIDS virus is
essential in helping to design and develop possible vac-
cine or drugs for AIDS,” said Dr. Schild. He, however,
pointed out that there is candidate vaccine at present.

ZAMBIA

Kaunda Warns Zambians Against Loose Sexual
Behavior, AIDS

MB2303201691 Lusaka Domestic Service in English
1800 GMT 23 Mar 91

[Text] President Kaunda today warned the nation
against loose sexual behavior to avoid the redoubling of
the current AIDS figures. Speaking when he officiated at
a Women’s Day celebrations at the Freedom Statue,
Comrade Kaunda said the current figures of AIDS in the
country were alarming and called on the people to
change their social behavior and save the nation from
perishing by the year 2000. He commended the UNIP
[United National Independence Party] Women’s League
for the well organized women day, saying it was more
successful than last year’s.

ZIMBABWE

Aphrodisiacs Said Instrumental in Spread of
AIDS

MB3103154291 Johannesburg SUNDAY STAR
in English 31 Mar 91 p 6

[Article by Robin Drew, AFRICA NEWS SERVICE:
“Sex Drugs Blamed for Spread of AIDS”]

[Text] So-called wonder drugs concocted from insects
and blister beetles which were thought to heighten sexual
desire, were sold in beerhalls and pubs and contributed
to the spread of AIDS in Zimbabwe.

The disease is already responsible for 1,000 officially
recognised deaths in the country.



10 CHINA

two Chinese AIDS patients is known to have had a
history of drug abuse and wanton practices; the second
patient could have been infected through a blood trans-
fusion.

Dai Zhicheng emphatically pointed out that at present,
when no effective measures to prevent and cure the HIV
infection are available, public health education programs
are essential. He urged our citizens to exercise abstinence
and self-control to protect oneself from infection.

Since the discovery of the first AIDS case in Beijing
Union Hospital in June 1985, public health services have
included the prevention and control of AIDS as one of
the key programs in our national infectious disease
control effort. As of today, the spread of AIDS is
monitored and tracked in nearly every province, munic-
ipality, and autonomous region. The Ministry of Public
Health has also funded three HIV antibody diagnostic
laboratories at the Chinese Academy of Preventive Med-
ical Sciences, Shanghai Sanitary and Anti-Epidemic Sta-
tion, and the Academy of Military Medical Sciences
respectively. In addition, the Traditional Chinese Med-
icine Administration and other public health agencies
have initiated investigation in AIDS prevention and
control with traditional Chinese medicines as well as
using laboratory animals as study models to rein in the
AIDS virus. A three-year program for the second phase
of AIDS prevention and control has been instituted with
the assistance of experts from the World Health Organi-
zation as well.

Few Addicts Know How to Avoid AIDS

91WE0219 Hong Kong HONG KONG STANDARD
in English 3 Dec 90 p 4

[Article by Denise Wong]

[Text] Most active drug abusers know that AIDS can be
contracted through sharing of needles, but few know how
to take preventive measures against the fatal disease.

That was one of the findings of the territory's first survey
on AIDS awareness among addicts.

The survey, conducted by the Society for the Aid and
Rehabilitation of Drug Abusers (SARDA), also revealed
that about 9 percent of addicts using injection were still
sharing needles with others.

About 90 percent of the 490 survey respondents, who
used SARDA’s inpatient treatment from last August to
October, took heroin by injection.

Forty-six percent said they have never shared needles,
while another 45 percent said they had stopped for at
least three months at the time of the survey.

William Tang, SARDA’s superintendent of social ser-
vices, said the incidence of needle-sharing “‘is very low.”

“But it does not mean that Hong Kong has little threat of
spreading AIDS among addicts,” he said.

JPRS-TEP-91-010
10 May 1991

“Once having contracted the fatal disease, addicts—even
a very small number—can spread it very rapidly, as they
can also pass it around through other means.”

Reasons quoted by the 39 addicts still sharing needles
included the availability of needles, the convenience,
and the enjoyment of companionship.

Of the 193 people in Hong Kong with AIDS, four
contracted the virus through intravenous drug use.

Almost all of the 490 respondents said they had heard of
the needle- sharing risk from the mass media.

But at least six who are still sharing needles admitted
they did not believe the message.

Mr. Tang said the survey revealed that only a very
limited number of addicts—less than 3 percent—know
how to avoid getting AIDS.

The methods include safe sex (by using condoms) and
sterilising of syringes.

In response, Mr. Tang said his society was planning to
incorporate sex education into its counselling pro-
grammes.

“Given that many drug addicts like to use prostitutes,
while the female addicts are usually involved in the
trade, sex education for them is vital,” he said.

Dr. Patrick Li, head of the Government AIDS Counsel-
ling and Health Education Service, said they had to rely
on social workers and volunteers to provide practical
AIDS prevention knowledge to the addicts.

He said they had the needed educational materials for
rehabilitation workers.

Both Mr. Tang and Dr. Li said that as the SARDA
survey was on addicts already seeking treatment it might
not be representative of the rest.

The Central Registry of Drug Abuse recorded 39,100
active drug abusers last year. But narcotics officials
believe there are some 20,000 unreported cases.

Mr. Tang said he hoped that SARDA’s outreach pro-
gramme could start contacting unmotivated hard-core
addicts at various black spots by the middle of next year.

Besides persuading addicts to take part in detoxification
Programmes, social workers and ex-addicts might also
help in spreading the AIDS prevention message.

Chinese Medicine for AIDS Treatment

91FE0464 Beijing RENMIN RIBAO OVERSEAS
EDITION in Chinese 7 Mar 91 p 8

[Article by Yang Mingliang [2799 2494 0081]: “Twilight
To Cure AIDS Using Chinese Herbal Medicine”]

(Summary] The Traditional Chinese herbal medicine
which brought many encouraging results in AIDS treat-
ment has been believed to be the remedy for treating ‘the