14 EAST EUROPE

ALBANIA

Deputy Minister Reports Nation Free of AIDS

AU1109155092 Tirana Radio Tirana Network
in Albanian 1330 GMT 11 Sep 92

[Text] Laboratory tests show that there are no cases of
AIDS [Acquired Immunity Deficiency Syndrome] infec-
tion in our country, Deputy Health Minister Besim Nuri
stated at a recent news conference. At this news confer-
ence the media stressed that they should sensitize the
public to this fatal epidemic. In this connection, they
announced that from 29 September to 1 October,
another national conference on AIDS will be held in
irana.

BULGARIA

Ministry of Health Regulation on AIDS

92BA0964Z Sofia DURZHAVEN VESTNIK
in Bulgarian 24 Apr 92 pp 13-15

[Text of Ministry of Health Regulation No. 4, “Condi-
tions and Procedure for Investigating Infection With the
Virus of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome,”
dated 2 April 1992 and signed by Minister N. Vasilev]

[Excerpts] Article 1. The conditions and procedure for
carrying out investigations of infection with the virus of
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (HIV) are set
out in this regulation.

Article 2. (1) The following are subject to mandatory
examination for infection with HIV:

1. Every unit of donated blood;

2. Tissue and organ donors;

3. Sperm donors;

4. Human milk donors;

5. Children born of mothers infected with HIV;

6. Foreign citizens and persons without citizenship
coming for instruction or work for more than one month,
as well as immigrants, irrespective of the period of their
stays.

(2) Blood of the persons specified in Paragraph 1 is taken
for testing:

1. Before the donation, in accordance with Points 2
and 4;

2. On the day of the donation and 45 days after that, in
accordance with Point 3;

3. Up to one month after birth, upon completion of six
months, and at ages one, two, and three, in accordance
with Point 5;

SJPRS-TEP-92-018
6 November 1992

4. During the first 72 hours after their arrival, in
accordance with Point 6.

Article 3, (1) All citizens may be examined at their
request through the Consultative Offices for Sexually
Transmitted Diseases (KKBPPP), at the dermatology
and venereology dispensaries (departments). The iden-
tity of the person investigated is kept secret by having the
person choose an individual letter-number code. The
personal data of the person in this case and the code
chosen are known only to the person and the physician
who heads the office.

(2) The consultation and testing for HIV infection may
also be carried out completely anonymously, as the
patient is represented by a code that is known only to
him.

Article 4. The health workers who tend pregnant women
are obliged to explain to them by reasonable means the
risk to offspring in the case of HIV infection of the
mother, to recommend testing to them, and, with their
permission, to send the blood taken for testing for
syphilis and HIV.

Article 5. The blood is taken and tested as follows:

1, The donated blood is tested in the centers for trans-
fusion hematology (TsTKh);

2. For persons in accordance with Article 2, Points 2 and
3, the blood is taken in the health institution in which the
donation is made, and, for Point 4, in a chosen health
institution, after which the testing is carried out in the
TsTKh or the KhEI (Hygiene Epidemiological Institute);

3. For persons in accordance with Article 2, Point 5, the
blood is taken in the health establishment where the
mother is treated, and the testing is carried out in the
Central Laboratory for AIDS (TsLS);

4. For persons in accordance with Article 2, Point 6, the
blood is taken in the treatment and prevention establish-
ment for the place of work or residence, and the testing
is carried out in the serological laboratories of the
dermatology and venereology establishment or KhEI;

5. For persons in accordance with Articles 3 and 4, the
blood is taken in the KKBPPP and is tested in the
serological laboratory at the corresponding dermatology
and venereology disease establishment or KhEI.

Article 6. The following order is maintained in taking
and testing the blood:

1. In the health establishment where the blood is taken,
the person is registered in the outpatient book for
preventative examinations, while the full names and
addresses of the people mentioned in Article 3 are
recorded opposite the outpatient number, and, for those
mentioned in Articles 3 and 4, the individual code
chosen for them. The office manager orally informs the
person concerning the date when the result is to be
received;



SPRS-TEP-92-018
6 November 1992

8,000 Infected

In Portugal in December 1991, there were officially 388
cases of homosexuals and bisexuals ill with AIDS.
Because it is estimated that 55 percent of that total is
found in the Lisbon District, it can be assumed that
about 213 of those patients were counted in the capital.

Moreover, it has been found, on the basis of a study of
the sexual behavior of Lisbon residents, that 3.1 percent
of the men over age 21 engage in sexual practices with
persons of the same sex. On the basis of the population
statistics for Lisbon, that makes a total of 20,365 indi-
viduals.

And, because WHO estimates that the number of
infected individuals is 40 times greater than the number
already ill, a simple rule of three shows us that the 8,520
(213 x 40) seropositive individuals in Lisbon add up to
42 percent of the estimated total number of homosexuals
and bisexuals in the city. [passage omitted]

Figures, Location of Cases

92WE0629A Lisbon DIARIO DE NOTICIAS
in Portuguese 8 Aug 92 p 16

[Text] In Portugal as of 30 June, there had been 550
deaths from AIDS, according to a document from the
National Health Institute’s Center for the Epidemiolog-
ical Control of Infectious Diseases. According to that
same document, 959 cases of AIDS (87 percent men and
13 percent women) have been reported in our country.
Most of the patients are between the ages of 20 and 44
(71 percent), and 2.7 percent are under age 14.

Homosexuality and bisexuality are involved in 45 per-
cent of the cases, and heterosexuality is involved in 28
percent. “Sexual activity continues to be the most impor-
tant means of infection; it was noted in 73 percent of the
cases,” says Machado Caetano in that same study.

The next most important risk factors, in descending
order, are intravenous drug addiction (16 percent) and
the transfusion of blood and blood products (9 percent).
Transmission from mother to child, which was respon-
sible for 11 cases, represents 1 percent of the total.

“The incidence of HIV-2 in Portugal (10 percent) con-
tinues to be high in comparison with the other European
countries. HIV-2 infection seems to be more frequent in
women (24 percent) than in men (8 percent), a fact that
should be a matter for reflection,” according to Machado
Caetano.

The six districts with the most cases are Lisbon (527),
Setubal (90), Porto (85), Faro (26), Leiria (20), and Braga
(18). Machado Caetano also stresses the “disturbing
levels of seropositive results among drug addicts, pris-
oners, and other groups involved in risk behavior.” He
emphasizes the need to collect nationwide data con-
cerning those groups and to conduct a few anonymous
uncorrelatable studies, particularly among pregnant
women and caregivers.

WEST EUROPE 35

Overburdened Hospitals

The same physician warns that some hospital services
are already overburdened. “The shortcomings in psycho-
logical and social support are obvious in many areas, and
it is essential to plan for and move toward the organiza-
tion of day-care hospitals and in-home care, and the
establishment of support centers.”

Machado Caetano considers it essential that there be

“government and community support” for nongovern-
mental organizations and volunteer groups. “It is neces-
sary to plan and organize models of social support for
AIDS victims and their relatives, whose needs in many
cases are already alarming.”

UNITED KINGDOM

Tuberculosis Tests Reported No Longer Safe

92WE0514A London THE DAILY TELEGRAPH
in English 18 May 92 p 4

[Article by Peter Pallot, Health Services Staff: “Tuber-
culosis Test Puts Children at Risk of AIDS”]

[Excerpts] A skin-puncture test carried out routinely ona
half-million children a year poses a possible AIDS risk,
Government health officials have decided.

The 30-year-old BCG test—given to all children around
the age of 12 to find out who needs immunisation against
tuberculosis and who may have been infected—is no
longer safe, says the Department of Health.

Directors of public health are told sterilisation by
immersing in alcohol then igniting the skin-puncture gun
between patients is not good enough. [passage omitted]

A few years ago, public health experts were considering
phasing out BCG tests because tuberculosis was so rare.

But recently the incidence of the disease has been
increasing, a development thought to be linked to
increasing numbers living rough. AIDS is one of the
factors behind a surge in incidence of TB in American
cities.

The Department of Health said last night there were no
known cases of infection being passed on by the BCG
test. [passage omitted]

More than 500,000 children are given the test annually,
which brings the cost of disposable heads on the punc-
ture gun to £350,000 a year.

At least 10 million children have received the BCG test
since it was introduced in 1953. Uptake of the test was
initially low with parents still haunted by a disaster 30
years earlier when a faulty batch of tuberculin was given
to 250 children in Lubeck, Germany, 73 of whom died.



SPRS-TEP-92-018
6 November 1992

Afterwards, the friend, who had also had a relationship
with the Haitian was located, as well as a women in her
thirties. The police were not able to say on Wednesday
whether the two women had been tested for HIV.

In addition to these, the police are aware of still other
persons with whom the man in question has had sexual
contact, but it is feared that there are even more.
Together with staff attorneys, the police considered
charging the man with attempted murder, but that has
been given up for the present. The police have still not
found the women who have been infected by him.

The judge decided last Monday to protect the offender
by withholding his name when he appeared in court.
Presumably, the police will attempt to get that ruling
overturned when he appears again on Friday.

Health Agency Launches AIDS-Awareness
paign

92WE0627C Copenhagen BERLINGSKE TIDENDE

in Danish 6 Aug 92 p7

[Artical by Hans Davidsen-Nielsen: “Physicians Must
Dispense Better AIDS Advice”]

[Text]A new campaign addresses practicing physicians
directly.

The nation’s 3,300 practicing physicians do not ade-
quately advise their patients about HIV and AIDS. The
Medical and Health Board, together with the Organiza-
tion of Practicing Physicians and the Danish Association
for General Medicine, is consequently launching a new
AIDS campaign to begin in the fall directed toward
practicing physicians.

The campaign, according to the Medical and Health
Board’s office manager, Henning Jorgensen, is in
keeping with a recently published study by the Arhus
District Hospital which analyzed 779 pregnant women’s
knowledge about HIV infection and AIDS.

The study showed that 72 percent of the pregnant
women wished to receive routine information about
AIDS in connection with pregnancy examinations. A
majority preferred information through their own doc-
tors.

The analysis also pointed to a need for development of
guidelines and instructions for healthcare personnel con-
cerning HIV and AIDS information.

“Earlier we ran informational campaigns for practicing
physicians, but we hope the new one will have greater
impact because it has been prepared in conjunction with
their own organization,” said Jorgensen.

The new campaign will contain information on the risk
of infection, the spread of the infection both in Denmark
and globally, together with a paragraph warning that
HIV testing must never be performed by itself—that it
must be followed up with advice and guidance.

WEST EUROPE 31

Jorgensen said that similar campaigns directed at hos-
pital physicians and nurses may also be considered.

Doctor Accused of Revealing HIV-Positive Status

92WE0627D Copenhagen BERLINGKSE TIDENDE
in Danish 8 Aug 92 p 5

[Article by Hans Davidsen-Nielsen: “Physician Accused
of Breach of Confidentiality”]

[Text]Denmark’s first legal action on AIDS taken by
police, against a 34-year-old HIV-infected man, masks an
even greater problem. There is a lack of crisis help, said a
support organization.

Dr. Henrik Isager, a physician at Odense Hospital, has
received complaints on a couple of occasions from
HIV-positive patients who accused him of revealing
their infected status to their partners. The partners had
been unaware of the risk of infection.

Dr. Isager, who is with the infectious diseases section,
has treated numerous HIV cases who have admitted that
they practice unsafe sex, even though they knew they
were infected. Nevertheless, he dismisses categorically
the idea that Odense Hospital leaked the information to
the partners of the HIV-infected individuals.

“We neither can nor want to breach our confidentiality.
The only thing we can do is to encourage the infected
individual to practice safe sex. But for some, sex is such
a large part of their lives, that our strong recommenda-
tions go unheeded. Because of that, everyone has the
responsibility to protect himself,” said Isager.

This information follows in the wake of the first legal
action taken by police on AIDS here in Denmark. A 34
year old HIV-positive victim from Haiti was indicted
Wednesday, pursuant to the code section on serious
assault, for having intentionally infected other individ-
uals with the deadly virus.

Henning Jensen, psychological counselor for the Positive
Group for infected gays and bi-sexual men has also run
up against unsafe sex among the infected.

Last year he prepared a study for the Medical and Health
Board on gay and bi-sexual men’s sexual behavior.
Among the 19 interviewed, the vast majority were HIV
positive. Yet even though they carried the deadly virus
in their bodies, over half of those interviewed still had
occasional unsafe sex. Henning Jensen explained:

“Many have accute emotional problems when they are
diagnosed as HIV positive. Good sense goes by the
boards and some HIV infected, in consequence, practice
occasional unsafe sex.”

According to Jensen, the mischance typically occurs
when the HIV-positive individual is sexually undernour-
ished over a longer period or else intoxicated. In certain
cases it can be to “punish” the world.



8 CHINA

Official Describes Measures To Combat ‘Surge’ in
HIV Cases

HK0909032892 Hong Kong SOUTH CHINA
MORNING POST in English 9 Sep 92 p7

[Article by Karen Cheng]

[Text] China is gearing up its efforts to control the spread
of AIDS following a surge in the number of HIV positive
cases this year, officials said yesterday.

Dr. Wang Lishong, director of the Department of Per-
sonnel at the Ministry of Public Health, who is attending
the annual meeting of the World Health Organization
(WHO) Regional Committee for the Western Pacific in
Hong Kong, said there were 890 recorded HIV cases in
China by July. The figure stood at 705 at the end of last
year.

Although China had relatively low figures compared
with other countries on the number of HIV positive and
AIDS cases, Dr. Wang admitted the conditions for the
deadly disease to spread were there since drug abuse was
on the increase.

He said 75 of those who had been diagnosed as HIV
positive were drug takers.

The annual report on AIDS and sexually transmitted
disease by the Regional Committee also revealed that the
number of HIV-infected drug abusers continued to rise
in several Asian countries, including China, where
heroin was produced or readily available.

The report said the spread of AIDS through drug taking
was also prevalent in Hong Kong, and the medical
Profession feared the situation would turn into a night-
mare if more people continued to inject heroin and other
substances with shared needles,

A survey by the Government’s working group on AIDS
prevention found that 36 percent of intravenous drug,
users interviewed this year still shared needles. Last
year’s figure was only 26 percent.

A team of more than 10 former drug addicts will be
trained to counsel drug users on the streets in a bid to
prevent the spread of the disease in Hong Kong.

In China, 185 HIV cases had been detected this year,
which had almost reached the level of 200 cases reported
in the whole of last year.

In the three-month period beginning in May, three more
AIDS patients were detected which brought the total
since 1985, when Beijing first admitted the presence of
the disease i in China, to 11.

Dr. Wang said to prevent further spread of the disease,
the Government had stepped up surveillance mainly
aimed at high risk carriers such as drug addicts, and
would launch massive education campaigns designed to
raise public awareness of the issue.

JPRS-TEP-92-018
6 November 1992

He said they were also in the process of drafting legal
measures to help curb the problem.

Legislative proposals under consideration in China
include compulsory admittance of AIDS patients into
hospitals and mandatory blood testing of prostitutes.

Dr. Wang said financial constraint was the main
problem in the war against AIDS, but they would strive
to make the best use of funds available.

He also said a seminar on the issue would be held in
Yunnan Province, which had recorded a high number of
AIDS cases.

As for the problem in the Western Pacific region, the
number of HIV positive cases contracted through het-
erosexual transmission had increased threefold over the
last two years, said Dr. Sang Tae Han, in his annual
report to the committee.

Information on AIDS Scarce in China

HK2809033492 Beijing CHINA DAILY in English
28 Sep 92 p 5

[Report by Li Xing: “AIDS Knowledge Still Sorely
Limited in China”]

[Text] Although many Chinese know about the deadli-
ness of AIDS and even its causes, recent surveys reveal

they do not have enough information on AIDS to pre-
vent the spread of the disease.

For instance, a survey of over 1,000 taxi drivers and
hotel employees in Beijing indicated a large percentage
of respondents are unaware that AIDS can be trans-
mitted through blood transfusions and intravenous
injections or that the use of condoms can help prevent
the spread of AIDS.

They also mistakenly believed they will immediately
recognize an AIDS victim or carrier.

The survey results were released at a recent regional
AIDS conference sponsored by the United Nations
Development Programme and held in Yunnan Province
in Southwest China. Sex and AIDS is a sensitive topic in
China, discussed only in private if at all.

But researchers have been trying to find out more about
the country’s sexual practices and their [as published]
knowledge, attitudes and beliefs about AIDS.

This information will be valuable in the campaign to
inform people about AIDS and to draft new regulations
on AIDS prevention, said Zhang Konglai, director of
Epidemic Research with the China Academy of Basic
Medical Sciences.

In China, the first case of AIDS was identified in 1985.
Since then and up to the end of last year, 708 people in
China, including Taiwan and Hong Kong, were diag-
nosed as HIV positive. Of the 708, 585 lived in nine



18 LATIN AMERICA

AIDS virus. Uganda and Tanzania are the most affected.
This is a very unfortunate situation, because the world-
wide epidemic is spreading across the southern region of
the African continent. Studies by prestigious specialists
indicate that by the year 2000 the number of people
infected with the AIDS virus will surpass 110 million.

Many think that despite the increased number of people
infected, none of the methods used so far have slowed
the spread of the virus in some countries. Many coun-
tries do not thoroughly test blood for transfusions, which
is a basic prevention measure. On the other hand, the
resources allocated to fight this evil are considered
insufficient. The specialists say that it must be remem-
bered how quickly the AIDS virus is spreading
throughout the world, with an incidence of 5,000 new
cases daily.

In Cuba, more than 12 million tests have been run to
detect antibodies to the AIDS virus. Cuban scientists
have searched for new diagnostic strategies with the goal
of finding substitutes for the reagents for this kind of
blood analysis, which were initially purchased abroad. In
1991, the evaluation of the first direct system by SUMA
[Ultra Micro Analytic System] was concluded for the
simultaneous detection of the AIDS virus and HILV-1,
which causes lymphoid leukemia in adults and is associ-
ated with certain neurological syndromes. A study of
14,000 people will be completed by the end of this year.
It will determine if it is necessary to include this analysis
in the blood testing system. For five years, Cuba has
tested all pregnant women for the AIDS virus.

GUATEMALA

Total of 124 AIDS Deaths

PA1209162492C Panama City ACAN in Spanish
1731 GMT 10 Sep 92

[Editorial Report] Health Minister Eusebio del Cid
reports on 10 September that 124 persons have died of
AIDS and that 300 persons have been infected since the
disease was first detected in 1984, Del Cid adds that out
of the total 51 percent are heterosexuals, 22 percent are
homosexuals and prostitutes, and the majority are male.

HONDURAS

AIDS Cases Total 2,021 Nationwide

92WE0684A San Pedro Sula TIEMPO in Spanish
25 Aug 92 p 3

[Text] Tegucigalpa—Of all of the cases of Acquired
Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) in Central
America, 60 percent are to be found in Honduras,
Enrique Zelaya, who heads the campaign to control the
disease, said yesterday. Prior to July of this year, 2,021
AIDS cases had been reported in the country. Men
accounted for 65 percent of this total, women for 35
percent, and 583 have died.

SJPRS-TEP-92-018
6 November 1992

This official said that the funds currently allocated for
the AIDS campaign are not enough. The sum of
$700,000 in foreign aid and 1.3 million lempiras from
the national sector have been received. However, 2.5
million is needed from the domestic budget, together
with $1 million in foreign cooperative funds. The
tegional directors met yesterday in the capital to analyze
the current increase in the disease, and to plan strategies
for obtaining foreign financing with a view to strength-
ening the preventive campaign.

Over 3,000 HIV Carriers

PA1209162492A Panama City ACAN in Spanish
1733 GMT 6 Sep 92

[Editorial Report] According to official statistics
released on 6 September, the AIDS epidemic continues
to grow as there are 3,146 infected persons, of which the
virus has developed in 2,064 persons. Public Health
authorities add that 65 percent of the confirmed cases
are men and the remainder include women and children.
Since 1985, when the first patient died of AIDS in
Honduras, there have been over 800 fatalities, with an
average age of 27 years. The official report concludes
that Honduras ranks fourth in Latin America in AIDS
Statistics after Brazil, Mexico, and Haiti.

JAMAICA

Netherlands Debt Foregiveness To Benefit
Children With AIDS

FL1608191892 Bridgetown CANA in English
1821 GMT 15 Aug 92

[Text] Kingston, Jamaica, Aug 15, CANA—Women and
children are to benefit from U.S. 4 million dollars in debt
relief extended to Jamaica by the Netherlands Govern-
ment.

Under the agreement, Jamaica’s central bank will pay
the money in Jamaican currency over a four-year period
to the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) for local
programmes. Children in “especially difficult circum-
stances” are among those who will benefit.

The first payment by the Bank of Jamaica, amounting to
J8.5 million dollars (one J dollar = about 4.5 U.S. cents),
was made recently, according to the official news agency
Jampress.

Jamaica is the first of three countries in the Caribbean
and Latin America to benefit from the dutch debt relief
initiative aimed at assisting children and women. The
others are Honduras and Ecuador.

The Ministry of Health will receive U.S.2.4 million
dollars of the total sum, and principal medical officer Dr.
Carmen Bown-Wright says the money will be used to
assist children with AIDS and to help mothers in dealing
with their children’s health needs.


JPRS-TEP-92-018

36 WEST EUROPE 6 November 1992

However by 1962, uptake had risen to 60 percent and, in
the 1980s, more than 75 percent of children were tested.

Only around five percent are found not to need vaccina-
tion and these children are X-rayed and given TB
therapy in many cases.

Children are vaccinated between 10-13 because at that
stage they make wider social contact.

The test is also given to immigrants, especially from the
Caribbean, and to babies if a family member is infected.
[passage omitted]



JPRS-TEP-92-018 :
6 November 1992 4 AIDS

AIDS in Northeast /New Delhi INDIAN EXPRESS, 29 Jul 92]
New Virus Detected [Calcutta THE STATESMAN, 25 Jul 92]
AIDS in Andamans [Amit Ukil; Calcutta THE TELEGRAPH, 2 Aug 92] .
HIV-2 Virus Detected [Hong Kong AFP, 20 Sep 92] ....

ISRAEL .

Health Ministry Data Shows 297 Immigrants With HIV Virus
[Jerusalem Qol Yisra’el, 26 Aug 92] .....

CENTRAL EURASIA

Medical Workers and AIDS: Attitudes Toward the Problem

[A. F. Frolov, Yu. V. Kobyshcha, et al., Kiee VRACHEBNOYE DELO, Jul 92]
AIDS Case at Correctional Facility (Vilnius LETUVOS RITAS, 14-21 Aug 92]
AIDS Rate Increases Among Adult Population (Lyubov Dunayeva; Moscow ITAR-TASS, 28 Aug 92] .... 28
Government Takes Measures To Prevent AIDS Expansion

[Kiev URYADOVYY KURYER, 28 Aug 92] . 28

Number of AIDS Infected in Donetsk Nearing [Kiev . 29
First Case of AIDS Reported in Bukovyna [Vasyl Babukh; ‘Kiev HOLOS UKRAYINY, Fi Sep 92] 29
Twenty-Five AIDS Cases in 1992 [Kiev Ukrayinske Telebachennya Television Network, 13 Sep 92] 29
Kravchuk Sets Up National Committee for Combating AIDS [Moscow INTERFAX, 19 Sep 92] .. 29

Decree Introduces Compulsory Insurance From AIDS [Kiev Radio Ukraine World Service, 24 ‘Sep 92]. 29
WEST EUROPE
AUSTRIA
AIDS Victims Expected To Number 1,000 by Next Year (Vienna DIE PRESSE, 12 Sep 92] ....... 30
DENMARK

New HIV-Reporting System Seen More Accurate

[Copenhagen BERLINGSKE TIDENDE, 4 Aug 92] .. 30
Police Charge Haitian for Spreading AIDS [Copenhagen BERLINSKE TIDENDE, 6 Aug 92] 30
Health Agency Launches AIDS-Awareness Campai

[Hans Davidsen-Nielsen; Copenhagen BERLINGSKE TIDENDE, 8 Aug 92]
Doctor Accused of Revealing HIV-Positive Status

[Hans Davidsen-Nielsen; Copenhagen BERLINGSKE TIDENDE, 8 Aug 92]
Larsen: Law Allows Doctors HIV Intervention

[Jorgen Keuchel; Copenhagen BERLINGSKE TIDENDE, 11 Aug 92]
EC Report: Number of Sex Partners Undiminished

[Hans Davidsen-Nielsen; Copenhagen BERLINGSKE TIDENDE, 11 Aug 92] ...

GERMANY

Budget Earmarks 50 Million German Marks To Fight AIDS [Berlin ADN, 2 Jul 92] ....

IRELAND

National AIDS Strategy Committee Reports
[John Whelan; Dublin IRISH INDEPENDENT, 20 Jul 92] ssvvve
Health Department Gives New AIDS Statistics /Dublin IRISH INDEPENDENT, 5 Aug 92] ..

33
33

NORWAY

Number of Heterosexual AIDS Cases Increasing
[Tone Stidahl; Oslo AFTENPOSTEN, 11 Jul 92]



IJPRS-TEP-92-018
6 November 1992

Registering Cases of HIV Infection and Also for Sub-
jecting Those Infected with HIV to Medical Examina-
tions and Preventive Observation.” These rules, elabo-
rated in conformity with Ukraine’s law ‘On the
Prevention of AIDS and Social Protection of the Popu-
lation,” establish the conditions and procedures for
conducting medical examination of Ukrainian citizens,
citizens of other states, and persons without citizenship
who live or (temporarily) reside on the territory of the
sovereign state.

In particular, those citizens of other states and persons
without citizenship who have arrived [in Ukraine] to
study or work there must be mandatorily subjected to a
medical examination for the purpose of revealing those
infected with HIV. Persons who have certificates stipu-
lated by corresponding agreements between Ukraine and
corresponding states constitute an exception. This pro-
cedure also becomes mandatory, once every six months,
for those persons who engage in prostitution and for drug
addicts who inject themselves with narcotic substances
(provided that they are specified as such in accordance
with the current law).

Number of AIDS Infected in Donetsk Nearing 40

AUI1009105192 Kiev Radio Ukraine World Service
in Ukrainian 1000 GMT 10 Sep 92

[Text] The Donetsk Center for Preventing and Com-
bating AIDS has registered another two Donetsk resi-
dents infected with this horrible virus. The total number
of infected people in the oblast is approaching 40. The
center’s senior physician, Mykola (?Razdanov), believes
that the problem does not only lie in the increase in the
number of those infected. The physicians are particularly
worried about the fact that AIDS has acquired a local
address. This is confirmed by the fact that the recently
registered patients had had no contacts with foreigners.
They contracted the disease from their fellow citizens.

The Donetsk medics have, so far, been unable to reveal
(?all the carriers).

First Case of AIDS Reported in Bukovyna

AU1709102892 Kiev HOLOS UKRAYINY in Ukrainian
11 Sep 92 p 4

[Report by Vasyl Babukh from Chernivtsi: “This Is the
Last Thing We Needed”]

CENTRAL EURASIA 29

[Text] The first case of AIDS has been recorded in
Bukovyna. It is not much consolation that the carrier of
this dangerous virus was a visiting drug addict from the
Transcaucasus. As officials of the oblast Internal Affairs
Administration fear, he had contacts with quite a
number of people in the region. The search for them is
continuing. If the Transcaucasian’s partners are not
successfully identified, this could lead to an outbreak of
AIDS in the oblast.

Twenty-Five AIDS Cases in 1992

LD1309223192 Kiev Ukrayinske Telebachennya
Television Network in Ukrainian 1600 GMT 13 Sep 92

[Text] The first eight months of this year, 25 cases of the
AIDS virus have been discovered, which is nearly twice
the number of last year. The “Novyny” TV and Radio
agency was informed of this at the Ukrainian Center for
the Prevention of and Campaign Against AIDS.

Kravchuk Sets Up National Committee for
Combating AIDS

0W1909175192 Moscow INTERFAX in English
1517 GMT 19 Sep 92

[Following item transmitted via KYODO]

[Text] On Friday, the Ukrainian PRESIDENT [capital-
ization as received] signed the decree on the establish-
ment of the president’s national committee for com-
bating AIDS. The committee has received 4.2 million
roubles from the national budget.

Decree Introduces Compulsory Insurance From
AIDS

AU2409130392 Kiev Radio Ukraine World Service
in Ukrainian 1200 GMT 24 Sep 92

[Text] Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers has adopted a
decree on introducing compulsory state insurance from
AIDS for medical and pharmaceutical personnel. This
insurance is necessary in the case medical workers who
contract the Human Immune Deficiency Virus [HIV]
while fulfilling their service duty. Insurance dues will be
paid at the rate of one-half and 25-one-hundredths
percent of the minimum wage. In addition to this, if
infected by HIV, persons who have been insured will
receive insurance money totalling 10 times the min-
imum wage. In the case of disability resulting from
AIDS, 50 times the minimum wage will be paid.



SJPRS-TEP-92-018
6 November 1992

2. The medical person who is assigned to draw the blood
sends the serum removed by courier to the corre-
sponding laboratory in a vial, upon the label of which the
outpatient number and the name or individual code of
the person is written. The vial is accompanied by three
copies of a medical certificate in accordance with the
sample (Appendix No. 1 [not reproduced here]);

3. Upon receiving the serum in the corresponding labo-
ratory, the outpatient number is recorded, and one copy
of the certificate is returned to the health establishment
from which the serum is sent;

4. After performing the testing, the laboratory director
records the result on the remaining two copies of the
accompanying certificate and sends one of them to the
health establishment that sent the serum;

5. In the case of doubt or a positive result from the first
test, the corresponding laboratory sends the remainder
of the serum with a copy of the accompanying certificate
by courier for confirmation or rejection of the result;

6. When the TsLS receives the serum, it is recorded in
the log for incoming materials with the following data:
laboratory number, name, age, and address of the per-
sons tested in accordance with Article 2, or ambulatory
number and individual code for persons in accordance
with Articles 3 and 4; the reason for the testing; and the
health establishment that sent the serum. The following
are noted in the same log: the date of the testing, the
name of the test used, the results of the test, and to whom
the results are reported.

Article 7. In the case of a positive or doubtful result, the
director of the TsLS requests of the TsTKh or the
KKBPPP that they send by courier serum for confirma-
tion or rejection of the result. The outpatient number
and name or the individual code of the person tested are
marked on the vial containing the serum. The vial is
accompanied by the certificate formulated according to
the sample (Appendix No. 1).

Article 8. In the case of a negative result, the TsLS
director informs the TsTKh or KKBPPP director.

Article 9. In the case of an indefinite result, the director of
the TsLS informs the director of the TsTKh or the KKBPPP
in writing, and specifies a date for retesting the person. In
these cases, the donated blood is destroyed, and the further
consultation and observation of the person with an indefi-
nite result is carried out by the KKBPPP.

Article 10. (1) In the case of a second positive result in
the TsLS, the laboratory director puts together and sends
a report in accordance with the sample (Appendix No. 2)
to the KKBPPP in the corresponding region.

(2) The director of the TsLS sends a copy of the report
mentioned in Part 1 to the “Antiepidemic Control” of
the Ministry of Health.

Article 11. For persons confirmed as infected with the
AIDS virus by a report from the TsLS, the Consultative

fC

EAST EUROPE 15

Office for Sexually Transmitted Diseases offers clinical
observation from the dermatology and venereology
clinic (department) of their choice.

Article 12, A health worker who has violated the secrecy of
the testing or of the state of health of the persons mentioned
in Articles 2, 3, and 4 is subject to criminal punishment in
accordance with Article 284 of the criminal code and, if the
act is not a crime, administrative punishment in accordance
with Article 101 of the Public Health Law.

Concluding Orders

Section 1. The following changes are made in Regulation
No. 20, governing the activities of the “Mother and
Child” homes (published in DURZHAVEN VESTNIK
No. 92 of 1980; modified in No. 78 of 1983 and
supplemented in No. 11 of 1988):

1. In Article 7, Section 1, Part 6, the words “testing the
parents for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome
(AIDS)” are deleted.

2. In Article 9, Part 2, letter b, the words “testing for
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome” are deleted.

Section 2. This regulation is published on the basis of two
of the concluding orders in connection with Article 36a,
Section 1 of the Public Health Law. [passage omitted]

Appendix No. 2 to Article 10, Paragraph 1
PROTOCOL No.......for performing laboratory testing

The Central Laboratory for AIDS at the National
Center for Infections and Parasitic Diseases,
Sofia, has completed serological testing

(Name, Patronymic,
Ce re)

, Street...

I. Antibodies against HIV, According to Elisa Reaction:
..company;

1. First test—diagnostic agent o of the...
date.... oe

2. Second test—diagnostic agent of the.....
pany; date..... 1

IL. Antibodies Against HIV, According to Western Blot:

1. First test—diagnostic agent 0 of the.....
result...

2. Second test—diagnostic agent of the...
pany; date....

Conclusion from the laboratory testing:.

Laboratory Director...
nymic, Family name)

(Name, Patro-



SJPRS-TEP-92-018
6 November 1992

behavior of young men in the pink of condition, unmar-
ried, and with no housing to get married, Professor
Bouguermouh asked, with advice to remain chaste?

INDIA

Weakness Seen in Fight Against AIDS

Discussion in Rajya Sabha
92WE0631A Calcutta THE TELEGRAPH in English
16 Jul 92 p 4

[Text] New Delhi, July 15—The Telugu Desam Rajya
Sabha member, Ms. Renuka Chowdhury, today locked
horns with the health minister, Mr. M.L. Fotedar, when
he tried to deny that there was any threat of an AIDS
holocaust in India.

At a time when political issues are dominating the
proceedings in both the Houses of Parliament, Ms.
Chowdhury, in an impassioned speech, said India, along
with the rest of the world, faced an AIDS holocaust. She
said India was not prepared to face the threat because it
did not have basic requisites for detecting the AIDS
virus nor was it carrying out a concerted media cam-
paign to inform the people about it. She said there were
not sufficient Elisa test kits in the country which could
detect the HIV virus which causes AIDS.

Earlier in his reply, Mr. Fotedar said the government was
not ignoring the AIDS threat, but it also did not want to
create an alarm. He said the only problem in India was
with the paramedical staff who were reluctant to test the
AIDS patients. That too, he said, would soon be over-
come.

Ms. Chowdhury hotly denied the minister’s statements
and said he had not done his homework. She said his
reply was “frightening” because it would undo the work
the health volunteers were engaged in.

When Mr. Fotedar said the AIDS threat was not as
serious in India as in other countries and the situation
was helped by the fact that Indians, particularly women,
were less promiscuous, Ms. Chowdhury said sexual
behaviour alone could not prevent the AIDS holocaust.
She said there were other means through which the virus
could be transmitted. She referred to unconfirmed
reports that the virus was a creation of biotech warfare
and asked the minister what steps he had taken to ensure
public awareness of the problem. “Have the states
informed beauty parlours and barber shops that AIDS
virus can be transmitted if barbers do not sterilise their
instruments?” she asked.

Mr. Fotedar said there were now 184 full-blown cases of
AIDS in the country. He said guidelines had been issued
to state governments to carry out a concerted media
campaign on the problem and 128 AIDS surveillance
centres were involved in examining high-risk patients.

NEAR EAST & SOUTH ASIA a

In reply to a question by Mr. N.K.P. Salve who pointed
out that the AIDS virus was more likely to be contracted
through blood transfusion than by sexual behaviour, Mr.
Fotedar said the government will consider making AIDS
tests mandatory in blood banks and hospitals. He said
instructions have been issued to all blood banks and
hospitals to conduct the test before a blood transfusion
was carried.

Replying to a suggestion from Dr. J.K. Jain (BJP) that
recognition of prostitution as a profession would help in
tackling the problem since prostitutes are a high-risk
category, Mr. Fotedar said the government did not wish
to do it in order to make “home life happier.”

Neglect in Kashmir

92WE0631B Bombay THE TIMES OF INDIA
in English 27 Jul 92 p 9

[Article by Altaf Hussain]

[Text] Srinagar, July 26—Surveillance for AIDS in
Kashmir has been attached no priority either by the
medical community or the government.

An AIDS surveillance cell was created at the Institute of
Medical Sciences (IMS) here in the mid-’80s under a
three-year scheme sponsored by the Indian Council of
Medicine Research (ICMR). It has found two AIDS
cases in Srinagar. One was a 26-year-old Kashmiri bach-
elor and homosexual who died at the IMS in November
1986. He was infected with the virus in Germany. The
other was a foreign tourist who was deported.

The cell screened about 5,000 people in high-risk areas,
including jail inmates who were then reported to be
exposed to homosexuality, and those in the house-boat
trade who came into contact with both Indian and
foreign tourists.

Besides, more than 25 people who had indulged in
heterosexual promiscuity voluntarily offered themselves
for screening and tested negative. But they didn’t turn up
for further screening after six months which had been
advised to do.

The cell, however, could not conduct any screening of
the women in the flesh trade since it was being carried on
clandestinely.

Even the house-boat people could not be thoroughly
screened since they did not co-operate, says Dr. Salaud-
din, head of the immunology department of the IMS. He
is not convinced that the negative results obtained were
true for all the people in the trade.

The screening of patients suffering from venereal dis-
eases is not being carried out because the interaction
between the VD department of the SMHS [expansion
not given] Hospital and the AIDS cell lasted for only two
years. The directorate of health service (DHS) extended
little co-operation to the cell.



SJPRS-TEP-92-018
6 November 1992

because of AIDS. There may be other factors, such as
religious beliefs or the economic situation itself.

It is alarming that only 16 percent of those surveyed take
the trouble to use a condom whenever they engage in sex
in order to avoid contracting the disease, while 26.41
percent only use condoms some of the time. The con-
dom, then, is less popular than is believed, and its
preventive function does not seem to have found a place
in sexual relations.

Of those surveyed, 11.32 percent preferred not to say
whether or not they use condoms during sex. Fourteen
out of every 100 citizens have either a family member or
friend who has died of AIDS. This is an alarming figure
for a country such as Colombia, which does not have
very many cases reported in the hospitals and clinics.

There is not the slightest doubt that this figure should
sound the alarm for the health authorities, because the
people are beginning to be very much affected by this
disease. Even though 86 percent of the Colombians
surveyed said they do not know anyone who has died of
the disease, the figure mentioned above remains very
worrisome.

The results of the survey concerning this disease are
especially serious if we take into account that the age at
which sexual activity begins is, according to the study,
dropping steadily. Of those surveyed, 25.15 percent had
their first sexual experience between the ages of 12 and
16. However, it is between 16 and 20 years of age that
sexual activity really intensifies. Of those surveyed, 32.7
percent had their first experience between these two
ages, while there are even fewer virgins over 20 years of
age—28.61 percent.

Condom Use

‘Condom use, which has been the subject of so much polemic
argument, is not as widespread as might be thought.

Frequency of Use Percentage of Those Surveyed

Always 10.03

Sometimes 26.41

Never 46.22

Don't know/no response 11,32
Knowledge About AIDS

The citizens now know what the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syn-
drome is.

Percentage of Those Surveyed
87.73
12.26

Do know
‘Don’t know

Sexual Relationships

The vast majority of the citizens of Colombia prefer stable sexual rela-
tionships.

Number of Partners |

Percentage of Those Surveyed

LATIN AMERICA 17
Only one 66.98
Others, as well 20.12
Don't know/no response 12.89

First Sexual Experiences

Most of the citizens of Colombia had their first sexual experiences at a
very early age.

First Experience Percentage of Those Surveyed
Between 12 and 16 25.15
Between 16 and 20 32.7
After 20 28.61
Don't know/no response 13,52
Personal Knowledge of AIDS Cases

To the question as to whether any of their friends or family members
have AIDS, 14 out of every 100 citizens answered in the affirmative.

: Percentage of Those Surveyed
Know an AIDS patient 13.83
Don’t know an AIDS patient 84.54
Don’t know/no response 1.37

Knowledge About Preventive Measures
(Of those surveyed, 85 percent know how AIDS is prevented.

: Percentage of Those Surveyed
Do know 85.84

‘Don't know 14.15

Survey Method

The study was carried out by means of 318 telephone
interviews covering the three social classes in the cities of
Bogota, Medellin, and Cali. The system of random
telephone dialing was used. The interviews were carried
out by 12 professionals employed by Yankelovich. The
calls were made on 18 and 19 August 1992. In Bogota,
188 citizens were interviewed, while 85 were interviewed
in Medellin and 45 in Cali.

Those interviewed included 153 heads of households
and 165 housewives. The margin of error for the sam-
pling of 318 interviews is 5.8 percent. The questionnaire
was drafted on the basis of the goals established by EL
TIEMPO.

The questionnaire presented included six questions with
two and four possible answers.

CUBA

Blood Donations, Pregnant Women Tested for
AIDS Virus

FL1009023492 Havana Tele Rebelde and Cuba Vision
Networks in Spanish 0000 GMT 10 Sep 92

[Text] According to WHO reports, from 9 to 11 million
adults and | to 2 million children are infected with the



30 WEST EUROPE

AUSTRIA

AIDS Victims Expected To Number 1,000 by
Next Year

AU1409084292 Vienna DIE PRESSE in German
12 Sep 92 p 20

[“Milo” report: “Soon 1,000 People Suffering From
AIDS”]

[Excerpt] Vienna—By next year already there will be
more than 1,000 people suffering from AIDS in Austria;
the number of those who suffer from the immuno-
deficiency caused by HIV is doubling every 14 months.
These figures were presented at the Austrian AIDS
congress in Vienna on Friday [11 September]. A contri-
bution by an American who claimed that HIV leads to
the fatal AIDS illness, above all among those who take
strong medication, sparked a heated discussion among
the doctors. [passage omitted]

DENMARK

New HIV-Reporting System Seen More Accurate

92WE0627A Copenhagen BERLINGSKE TIDENDE
in Danish 4 Aug 92 p 3

[Unattributed article: “New HIV Cases in Denmark
Every Day”]

[Text] Every day in Denmark a new HIV-positive case is
reported, according to the results of a new HIV-reporting
system based upon reports from doctors and the labora-
tories that perform HIV tests.

In the period from 1 August 1990 until 1 August 1991
there were a total of 332 individuals newly infected with
HIV, which is believed with a high degree of certainty to
lead to the deadly disease, AIDS.

According to the report published in UGESKRIFT FOR
LAEGER [Physicians’ Weekly], almost 88,000 tests were
performed in the course of the year, of which approxi-
mately one percent, or 853 tests, were positive. A por-
tion, however, were repeats or positive on more than one
occasion.

A problem for the National Serum Institute, which is
responsible for HIV monitoring, has been that doctors
only report about 70 percent of the HIV cases detected
by the laboratories.

“However, we had that problem rectified as of 1 Feb-
ruary, so that it is now possible to press doctors for their
reports. Because of that, we may expect a more accurate
figure in the future,” said Dr. Else Smith, who together
with Mads Melbye of the National Serum Institute,
issued the statement.

Included in the core figure of 332 new HIV infected were
263 men and 69 women.

SJPRS-TEP-92-018
6 November 1992

Of the new, male HIV carriers, 66 percent were infected
through homosexual contact, while 19 percent were
heterosexually infected and 9 percent were infected
through drug abuse.

Police Charge Haitian for Spreading AIDS

92WE0627B Copenhagen BERLINGSKE TIDENDE
in Danish 6 Aug 92 p7

[Unattributed article: “First Police Indictment For
AIDS”)

[Text] For the first time in Denmark, the police have
attempted to get a man indicted for inflicting the dreaded
disease on others.

The Copenhagen police are working on the first case of
an intentional infection of other persons with the deadly
HIV. A 34-year-old man from Haiti was indicted on
Wednesday pursuant to the code section on serious
assault, which deals with major bodily harm and carries
with it a sentence of up to 12 years.

The police know that the man in question has been with
a series of women beyond the three who have already
indicated they had sex with him. It is feared that there is
yet another series of unknown victims. The Haitian was
taken into custody last Monday. The judge has not
released his name for his own protection.

It is the first time—in contrast to Germany, for exam-
ple—that Danish authorities have attempted to bring an
indictment against someone for intentionally infecting
other individuals with the deadly HIV. According to
information given the police by physicians, the Haitian
had already been tested in Arhus in 1985 and found to be
positive. His two Danish wives, among others, are HIV
infected.

Newspapers in Arhus had already written in the 1980's
about the Haitian, who afterwards moved to Copen-
hagen. Here he lived as a musician and taught and
mingled socially with the Rastifarian culture around
Nytorv/Gammeltory, and in cafes and bars in that area.

Early last summer he became acquainted with two 13
year old girls who were friends. Subsequently, he had
relationships with both. He is, as a result, charged also
with having sex with minors.

Later in the summer, the mother of one of the two girls
discovered the relationship when she read her daughter’s
diary in which their activities were described in detail.
At first, she did not report the relationship, but changed
her mind after taking a trip to Arhus where she learned
of rumors the man was HIV positive.

She then went to the police, who arrested the man and
last Monday incarcerated him for 11 days in isolation,
charged with sexual intercourse and other sexual
offenses with a minor. The girl, who is now 15 years old,
has been tested for HIV and found negative.


12 EAST ASIA

Megat’s statement had caused panicky Malaysians to
tush their foreign maids for AIDS tests.

Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and Deputy Health
Minister Farid Ariffin then promised a reassessment of
the statistics in an attempt to restore calm.

Megat later tried to clarify the statement by saying that
the statistics he gave included those with other sexually-
transmitted diseases, but government officials said the
clarification was confusing and too vague to undo the
damage done.

Minister Says 40 Malaysians Have Now Died of
AIDS

BK1309103792 Kuala Lumpur UTUSAN MALAYSIA
in Malay 20 Aug 92 pp 1,2

[Excerpt] Kuala Lumpur, 19 August—Eight more AIDS
patients died last month, bringing to 40 the total number
of people in this country who have died of this disease.
This figure also represents the highest death toll recorded
in one month since 1985.

Health Minister Datuk Lee Kim Sai said there were 54
AIDS patients in June, of whom 32 had died. “In July
the death toll rose to 40, while the number of AIDS
patients rose to 60,” he told reporters at his office this
afternoon. However, the Health Ministry has no exact
numbers on AIDS patients, carriers, or the death toll
because it is still not possible to carry out nationwide
AIDS tests. [passage omitted]

Over 3,000 AIDS Carriers Detected, 40 Dead at
End of July

BK2708123292 Kuala Lumpur BERITA HARIAN

in Malay 21 Aug 92 p 5

[Article by Wan Sabariah Shikh Ali]

[Excerpts] Kuala Lumpur, Thursday—The Cabinet
Committee on AIDS has been directed to make a study
of the moral, religious, and legal implications of the
AIDS prevention campaign.

Health Minister Datuk Lee Kim Sai said that the cabinet
had issued the directive because the AIDS prevention
campaign would be deadlocked when facing these
aspects. [passage omitted]

On the number of new AIDS and HIV cases reported,
Lee said that 3,735 virus carriers had been detected,
while 40 AIDS patients had died as of the end of July.

PHILIPPINES
Health Department Says Over 35,000 AIDS
Cases

HK1609025392 Manila Far East Broadcasting
Company in Tagalog 0100 GMT 16 Sep 92

[Text] More than 35,000 Filipinos are now infected with
AIDS [Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome], but

SIPRS-TEP-92-018
6 November 1992

only 341 cases have been reported to the Department of
Health. According to Health Secretary Juan Flavier, this
figure is not an accurate reflection of the number of
Filipinos infected with AIDS, because the lack of med-
ical monitoring equipment has prevented the launching
of a systematic effort to gather information on the
disease. Flavier is confident, however, that AIDS will not
hit the Philippines as hard as it has other Asian neigh-
bors.

SINGAPORE

Health Ministry Releases Figures of HIV-Infected
People

BK0609122192 Singapore THE STRAITS TIMES
in English 5 Sep 92 p 1

[Article by David Miller]

[Text] More than 60 percent of the Singaporeans who
contracted the human immuno-dificiency virus (HIV)
since 1991 were heterosexuals, and most caught it
through sex with prostitutes, either in Singapore or
overseas.

This contrasts sharply with the trend from 1985 to 1990,
when most of those who contracted the disease caught it
through homosexual relations.

According to the figures released by the Health Ministry
yesterday, 41 Singaporeans contracted HIV through sex
with prostitutes.

Thirteen of these cases were detected between 1985 and
1990.

Last year, 16 Singaporeans were found to have been
infected this way. And in the first seven months of this
year, another 12 Singaporean men caught the disease
through sex with prostitutes.

Of these 12, nine were single, while the rest were mar-
ried. All except one were between the ages of 20 and 40.
The exception was a retiree.

The men were infected after visiting prostitutes in Sin-
gapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Taiwan, and
some European countries.

The Health Ministry said a majority of them had the
disease detected through voluntary HIV screening.

Others were found to have HIV when they sought
treatment for sexually transmitted diseases and other
medical problems.

As of August 1, 130 Singaporeans, including eight
women had been diagnosed as being HIV-infected.

Of these, 45 developed full-blown AIDS, or Acquired
Immune Deficiency Syndrome, and 30 of them have
died.



4 SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

entirely incorrect in the South African context, where 95
percent of those who have the virus are heterosexual.
The message must be that any kind of unprotected sexual
intercourse between two people i is dangerous—otherwise
people will adopt the ‘it can’t happen to me’ defense.”

To make matters worse, the pamphlet has, on its cover,
a skull beneath the words, printed in four languages,
“Beware of AIDS.” Evian explains that “such doom-
saying is counterproductive, for it creates negative
impulses like rejection, discrimination, blame, panic—
things to run away from. By putting a skull on the cover
and then using the slogan ‘Don’t bend for a friend,’ the
pamphlet slots into the discrimination of homosexual
people and plays into stigmatisation rather than over-
coming it.”

To be fair to Eskom, the pamphlet was produced in 1987
when, by corporate medical consultant Dr. Charles
Roos’ own admission, “we were on a steep learning
curve, so we didn’t always get things right.” But while
Roos claims to have “personally locked up the offending
material in a cupboard,” the pamphlet is still, according
to AIDS workers who have visited there, being widely
disseminated at Eskom.

The Eskom pamphlet is perhaps, the most glaring
example of the wrong-headedness of much policy as
South African employers try to come to terms with the
fact that a large proportion of the workforce may well be
infected in the future.

Eskom, to its credit, was one of the first employers to
formulate an AIDS policy. But while the parastatal has
placed a strong emphasis on education—ill-informed
though this might have been—there is another far more
controversial component to its policy: the decision to
screen all potential employees for HIV, and to deny any
employment to those who test positive.

The World Health Organisation and the International
Labour Organisation have declared that “since HIV
infection by itself does not affect a worker’s ability to
perform a job, and an infected person cannot transmit
infection to co-workers casually, employment or pre-
employment testing or screening is unnecessary and
should not be required.” Already, France, Italy, West
Germany and the African countries of Malawi and
Zambia have expressly prohibited such practice.

Yet a survey presented to a conference on AIDS and the
Law last month proves that many South African
employers are still motivated by fear and loathing rather
than common sense when it comes to AIDS: 45 percent
of the respondents stated that they would breach their
employees’ rights to confidence if they found out one
had become infected, 65 percent said they would refuse
to employ an HIV-infected person, and 64 percent have
not considered any type of AIDS education programme
for their employees.

Good sense, though, seems to have prevailed on the issue
of pre-screening prospective employees: only 10 percent

SPRS-TEP-92-018
6 November 1992

of the companies canvassed, like Eskom, actively to do
this. Most employers seem now to accept that screening
is, in the words of Edwin Cameron from the Centre for
Applied Legal Studies, “futile, misleading, socially irre-
sponsible, and unfair to the individual.”

Roos counters, however, that Eskom’s decision to screen
is an attempt to “protect our fringe benefit schemes—
like medical aid, housing subsidies and pension fund,”
and adds that there are two specific areas where “we just
cannot employ HIV-positive people: where AIDS-related
neurological disorders might affect the safety of the
workplace, and where long-term and costly training is
required.”

Roos concedes that “it might be a better plan to continue
screening, but just to exclude employers from these
positions rather than from any work.” He states, how-
ever, “that the policy is under review and screening
might be scrapped altogether.”

This change of heart is perhaps due to pressure and
threats from the unions and the legal fraternity. Cam-
eron makes a strong case that exclusion due to HIV-
positivity constitutes an unfair labour practice and is
grounds for a court challenge: “Since HIV positive job
applicants may have years of constructive, healthy ser-
vice ahead of them, excluding them from employment
lacks a rational foundation and is unfair.”

Pre-employment testing, he adds, “cannot achieve what
it sets out to do. It cannot guarantee a sanitised AIDS-
free workplace,” because the six-month window period
means that many might test false-negative, and because
many more may test positive after employment.

Furthermore, Cameron says, ‘“‘pre-employment
screening can lead to false confidence among workers
and lull them into believing, quite wrongly, that it would
be safe to have sex with each other.”

Many organisations—most notably the Chamber of
Mines—have changed their minds about screening, not
least because of its expense: by law, HIV-testing needs to
be accompanied with costly and labour-intensive pre-
and post-test counselling. The chamber initially had a
policy of screening workers from “high-risk areas,” but,
due to the intervention of the National Union of Mine-
workers (NUM), a new policy is being considered.

In contrast to Eskom, a model approach towards AIDS
has been adopted by the building construction giant,
Anglo-Alpha, which points out in its AIDS policy that, if
all employers screened out HIV-positive people, “‘a leper
colony of unemployed and unemployable people would
be created,” the consequences of which would be unde-
sirable—both socially and economically.

So the company will not test present employees unless
the employees themselves deman¢ it, it offers full bene-
fits to those who do test HIV-positive, and it does not
require employees to reveal their HIV-status unless
“they are unable to perform their tasks.” Only once



IJPRS-TEP-92-018
6 November 1992

CENTRAL EURASIA 27

Table 1. Awareness of the Basic Concepts of the HIV Infection Problems on the Part of Kiev Medical Workers

Concepts Proportion of Right Answers (Percent)
Stomatologists ‘Surgeons Gynecologists Therapists All Physicians

Virus 93 88 91 63 78
Positive reaction to 78 80 7 76 8

HIV

Heterosexual 20 41 4 21 24
Immune system 80 93 98 93 91
Antibodies 74 79 80 mn 75

Table 2. Basic Indicators of the Level of Information on the

AIDS Problem and Attitudes Toward HIV Carriers Among

Kiev Medical Workers

Concepts Proportion of Right Answers (Percent)

Stomatologists ‘Surgeons Gynecologists Therapists All Physicians
Basic knowledge on 2 3 9 7) 4
AIDS
Supplementary 30 56 $6 49 52
knowledge on AIDS
Awareness of the 64 60 60 s7 60
problem's signifi-
cance
Tendency to reject 52 52 54 48 51
AIDS patients

The questionnaire results allow us to evaluate the degree
to which medical workers are informed about HIV
infection (Table 2). No significance was revealed in the
differences between basic indicators depending on the
degree of occupational risk of HIV infection. Satisfac-
tory mastery of basic knowledge of the problem is typical
of physicians of all specialties (74 percent right answers).
Misconceptions were related to the means of preventing
HIV infection and the pathways. of its transmission.
Thus, 32 percent of the respondents underestimate the
risk of HIV infection through vaginal sexual contact, and
31 percent of physicians feel that infection can be
transmitted by casual contact. The level of supplemen-
tary information possessed by respondents on the AIDS
problem was lower than their level of basic knowledge:
correspondingly 52 and 74 percent right answers. Anal-
ysis of the content of wrong answers showed that the
opinions that HIV carriers should have outward signs of
infection (18 percent right answers) and that HIV can be
transmitted by aerosol (35 percent right answers) are
widespread. As we can see, opinions regarding the risk of
HIV infection through casual contact are rather stable.

Evaluating the degree to which physicians are aware of
the importance of the AIDS problem, we should note the
following. First, this problem is not perceived seriously
enough on the whole (60 percent right answers). Analysis
of the content of the answers shows that 84 percent of
medical workers feel that a vaccine that will solve the
AIDS problem will soon be found. Thus there is a clearly
expressed tendency for passive anticipation of a solution
to the problem which will not require the individual to
change his own behavior, including its risky forms.

According to this logic the AIDS problem will be solved
by someone else, and not the particular respondent.
Serious apprehensions are also raised by the ignorance of
the fact that a person “who is found to possess antibodies
to HIV has a significantly greater risk of AIDS than a
person without antibodies” (41 percent right answers).
Consequently the essence of HIV infection remains
unclear to some of the questioned physicians.

A pronounced tendency to stigmatize HIV carriers and
AIDS patients was revealed in the survey. Only 51
percent of physicians expressed sympathy for AIDS
patients, while 66 percent feel it is necessary to isolate
HIV carriers, which contradicts clinical necessity. Most
respondents (69 percent) also justify refusal of families
to support infected relatives.

The results of the questionnaire survey confirm the
hypothesis that the degree to which physicians are
informed about the AIDS problem is interrelated with
the nature of their attitudes toward HIV carriers. It was
shown that the unjustified opinion that HIV can be
transmitted by aerosol is widespread. This position of
physicians is viewed as a manifestation of an inadequate
awareness of the psychosocial aspects of the AIDS
problem. It may promote a significant worsening in the
epidemic situation owing to creation of an uncontrol-
lable infection focus out of AIDS patients who fail to
receive medical care. It should also be considered that in
the absence of a state system of psychosocial protection,
the society’s abandonment of HIV carriers may be a
cause of their estrangement from society. A physician’s



24 NEAR EAST & SOUTH ASIA

Besides this, surveillance of people practicing high risk
behaviour like intravenous drug users, commercial sex
workers and blood donors had been increased, the Min-
ister said.

Mr. Fotedar also told the House that because of the link
between drug abuse and the incidence of AIDS in the
North Eastern region, five drug de-addiction centres had
been started. Besides this, the Home Ministry had estab-
lished a coordinating mechanism to integrate, review
and monitor the plans and action programmes of dif-
ferent departments.

The government also proposed to have programmes to
control sexually transmitted diseases, additional surveil-
lance and blood testing centres and have intensive infor-
mation, education and communication activities.

Replying to another question, he said that the Govern-
ment had worked out a uniform and standardised pro-
cedure for handling, labelling and transporting the blood
samples for purposes of HIV screening. He said instruc-
tions had been issued to all zonal blood testing centres to
collect a third sample of 3 CC for HIV testing.

He said required facilities like testing equipments,
testing kits and trained man power had already been
provided in the 128 zonal blood testing centres and 52
more such centres were being established.

Mr. Fotedar said there were 1,018 blood banks out of
which 608 were in the public sector in the Centre and
States, 151 in private hospitals, 203 commercial blood
banks and 56 under voluntary organisation. He admitted
that many of them including those in the Public sector
were not licenced. The government was making it man-
datory for all these banks to get licence from the Drug
Controller, Government of India.

Mr. Fotedar said 29 percent of the blood supply was
coming from professional blood donors. In reply to a
supplementary, he said reports of HIV II virus coming to
India had been received and the Government would
soon be getting kits to test this virus also.

New Virus Detected

92WE0653D Calcutta THE STATESMAN in English
25 Jul 92 p 1

[Text] A relatively new strain of the AIDS virus, HIV-II,
which has been tested positive in some of the blood
samples collected by virologists in Bombay and Pune
recently is feared to have spread in eastern India too.
According to experts of the School of Tropical Medicine,
the new type of virus which is medically considered to
“be less lethal than HIV-I” is known to have originated
in West African countries about two years ago.

The latest findings regarding the HIV-II has virtually
caught the State’s Health Department unawares as the
blood banks in the city do not have the necessary
equipment for testing the particular virus. Only recently,
the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Calcutta, as per the

SIPRS-TEP-92-018
6 November 1992

tecommendations of the Centre, has installed a compre-
hensive kit for conducting a combine test both for HIV-I
and HIV-II.

When asked whether the new type of virus had already
spread in the city, Dr. M. S. Chakraborty, a leading
virologist, said that it can only be determined after the
test is introduced in hospitals and blood banks.

Dr. Chakraborty said that the School has been con-
ducting specialized training programmes to educate the
medical officers of the districts about the State’s AIDS
programme, particularly with an emphasis on proper
testing of blood samples in the district health centres and
hospitals. However, a section of doctors complained that
some of the private blood banks in the city were not
carrying out routine HIV tests as the cost of blood per
bottle was becoming higher.

AIDS in Andamans

92WE0653E Calcutta THE TELEGRAPH in English
2 Aug 92p1

[Article by Amit Ukil: ““Virgin’ Andamans Falls to AIDS
Virus”]

[Text] Calcutta, Aug. 1—The AIDS virus has crossed the
seas to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. It has been
detected for the first time among the blood samples
collected from people staying there. In the space of three
months, 30 persons have already tested positive.

These findings by a team of experts from Calcutta have
well and truly established that the hitherto unscathed
islands have also fallen to the deadly HIV scourge.

The team, consisting of epidemiologists from the Indian
Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has, since May this
year, tested blood samples of 1,800 people from the
islands. Of the 30 found infected by the AIDS virus, as
many as 26 are foreigners lodged in the three main jails
of the islands.

All these prisoners are illegal fishermen or smugglers
apprehended by the Coast Guard, suggesting that the
virus may have gained entry to the islands through them.
Most of the prisoners come from Thailand and
Myanmar (Burma)—there is even a Pakistani national
among them. According to information reaching here, all
the infected foreigners have since been deported by the
local authorities.

But there is a large number of such fishermen and
smugglers who get past the Coast Guard personnel and
mingle freely with the islanders. The fact that, of the four
islanders found to be seropositive, three suffer from
sexually transmitted diseases bears down on the possible
route and method of import of the virus.

The investigations were carried out by the ICMR unit for
research on AIDS in the north-eastern states, set up in
March this year. The administration of the Union terri-
tory had sent blood samples of seven STD patients, of


SJPRS-TEP-92-018
6 November 1992

BOTSWANA

HIV Virus Statistics for Francistown Given

92WE0686A Gaborone BOTSWANA DAILY NEWS
in English 30 Jun 92 p 3

[Article by Daphne Motswakae]

[Text] About 10,000 people in Francistown are infected
with the HIV virus, says the Francistown Senior Medical
Officer, Dr. Thandabantu Hlangabeza.

Addressing a Francistown full council meeting on 24
June, Dr. Hlangabeza said of these 20 percent are
children and close to 80 percent are aged between 15 and
49. The number of infected people doubles every 9 to 18
months, he said.

Dr. Hlangabeza told councillors that statistics indicate
more women than men are infected and the majority of
infected women are in their twenties, while the majority
of men ranged from late thirties to forties.

Health investigations show that about 10 percent of
blood donors and 10 percent of TB patients have the
virus, Dr. Hlangabeza revealed.

He however, said the worst affected group is found
among pregnant mothers who number 22 percent, 33
percent of their new born babies will also carry the virus
and die before reaching their second birthday.

Dr. Hlangabeza pointed out that since 1989, about 201
cases have been reported at Francistown clinics. These
are people who presented themselves to clinics because
they were not feeling well but are now showing signs and
symptoms of the disease.

According to the district senior medical officer all these
figures have serious consequences for the continued
well-being of Francistown, since in any economy, the 15
to 49 year age group is the most economically active and
most sexually active.

Premature deaths in this group can create serious social
and economic consequences and a serious generation
gap with children orphaned.

Hospitals will be unable to cope with the terminally ill
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS)
patients and home care would have to take over.

Councillors were told the only sure way to avert further
spread of AIDS is to change people’s behaviors through
health education. Council was told plans are underway
to intensify health education and they were called upon
to support the campaign.

Dr. Hlangabeza appealed to councillors to speak about
AIDS and its consequences at kgotla meetings.

Outlining some of the constraints faced by the health
workers, Dr. Hlangabeza said shortage of manpower is a
chronic problem as more people are needed to engage

SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA 1

full time on AIDS prevention work, including the need
to keep confidentiality on an HIV carrier which makes
the job of health worker difficult and helpless.

The Nyangabgwe Hospital Manager, Dr. Habaudi
Hobona outlined the implications of HIV epidemic in a
hospital setting as overcrowding of wards and mortu-
aries and availability of blood. [as published]

Francistown councillors agreed that people have to be
sensitised about the seriousness and consequences of
AIDS.

To help fight the problem, an AIDS campaign group
would be formed which would address meetings in town
about AIDS. The Chairman of the Health and Social
Committee, Councillor Samuel Ntobedzi was elected to
join the group.

ETHIOPIA

AIDS Cases Said on Rise in Eritrea

EA2908153592 Asmera Voice of the Broad Masses of
Eritrea in Tigrinya 0400 GMT 28 Aug 92

[Text] Many people are dying in Eritrea of the dreaded
disease, AIDS. In a statement on the disease, the head of
the AIDS control department, Dr. Tesfatsion Negash,
noted that the number of AIDS sufferers had doubled in
the last year, that about 300 people are affected by the
disease, and that there are between 15,000 and 30,000
people knowingly or unknowingly carrying the AIDS
virus.

He went on to say that 85 percent of those attacked by
the disease are between 20 and 49 years of age and that
the disease is (?rampant) in Asmera, Mitsiwa, Aseb,
Keren, and Dekemhare.

He noted that in order to control the dreaded disease
AIDS, which is spreading fast, people should follow the
directives given by the Department of Health.

‘At Least 200’ New AIDS Patients Registered
Monthly

EA1509213092 Addis Ababa Voice of Ethiopia
in English to Neighboring Countries 1530 GMT
15 Sep 92

[Text] The AIDS control and coordination bureau says
at least 200 new AIDS patients are registered in Ethio-
pian hospitals every month. Dr. Mengistu Mihret, head
of the bureau, said the killer disease has been spreading
at an (?alarming rate), including in the rural areas, for the
last six months. He said there are presently an estimated
20,000 AIDS patients in the country. He pointed out that
documents from 45 hospitals suggest 70 percent of the
AIDS victims being in the 20 to 40 year age-brackets.
This he said represents a major drain on the country’s
highly productive sector.



JPRS-TEP-92-018
6 ‘November 1992 5 AIDS
PORTUGAL
AIDS Risk, National Statistics Provided ........
HIV Carriers (Lisbon DIARIO DE NOTICIAS, 4 Aug 92]
Figures, Location of Cases Lisbon DIARIO DE NOTICIAS, 8 Aug 92]
UNITED KINGDOM

Tuberculosis Tests Reported No Longer Safe
[Peter Pallot; London THE DAILY TELEGRAPH, 18 May 92] .....



IPRS-TEP-92-018
6 November 1992

The ministry said 120 Singaporeans, or 92 percent of
those with HIV here, were infected through sexual con-
tact.

Of the remaining 10 cases, five caught the virus through
sharing needles with HIV-infected intravenous drug
users, three contracted it from renal transplant opera-
tions overseas, and one from receiving contaminated
blood during a transfusion overseas.

The last, a two-year old boy, contracted the disease from
his infected mother.

The figures released yesterday also revealed that the
number of HIV positive cases has increased steadily over
the years.

EAST ASIA 13

Seventeen Singaporeans were found to be HIV-infected
in 1990. Another 42 cases were detected last year, while
27 more came to light in the first seven months of this
year.

The Health Ministry again warned the public of the risks
of contracting HIV and other sexually transmitted dis-
eases through commercial sex and urged them to use
condoms as protection.

“We urge all who are at risk of contracting HIV infection
to see their doctors and undergo a HIV screening test,” it
added.



JPRS-TEP-92-018
6 November 1992

The Minister said a short-term plan for combating AIDS
had already been completed and that a medium-term
plan was now in progress, as well as national strategies.

For the first year, medium-term strategies will include
the strengthening of management structures, the integra-
tion of activities within Primary Health Care, the devel-
opment of intersectoral links, targeted campaigns for
youth, women and workers, the improvement of coun-
selling skills, the development of community-based
home care, the improved management of sexually trans-
mitted disease, the improvement of epidmiological sur-
veillance (there is only one epidemiologist for the
WHOLE of Namibia at the moment), and the continued
provision of safe blood.

NIGERIA

Enugu State Has 60 AIDS Virus Cases

92WE0689A Lagos THE GUARDIAN in English
5 Aug 92 p3

[Text] Enugu State now has 60 patients with recorded
cases of the fully developed AIDS Virus. The State AIDS
control programme, co-ordintor Dr. Tony Eloike, said in
Enugu on Monday.

Three such cases were reported in the former Anambra
State as at November last year, while at the end of June,
797 human blood samples tested HIV positive out of
39,000 screened.

SOUTH AFRICA

Chemist Develops Product To Kill HIV Virus

92WE0640A Cape Town THE ARGUS in English
21 Jul 92 p 5

[Article: “Cleaner Kills Known Bacteria and Viruses”]

[Text] Johannesburg—A South African chemist has
made an international breakthrough with the develop-
ment of a new product—for medical and household
use—which effectively kills all known bacteria, fungi and
viruses including the HIV virus and Hepatitus B.

The product, which has been tested by various institu-
tions including the South African Bureau of Standards,
Onderstepoort and Roodeplaat, was developed by
chemist researcher Ms. Toni Martin during the past
three years.

“As far as I know, no one else in the world has achieved
this,” said Ms. Martin at the launch yesterday. “I am not
making any claims of having created a “miracle“
product. All I have done is to take an existing ingredient
that has been proven to be effective, and developed it
into a safe, user-friendly product, freely available for the
protection of all.”

SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA 3

Protect-U will be available on supermarket shelves and
chemists by mid-August and indications are that it will
sell for about R5,40/750ml. It is a cleaner and sanitiser
which is non-corrosive, non-acidic and is biodegradable.
For external use only, it can be used to prevent the
spread of infectious diseases.

The product contains an active ingredient called Glut-
araldehyde (Glut) which has been extensively tested
worldwide and recognised as the sterilising chemical and
disinfectant for infection control in medical institutions.

Glut, however, has to be chemically activated before use
and then remains stable for a maximum of 14 to 28 days.

According to Stanford University head of Anaesthetics,
Professor John Brock-Utne, Protect-U does not require
an activator, is still active and effective up to one year
has a neutral Ph and is not a skin irritant.

“This means that the powerful disinfectant properties of
Glutaraldehyde, which is the active ingredient in Pro-
tect-U, will be available everywhere as an all-purpose
cleaner and sanitiser,” said Professor Brock-Utne.

It was also tested by Dr. Michael Becker of the Depart-
ment of Virology, Stellenbosch University, where it
proved effective in killing the HIV virus in the presence
of organic matter.

Ms. Martin said it was not her intention to climb on the
AIDS sensationalism bandwagon: “In fact, Protect-U
has been tested and proven effective in killing bacteria,
fungi and viruses related to most common diseases in
South Africa. However, I want to make people aware of
the dangers of underestimating any virus, including
HIv.”

Eskom’s AIDS Campaign Criticized

92WE0674D Johannesburg THE WEEKLY MAIL
in English 7-13 Aug 92 p 21

[Article by Mark Gevisser: “Eskom’s AIDS Drive Gets
Short-Circuited”]

[Text] Eskom’s AIDS education campaign—along with
its policy of screening all potential employees for HIV
infection—have been slammed by both medical and
legal AIDS professionals as being discriminatory and
ill-informed.

The slogan “Don’t bend for a friend” adorns an AIDS
information pamphlet put out by the parastatal elec-
tricity giant. The pamphlet also states that while
employees can be infected heterosexually by “making
love with an infected male/female,” they can be infected
homosexually merely by “sex between two male per-
sons.” The myth is thus perpetuated that homosexuality
in and of itself is a primary cause of AIDS.

“It’s a very dangerous message,” comments Johannes-
burg City Health AIDS Services Dr. Clive Evian,“ for it
fuels the perception that AIDS is a gay disease, which is



SJPRS-TEP-92-018
6 November 1992

AIDS Education Program Encourages Condom
se

FL2309173792 Bridgetown CANA in English
1152 GMT 23 Sep 92

[Text] Kingston, Jamaica, Sept 23, CANA—Ninety five
percent of Jamaicans are aware of the dangers of AIDS,
but behavioural change to stem the spread of the deadly,
sexually transmitted disease remains unsatisfactory, a
leading advertising executive has said here.

Gregory McClure, president of Dunlop Corbin Compton
Associates, made the comment at the launching of a 2.4
million dollar (one J. dollar ; 4.5 US cents) television
advertising campaign seeking primarily to encourage the
use of condoms.

McClure said that while there was widespread use of
condoms in secondary and casual relationships, the
pattern had been to discontinue condom use as the
alliance or relationship developed.

“The established cultural practice of multiple partners,
the substantial but inconsistent use of condoms with
secondary partners and the limited use with primary
partners continue to put the sexually active population at
high risk,” he said, citing the findings of studies done
over the past three years.

“By positioning condom use as...the accepted norm in
primary relationships, we hope to reinforce the absolute
need for condom use in the higher risk casual and
secondary relationships,” said McClure.

Up to July this year, there were 394 reported cases of
AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) here,

LATIN AMERICA 19

with 270 people having already died. Twenty five of 35
children with the disease had died.

Thousands carry HIV (Human Immuno-deficiency
Virus) without as yet developing “full blown” AIDS.

Jamaica’s health minister, Easton Douglas, said the
advertising programme was a signal of his government’s
determination to control the spread of AIDS and other
sexually transmitted diseases.

MEXICO

Over 10,000 Registered AIDS Cases

PA2609130492A Madrid EFE in Spanish 0057 GMT
22 Sep 92

[Editorial Report] Emilio Gamboa, director of the Mex-
ican Social Security Institute, reported that at least 500
people have contracted AIDS between January 1991 and
September 1992. The National AIDS Council reported
that out of the 10,357 cases registered since 1982, 4,963
have died.

PANAMA

Total of 378 AIDS Cases

PA1209162492B Panama City MAGAZINE
DOMINICAL EL SIGLO in Spanish 6 Sep 92 p 42

[Editorial Report] Public health official Dr. Gladys
Guerrero de Torres reports that approximately 10 cases
of AIDS are detected every month in Panama. She adds
that up to 31 August 1991, 378 cases have been reported,
of which 76.7 percent are persons from 20 to 44 years of
age.



/ JPRS-TEP-92-018
6 November 1992

Foreicn
Broapcast
INFORMATION
Service

AIDS

DISTREUTION STRTREENT Z

Approved tor pubiie |
Distribution Uniimited 4

DTIC QUALITY INSPECTED 6
REPRODUCED BY
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

NATIONAL TECHNICAL, |
INFORMATION SERVICE i
SPRINGFIELD, VA 22161



6 SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

years who visited the clinic in the first year of the study,
68 percent tested positive for Human Immunideficency
Virus (HIV), the virus that causes AIDS. Among the
young men of the same age group who visited the STD
clinic, 33 percent had the HIV.

Two years later, the results of the study showed that the
incidence of AIDS infection among the teenage girls had
come down to 33 percent, and only 10 percent among the
teenage boys, who came to be treated for other sexually
transmitted diseases.

Dr. Nsubuga who was presenting his paper at an Abstract
Preview Workshop for the 8th International AIDS Con-
ference, held at Rubaga in Kampala, on 9 July, said the
downward trend in HIV infection among STD patients,
young people, could be attributed to what he called safer
selection of partners rather than condom use, for
example.

The incidence of HIV infection among the old people
visiting the STD clinic, he said, had remained the same,
in contrast to the downward trend among the teenagers.

Talking about behavioural change, Dr. Nsubuga said
reports by people who had earlier said they had never
used a condom, however, had also gone down, meaning
the number of condom users could have gone up. But at
the same time, the numbers of those STD patients who
confessed that they rarely used a condom went up.

The study further indicates that AIDS incidence among
girls and boys under 19 years had remained high. The
rate of infection among the girls in this age group was
shown to be 45 percent and 20 percent among boys
under 19 years who attend the Mulago STD Clinic.

Dr. Nsubuga, nevertheless, said the drop in HIV infec-

tion among STD patients was an indicator that there has

been a change in peoples’ sexual behaviour, especially

among the teenagers who are otherwise believed to be

sexually reckless. ““That means that people are getting the

message about AIDS and carefully selecting partners,”
e said.

But the Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI) group
carrying out various studies in Kyamulibwa, Rakai dis-
trict, said there was a lower incidence of HIV among
Muslims compared to the non-Muslims because Mus-
lims are circumcised.

“Muslims are at a lower risk of HIV-1 infection and
other STDs,” the group reported. They said: “The results
of the study suggest that circumcision has a protective
effect among Muslim men and indirectly to their female
partners.”

They claimed that their study considered all other pos-
sible factors that would put both Muslims and non-
Muslims at the risk of infection by the AIDS virus.

SJPRS-TEP-92-018
6 November 1992

ZAMBIA

Rural Hospital Reports Rising AIDS Deaths

92WE0691B Lusaka THE WEEKLY POST in English
14-20 Aug 92 p 3

[Text] The number of AIDS cases in rural areas has
steadily gone up in the last few months accounting for
half the total number of deaths in hospitals.

Dr. John Willms of Macha mission hospital and public
health nurse Rosemary Bubala of Namwala Hospital
confirmed in separate interviews that there was an
increase in the number of AIDS cases among the
patients.

Dr. Wilms said there was a high number of AIDS
amongst the patients at the 200 bed hospital run by the
Brethren In Christ (BIC) mission at Macha.

The hospital at the moment was recording 30 to 40
deaths per month.

“Half of these deaths or a little more will be HIV
related.” Willms said.

This represented almost double the number of deaths at
the hospital from the previous 10 to 15 before the
number of HIV infected people increased. However,
Wilms admitted that a number of the AIDS patients
were from urban areas who went back to the villages
when their ailments became more pronounced.

“We do get people from Lusaka coming here for treat-
ment. We also get people from around the country,”
Wilms said.

In Namwala, Bubala said the most common disease
attacking children is HIV related tuberculosis.

Although Bubala could not confirm, she said it was
suspected this represented an increase in the number of
HIV infections in the area. [Passage omitted]

ZIMBABWE

Masvingo Highest HIV Among Pregnant Women

92WE0687B Harare THE HERALD in English
31 Jul 92 p3

[Text] Forty- two percent of pregnant women in Masv-
ingo province tested for HIV the AIDS virus, in June
were positive says the Minister of Health and Child
Welfare, Dr. Timothy Stamps.

Addressing high school students in Harare yesterday, Dr.
Stamps said that cases of the killer disease, AIDS, had
increased by about 1,500 within the past three months.

“We have been testing pregnant women around Zim-
babwe and we have found out that Masvingo has the
highest percentage of pregnant women who have tested


IJPRS-TEP-92-018
6 November 1992

AIDS-related illnesses affect an employee’s ability to
perform, will his or her employment be assessed, and
then “the normal ill-health retirement regulations will
apply.”

Anglo-Alpha even acknowledges that ‘continued
employment for an employee with life-threatening dis-
ease may sometimes be therapeutically important in the
remission or recovery process or may help prolong that
employee’s life.”

Labour lawyers and unionists are urging employers to
treat AIDS just like any other life-threatening disease. So
serious is Anglo-Alpha about preventing stigmatisation
in the workplace, that there is a clause in the policy that
allows the company to take disciplinary action against
employees unwilling to work with HIV-positive col-
leagues.

Critical to the process is the education of employees, and
experience from abroad has proven that this—rather
than testing—is where an employers’ resources are best
channeled. Unions like the NUM insist, however, that
such education must not be imposed upon from above,
but must be designed and implemented in full collabo-
ration with the workforce itself if it is to be effective.

And, adds Evian, “such education must have two com-
ponents: it must give the facts to prevent the spread of
AIDS, and it must fight stigmatisation, by urging support
for those who have the disease.” Many companies do the
former, but few do the latter.

“And unfortunately,” he concludes, “if a company gives
information about AIDS but at the same time discrimi-
nates against HIV-positive people, it is giving a mixed
message to its employees. It is saying that AIDS is fearful
and bad and must be excised—like a malignant
tumour—from the workforce. Within such a context, no
amount of correct factual information will reach work-
ers.”

Government, ANC Discuss AIDS Policy

92WE0674A Johannesburg THE STAR in English
27 Aug 92 p 13

[Article: “Groups Unite To Combat AIDS”]

[Text] The Government and the ANC have sat down—
along with 32 umbrella organisations—to discuss a new
national policy on AIDS.

ANC department of health secretary Ralph Mgijima
yesterday described the initiative as unique and vital.

“This is the first time we have people working together
to fight AIDS,” he said.

“In the past, people working alone on individual pro-
grammes often duplicated work, and we hope the
National AIDS Convention of South Africa (Nacosa)
will bring them together to share ideas and identify
priorities in fighting the AIDS pandemic.”

SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA 5

Fledgling details of the new AIDS policy emerged from a
conference held in Johannesburg on Tuesday—the first
time anybody other than the Government has been
involved in setting a national agenda for combating the
disease.

The conference findings are a precursor to a national
AIDS conference planned for October at which a formal,
national strategy comprising aims, actions and a time-
table will be adopted.

The newly formed Nacosa will replace the Government’s
AIDS programme as a policymaking body for AIDS.

ANC department of health promotion and AIDS preven-
tion director Natalie Stockton yesterday said the ANC’s
commitment to work with the Government in formu-
lating a new national AIDS policy, despite political
reforms not having yet reached fruition, was a giant leap
forward in the battle against the disease.

According to Dr. Mgijima the most valuable lesson
learnt in the decade since AIDS surfaced in South Africa
was that all policy decisions taken should have the
approval of the communities they were imposed on.

“AIDS programmes of the past have been largely inef-
fectual because it ignored this important lesson,” he said.

The formulation of a new policy involving a broad
spectrum of the community would ensure it survived
political changes in the future, he added.

—The steering committee of Nacosa comprises delegates
from the ANC, the Department of National Health
and Population Development, the Congress of South
African Trade Unions, the National African Congress
and Trade Unions, the National African Federated
Chamber of Commerce, the South African Council of
Churches, the South African Consultative Committee
on Labour Affairs and the SA National Civics Associ-
ation.

UGANDA

Report Notes Decline in Some HIV Categories

92WE0688C Kampala THE NEW VISION in English
18 Jul 92 pp 1, 16

[Article by Ndyakira Amooti]

[Text] The incidence of HIV infection among the people
who go for treatment of sexually transmitted diseases
(STDs) has generally declined, a recent research done at
Mulago STD Clinic has shown.

The two-year study which ended late last year, however,
indicates that HIV infection among young women under
the age of 21, remains much higher than in young men in
the same age group.

Dr. Peter Nsubuga of the Mulago STD Clinic said the
results of the study showed that of the women under 21



26 CENTRAL EURASIA

Medical Workers and AIDS: Attitudes Toward
the Problem

93WE0038A Kiev VRACHEBNOYE DELO in Russian
No 7, Jul 92 pp 101-105

[Article by USSR Academy of Medical Sciences corre-
sponding member, Professor A. F. Frolov, Candidate of
Medical Sciences Yu. V. Kobyshcha, Candidate of Psy-
chological Sciences Z. A. Shabarova, and T..L. Kosten-
ich, Scientific Research Institute of Epidemiology and
Infectious Diseases imeni L. V. Gromashevskiy, and
Kiev City Health Center; UDC 614.23/.25:616-097]

[Text] Spread of the epidemic of HIV infection and
growth of the number of HIV carriers and AIDS patients
present a serious problem to public health workers. In
this connection there is a need for actively solving the
problem of protecting medical personnel against this
infection, the agent of which is transmitted at the time of
invasive procedures through blood and other of the
body’s biological fluids, with an unavoidable terminal
outcome in the event of infection. As Herbert ' notes,
physicians have found themselves in an atmosphere of
psychological discomfort and occupational stress.

Data from surveys conducted among junior medical
workers of a certain clinic in West Virginia, USA show
that all of them reported experiencing fear when coming
in direct contact with an AIDS patient while caring for
him. Only 7 percent of them were willing to render
emergency assistance to an AIDS patient in restoring his
vitally important functions, 57 percent stipulated that
they would participate if they were afforded protection
by a current of, flowing air, and 37 percent absolutely
refused to help ?, . Physicians, who are better informed of
HIV transmission pathways and preventive measures,
are more willing to carry out their professional duties. In
the course of a survey of 700 South African dentists, 50
percent expressed the readiness to treat such patients >;
15 percent of American physicians (out of 4,100) abso-
lutely refused to care for patients *.

The results of the surveys show that the problem of the
professional ethics of physicians is growing increasingly
more acute in connection with the AIDS pandemic. The
Council on Legal Affairs and Ethics of the American
Medical Association reported that illegal discrimination
against HIV carriers by, public health workers occurs in
16 states of the USA *. A decrease in the number of
students in nursing schools in the United States and
refusal by the larger part of them to work with AIDS
patients are also noted °.

The work experience of the republic’s AIDS Prevention
and Control Center, which has been functioning out of
the Kiev Scientific Research Institute of Epidemiology
and Infectious Diseases since 1989, also indicates that
physicians have mixed attitudes in relation to HIV
carriers, especially in cases where virus carriers require
consultative assistance.

SJPRS-TEP-92-018
6 November 1992

Data of the World Health Organization cited above and
evaluations of the AIDS problem by specialists permit
the conclusion that medical workers are insufficiently
informed about HIV infection, and that they are psycho-
logically unprepared for adequate perception of the
problem. This is an especially important problem for
Ukraine, where given the relatively low level of occur-
rence of HIV infection (1.4 cases of infection per 1
million population), the overwhelming majority of med-
ical workers have never encountered HIV carriers or
AIDS patients.

It may be hypothesized that the degree to which persons
are informed about the basic aspects of HIV infection
(transmission pathways, preventive measures etc.) is
correlated in a certain way with the nature of attitudes
toward HIV carriers and AIDS patients. This interrela-
tionship may be the leading factor determining the
adequacy with which medical personnel recognize the
psychosocial aspects of AIDS and their development of
professional attitudes corresponding to the principles of
ethics,

In order to reveal the level of knowledge of the AIDS
problem and the specific attitudes of medical workers
toward persons suffering this infection, the republic’s
AIDS Prevention and Control Center and the Kiev City
Health Center conducted a special study. Its procedure
foresaw anonymous questioning of medical workers in
the principal specialties, with regard for the degree of
occupational risk of HIV infection. The questionnaire
was distributed to 226 physicians in Kiev: stomatolo-
gists—59, surgeons—41, gynecologists—53, therapists—
73. The questionnaire was designed to measure the
degree to which respondents were informed on the AIDS
problem, and for use as a screening tool at both the
individual and the group level’. The questionnaire con-
sists of two parts. The first is intended to analyze the
respondent’s understanding of the basic concepts of the
HIV infection problem, and the second is intended to
measure levels of information regarding the following
parameters: 1) basic information on AIDS; 2) supple-
mentary information on AIDS; 3) awareness of the
problem’s significance; 4) the tendency to reject AIDS
patients.

Analysis of the understanding physicians have of the
basic concepts (Table 1) showed that the largest difficul-
ties occurred in defining the term “heterosexual.” On the
average, only one out of every four physicians ade-
quately defines this concept, which indicates that med-
ical workers have a low level of knowledge in sexology.
Because one of the leading pathways of HIV infection is
sexual, insufficient occupational training of physicians
in this area is extremely dangerous. It was also revealed
in the course of the survey that one out of every five

physicians (22 percent) is ignorant of the essence of a
positive reaction to HIV. Considering that laboratory
diagnosis is the principal method of diagnosing HIV
infection, this fact can also have negative consequences.



SJPRS-TEP-92-018
6 November 1992

which three tested positive for HIV. Delhi was immedi-
ately informed and an experts’ team was sent to the
islands on May 14 to collect more blood samples.

Since then, the team has made one more trip, this time to
train personnel on the islands on conducting on-the-spot
HIV testing through the use of Serodia kits. Arrange-
ments have by now been made for such tests at 10
different places on the islands, specially on the smaller
peripheral ones where foreign fishermen and smugglers
gain entry.

Sources said the local administration has started coun-
selling and awareness campaigns to check the spread of
the virus, which leads to the deadly AIDS disease. The
islanders, more importantly, the tribals, must get to
know that the disease as yet has no cure and death is
inevitable within 10 years of contracting the virus.
Action has to be taken on a large scale, for the tribals,
some of whom are already dwindling in numbers, now
face a more serious threat of extinction.

HIV-2 Virus Detected

BK2009160292 Hong Kong AFP in English 0725 GMT
20 Sep 92

{Text] New Delhi, Sept. 20 (AFP)—Virologists have for
the first time detected cases of Human Immunoeficiency
Virus-2 (HIV-2) in India and called for wider screening
to counter the virus, the Press Trust of India (PTI) said
Sunday.

Quoting the Indian Journal of Medical Research, it said
scientists from the National Institute of Virology in the
city of Pune had identified 14 cases among 200 high risk

NEAR EAST & SOUTH ASIA 25

candidates screened. Seven of them were prostitutes, and
two professional blood donors.

HIV-2, like the more common HIV-1, can develop into
the fatal acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS),
which the World Health Organisation and Indian scien-
tists say has gained a foothold in India and now threatens
to become a major pandemic in the country.

Dual infection was found in some cases, but current
testing in India for HIV-1 does not always detect HIV-2,
raising the danger that HIV-2 cases among blood donors
and others have remained undetected, PTI quoted the
virologists as saying.

ISRAEL

Health Ministry Data Shows 297 Immigrants
With HIV Virus

TA2608174292 Jerusalem Qol Yisra’el in Hebrew
1500 GMT 26 Aug 92

[Text] A total of 297 Ethiopian immigrants in Israel have
been found to be AIDS virus carriers. This data was
revealed for the first time at a news conference held by
the Health Ministry today.

Our correspondent Ya’el Ayalon reports that according
to the ministry's statistics, 39 Israelis are currently being
treated for AIDS, and 934 are known to be virus carriers.
The Health Ministry estimates that the total number of
carriers is about 3,000, one- fifth of whom are women.

In the coming months, all government hospitals will start
performing blood tests for AIDS, and the Health Min-
istry will launch a comprehensive public relations cam-
paign on the subject of AIDS.



2 SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

Minister on Measures To Deal With AIDS

AB2709130092 Addis Ababa Voice of Ethiopia
in Amharic to Neighboring Countries 1600 GMT
24 Sep 92

[Excerpts] More than $6.6 million has been secured as
aid for national AIDS prevention and control activities
in the 1993 budget year. [passage omitted] Out of the
money pledged, more than $1.5 million will come from
the Ministry of Health. [passage omitted]

In a speech announcing this, Health Minister Dr. Adan-
etch Kidane- Mariam said that the dreaded disease AIDS
is intensifying from time to time. She went on to say that
in 1992, six percent of the total population of our towns
who are sexually active and 50 percent of the prostitutes
became carriers of the AIDS virus. If this dreaded
epidemic is not checked, it is estimated that we are going
to have 45,000 AIDS patients and more than 800,000
AIDS virus carriers by the end of 1993. [passage
omitted]

GHANA

Renowned Herbalist, AIDS Specialist Dies

AB2608221992 Accra Ghana Broadcasting Corporation
Radio Network in English 0600 GMT 26 Aug 92

[Excerpts] The tragic death of Nana Drobo, a renowned
herbalist of the Kwaku Fri shrine in Brong Ahafo, has
been announced. Nana Drobo appears to have com-
mitted suicide in the early hours of yesterday by shooting
himself with a pistol. In a struggle to prevent him, a
companion was wounded in the arm and shoulder.
[passage omitted]

A statement from the PNDC [Provisional National
Defense Council] secretariat expressed deep regret at
Nana Drobo’s untimely death, especially at a time when
talks with the Ministry of Health were due to take place
to seek ways of maximizing Nana Drobo’s expertise in
the treatment of AIDS which has attracted international
attention. It is to be hoped, the statement said, that Nana
Drobo’s assistant would be able to carry on his work and
that his expertise has not died with him, providing AIDS
sufferers a source of hope.

KENYA

Over 23,000 AIDS Cases Now Confirmed

92WE0685B Nairobi THE KENYA TIMES in English
25 Jul 92 p 3

[Article by David Maina and Jane Nguyai]

[Text] There are over 23,000 confirmed AIDS cases in
Kenya, physician, Dr. Sylvester Faya says.

Another 750,000 are suspect carriers, says Faya, a
former doctor for national soccer team Harambee Stars.

SJPRS-TEP-92-018
6 November 1992

He told an AIDS awareness seminar going on at the Elida
Ponds Kenya Limited factory in Nairobi on Thursday
that the figure of those infected could be higher because
many people have not yet been tested.

He said there are about 300,000 AIDS patients country-
wide.

“We cannot ignore AIDS any more because of the sharp
rise in the number of people being infected,” he said.
“What is worrying is that the disease does not select.”

Dr. Faya said more information was needed by
wananchi to enable them to avoid contracting the dis-
ease through ignorance.

He said 10 percent of all children born were infected
with the HIV virus. Fifty percent of children born of
infected mothers themselves contract it and die within
three years of birth.

He warned school girls against falling prey of sugar
daddies whom he said were now going for school girls
due to the prevalence of the disease among older women.

Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Prisons, Mr. James
Mareka, has stressed the need to teach preventive mea-
sures against AIDS.

Mr. Mareka was closing a one week seminar on AIDS.

MALI

AIDS Spreading in Bamako

AB1309203092A Accra Ghana Broadcasting
Corporation Radio Network in English 1800 GMT
12 Aug 92

{Editorial Report] Health authorities have disclosed that
AIDS is spreading fast in Bamako with a total of 1,111
cases now registered. They say a study showed that there
were 258 new cases of AIDS in Bamako in the first six
months of this year, compared to 104 cases in the first six
months of 1990.

NAMIBIA

Total HIV Cases Far Higher Than Estimate

92WE0661A Windhoek THE NAMIBIAN in English
13 Jul 92 pp 1, 2

[Excerpts] Although the total of known cases of HIV
infection in Namibia stands at 2,000, the actual number
is immeasurably higher.

Health Minister Nicky Iyambo told members of the
National Assembly in the budget debate that the March
1992 estimate represented “a fraction of the actual
number of HIV infections and AIDS cases in Namibia”
since mechanisms for reporting and monitoring the
disease are still far from perfect. [passage omitted]



16 LATIN AMERICA

ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA
Hi AIDS Rate in Caribbean Reaches 50
Highest ‘eaches

FL2708140192 Bonaire Trans World Radio in English
1130 GMT 27 Aug 92

{Text] At least 50 people have died of AIDS in Antigua
and Barbuda since the disease was first diagnosed there.
The country now has the highest per-capita rate of AIDS
in the Caribbean. One Antigua doctor held a [word
distinct] yesterday, saying that five AIDS deaths came
within just 10 days. Dr. (Pinch) Ramsey said prostitu-
tion is the main reason for the spread of the disease in
Antigua and Barbuda. Dr. Ramsey fears that AIDS will
reach epidemic proportions in the country unless pro-
miscuity stops. He expressed hope that a cure for the
disease will be found within five years.

ARGENTINA

AIDS Carriers Reported

PY0409033192Buenos Aires TELAM in Spanish
1039 GMT 29 Aug 92

[Editorial Report]—National Anti-AIDS Program
Director Alfredo Miroli has stressed: “There are 70,000
to 100,000 AIDS carriers in Argentina.” He added that
the number of patients will double every 14 to 16
months.

COLOMBIA

Public Surveyed on AIDS Awareness, Precautions

92WE0681A Santa Fe de Bogota EL TIEMPO
in Spanish 24 Aug 92 pp 1A, 3A

[Excerpts] A survey carried out by EL TIEMPO and
Yankelovich Innova of Colombia shows that the citizens
of Colombia know what AIDS is, but they do not
concern themselves greatly about avoiding it. Sexual
relations are beginning at an ever earlier age. [passage
omitted]

Lack of Protection

An accurate determination of the true magnitude of this
evil in Colombia is difficult. The figures available are
incomplete, and it has been necessary, perhaps too often,
to estimate. Thus the disparity between what we know
the situation to be and what it might be is enormous.

Last month, the Ministry of Health reported that
between carriers and sick patients, there are 5,218 cases
in the country. Moreover, this number is increasing at a
rate more rapid than the average for Latin America.
Even so, these same health authorities admit that there is
a notable failure to report the disease, so that the figure
tight be rounded off at about 100,000 infected persons.

SIPRS-TEP-92-018
6 November 1992

The statistical problem is the fact that in many instances,
cases are not reported due to fear of social rejection. It
even happens that when an AIDS patient dies, the death
certificate shows another diagnosis. According to the
Ministry’s figures, five out of every 500 persons between
15 and 45 years of age in Colombia have the virus. Of
every 100 carriers, in such regions as Risaralda,
Santander, and Atlantico, 20 are women. In other
regions, the average is one woman for every 12 men. The
percentage of women infected is evidence that AIDS has
long since ceased to be a homosexual problem.

What About Bogota?

In Bogota alone, there may be 20,000 persons infected
with the HIV virus, according to the estimates of the
District Health Secretariat (SSD), But by the end of
1991, the number of persons, including patients and
those infected with the virus (HIV positive), reported to
the Epidemiological Vigilance Unit of the SSD was only
1,124. The difference between the two figures is based on
the estimate that for each patient diagnosed, there may
be 12 to 15 patients who have not been diagnosed.

Last year, 17 individuals died every month, according to
the SSD. This brought the number of victims of the
disease reported in Bogota alone since 1987 to 441. And
the number of patients suffering from AIDS in this city
is doubling every 16 months. Ninety percent of the cases
are reported in patients who are prostitutes, homosex-
uals, or persons who are not in a stable sexual relation-
ship. However, the numbers infected by contaminated
blood and transmission from mother to child have
increased.

Lack of Awareness

EL TIEMPO and Yankelovich Innova of Colombia
carried out the AIDS survey to find out what the citizens
of Colombia really know about this disease, and to
determine the extent to which they take precautions to
avoid it.

Although 279 individuals, representing 87.73 Percent of
the sampling, said they know what AIDS is, a worrisome
12.26 percent of the population has never heard of this
deadly virus. The strange thing is that even among those
who know about the disease, not everyone is aware of the
methods available for preventing it. Of those surveyed,
14.15 percent do not know how to avoid becoming
infected with the disease, while 85.84 percent do know
precisely what to do so as not to contract the disease.

However, and although they know that the virus is
deadly, 46.22 percent of those surveyed never use con-
doms during sexual relations. Of those surveyed, 66.98
percent responded that they only have sexual relations
with their regular partners, while the least faithful group,
representing 20.12 percent, have sexual relations with
persons other than their regular mates. This over-
whelming 66.98 percent of the citizens who are monog-
amous do not necessarily maintain stable sex lives solely



JPRS-TEP-92-018
6 November 1992

In connection with the first criminal case involving
AIDS, in which a 34-year-old man from Haiti was
accused on Wednesday of having consciously infected
others with HIV, the homicide division of the Copen-
hagen Police Department received 12 telephone calls
from women who said they had had intercourse with the
man from Haiti.

The number does not surprise Jan Fouchard. He believes
promiscuity is just as widespread in certain heterosexual
circles. Jan Fouchard thus urges everyone to protect
themselves against HIV.

GERMANY

Budget Earmarks 50 Million German Marks To
Fight AIDS

LD0307030792 Berlin ADN in German 1141 GMT
2 Jul 92

[Text] Bonn (ADN)—The draft 1993 federal budget has
earmarked 50 million German marks [DM] for com-
bating AIDS. Federal Health Minister Horst Seehofer
said in Bonn today that the money is to finance educa-
tion, models in the new federal states, and applied
research projects. The cuts in resources feared by many
have been averted.

The assets of the National AIDS Foundation will be
increased by 2 million DM from the Health Ministry’s
AIDS fund. However, the threat posed by AIDS con-
tinues. The AIDS Center of the Federal Health Ministry
has registered 8,463 cases in Germany from 1982 to the
present.

IRELAND

National AIDS Strategy Committee Reports

92WE0647 Dublin IRISH INDEPENDENT in English
20 Jul 92 p 3

[Article by John Whelan]

[Text] Anonymous, unlinked testing for AIDS amongst
the heterosexual population—such as pregnant women,
new-born infants, hospital out-patients and admis-
sions—are among the recommendations in a report
adopted by the National AIDS Strategy Committee.

Controversially, the report, by a committee which is
headed up by Health Minister Dr. John O’Connell, also
recommends the wider availability of condoms,
including their sale from vending machines.

And it also proposes the free distribution of condoms by
health boards and other agencies.

The 16-page submission presents short and long-term
strategies to combat the spread of HIV infection which
are far more wideranging than anything proposed to
date.

WEST EUROPE 33

The submission directly challenges the provisions con-
tained in Minister O’Connell’s new Health (Family Plan-
ning Amendment) Bill 1992 published earlier this
month,

And it is also in direct conflict with the Catholic bishops’
stance—revealed in their statement on Friday last—on
condom availability and AIDS control.

The proposals adopted recognise that large numbers of
people will continue to behave in a way that exposes
them to infection.

“Therefore, it is essential that much of the preventative
effort is concentrated on making ‘risk practices’ as safe as
possible, as well as trying to change long-standing behav-
iour,” states the report.

Shortcomings

The National AIDS Strategy Committee report is com-
prised of recommendations from four sub-committees
which address care and management of persons with
HIV/AIDS; surveillance of HIV/AIDS; education and
prevention strategies and measures to avoid discrimina-
tion against persons with HIV/AIDS.

It identifies major shortcomings in present surveillance
and prevention measures for the disease. And, apart
from demanding more resources for education and sup-
port for those who are HIV positive, it seeks more direct
intervention for groups such as drug users and maintains
that an incubation period of up to ten years requires
improved and far wider monitoring programmes among
the heterosexual community.

There was only one dissenting contribution when the
report was presented to the Midland Health Board last
week by Dr. Sheelagh Ryan of Mullingar.

The findings adopted by the Committee have now been
circulated to the country’s health boards.

Health Department Gives New AIDS Statistics

92WE0669A Dublin IRISH INDEPENDENT
in English 5 Aug 92 p 8

[Article: “Four Die of AIDS in Month”]

[Text] Four more Irish people have died from AIDS in
the last month.

The latest deaths mean that a total of 118 people have
now died from the disease in Ireland. Another case of
full-blown AIDS has also been reported to the Depart-
ment of Health, bringing the total number of cases to
277.

The latest AIDS deaths took place among two bisexuals,
one intravenous drug user and one heterosexual.



34 WEST EUROPE

According to Department of Health sources, over 1,250
Irish people have tested positive for the HIV virus. It is
understood that of this number, 82 are babies with the
virus.

NORWAY

Number of Heterosexual AIDS Cases Increasing

92WE0559A Oslo AFTENPOSTEN in Norwegian
11 Jul 92 p 10

[Article by Tone Stidahl: “HIV Infection Increasing
Among Heterosexuals”]

[Text] An increasing number of Norwegians are being
infected with the AIDS virus through heterosexual rela-
tions. Some 20 new cases have been discovered so far this
year—against 11 last year. At the same time, far fewer
homosexuals and drug addicts are being infected.

So far this year 50 new cases of HIV infection have been
discovered in Norway. That is 18 fewer than during the
first six months of last year. The statistics of the way the
infection has been transmitted have also changed.

The number of cases that have been transmitted hetero-
sexually has increased significantly. Altogether 20 people
who recently tested HIV-positive in the country have
stated that they probably were infected through having
heterosexual relations. That is almost twice the number
of cases since 1991. The increase is even larger in Oslo.
This year eight new cases have been registered, while the
number for the same period last year was only three.
Some of the people infected heterosexually were infected
while abroad.

In Africa, Asia, and Latin America the most common
way to be infected is through heterosexual relations.
Even though Norwegian statistics now show a similar
tendency, there is no reason to fear an infection of
epidemic proportions among heterosexuals, according to
Dr. Peter Kittelsen, head of Oslo’s Public Health Depart-
ment. Kittelsen has examined the statistics and thinks it
is difficult to point to a definite tendency since the total
numbers are so small. Chance might greatly affect the
outcome. Kittelsen believes that the absolute trend of
heterosexual infection is somewhere between this year’s
and last year’s infection rate.

People tested in Norway but born in countries with a
high incidence of HIV and AIDS make up a large portion
of the statistics. In this group, 16 new cases were found
during the first six months of this year. A positive aspect
of this year’s statistics is the fact that the number of
infected cases among homosexual men has decreased.
During the first six months of last year 27 men were
diagnosed as HIV-positive after having had sex with
other men. In Oslo the numbers have been reduced from
to four.

SIPRS-TEP-92-018
6 November 1992

The number of infected intravenous drug users also has
been more than halved since last year. This year, four
new cases have been found. Of these people, three live in
Oslo.

Stable Statistics

“The statistics for infected drug users have been at a low
and stable level for several years. One of the reasons is
easy access to new syringes,” according to Peter Kit-
telsen.

One person has been classified this year as infected as a
result of a blood transfusion. Kittelsen believes that the
person might have been infected for a long time without
being aware of it. There should be no new cases of HIV
infection as a result of blood transfusions, he feels. No
such cases were found last year.

The journal FOLKEHELSA has collected the informa-
tion for the HIV infection statistics. The physicians of
those who test positive are responsible for sending in
anonymous information as to gender, age, and possible
source of infection.

So far 1,172 HIV-positive cases have been registered in
Norway. Slightly more than 900 of them are men. So far
271 have developed AIDS and 189 have died, according
to the statistics from FOLKEHELSA.

PORTUGAL

AIDS Risk, National Statistics Provided

HIV Carriers

92WE0629A Lisbon DIARIO DE NOTICIAS
in Portuguese 4 Aug 92 p 14

[Article by L.F.: “An Unknown of Alarming Propor-
tions”)

[Excerpt] AIDS has its mathematics. And, when statis-
tics are reported and demographic projections made, it
turns out that the “unknown” in the equation (AIDS)
may be of alarming proportions. One of those operations
has led to the finding that about half (42 percent) of the
homosexual and bisexual population in the Lisbon Dis-
trict is seropositive and, therefore, carrying the HIV
virus.

That is one of the “discoveries” made by sociologist
Vitoria Mourao, an instructor at Coimbra University,
who devotes herself to studying the sexuality of the
Portuguese and works at the Center for Socioanthropo-
logical Studies Concerning AIDS. But how did Vitoria
Mourao arrive at that figure, which may be fundamental,
considering the number of new cases in which contagion
is occurring and which, according to WHO, will equal
the current number by the year 2000? Let us follow her
line of reasoning.


2 NEAR EAST & SOUTH ASIA

The armed insurgency in the state with its emphasis on
Islamic fundamentalism has checked extramarital sex
and also the drug menace to some extent in the valley.
Moreover, the decline of tourism has made contact of
locals with probable HIV carriers among tourists less
frequent.

Nevertheless, doctors point out, that people from the
valley visit places in India and abroad where they can
indulge in sexual promiscuity and contract AIDS. Thus,
a constant surveillance is required.

Thanks to the free Elisa kits provided by the DHS,
government of India, every unit of blood is tested for
HIV, says Dr. Ismail, head of the blood transfusion
department of the IMS. But such kits are not available at
other hospitals. The principal of the government medical
college, Srinagar, Dr. G.Q. Allaqaband, admits that no
such tests are done at the SMHS or any other associated
hospital. The SMHS blood bank has not purchased the
kits because of the prohibitive cost.

Cases in Uttar Pradesh

92WE0631C Calcutta THE TELEGRAPH in English
20 Jul 92 p 4

[Text] Lucknow, July 19 (PTI)—The spectre of an AIDS
epidemic looms large over India’s most populous state,
Uttar Pradesh, as 74 people, mostly professional blood
donors, have tested AIDS-positive.

Prof. Asha Mathur of the ICMR-AIDS surveillance
centre at the King George Medical College (KGMC) here
said of the 74 cases, 37 were detected in the last six
months and all belonged to Lucknow and Bareilly.

According to Prof. Mathur, a couple of those affected
have already died and many more would die a slow
death, multiplying the infection through blood transfu-
sions in the meantime. Prof. Mathur added that there
had been a sudden spurt in AIDS cases as compared to
previous years,

As against six in 1990, the number of those testing
AIDS-positive shot up to 22 last year. This year from
January to June, 37 fresh cases have come to the notice
of the surveillance centre.

The first AIDS case detected in the state was of a
Lucknow salesman in 1989 who spent most of his time
abroad. He died within a year at New Delhi’s All India
Institute of Medical Sciences.

Subsequently, two more full-blown AIDS cases, of a
Kenyan student and a Kanpur prostitute, were reported
by the centre. The second case was significant as the
prostitute could have infected a large number of men.

But the detection of 37 cases since January this year has
alarmed medical circles. Prof. Mathur said sporadic
cases have also been reported from Gonda, Faizabad,

JPRS-TEP-92-018
6 November 1992

Gorakhpur and Sitapur districts, and the “possible mul-
tiplication” of the infection would pose a jeopardy to the
doctors and the planners alike.

Interestingly, many of the samples (about 18,000)
screened so far are mainly from the private blood banks.
The High Risk groups like that of prostitutes have not
been covered so far in the state.

Prof. Mathur attributed this mainly to unawareness,
meagre funds and ill-equipped staff. Further, the prosti-
tutes are not registered and there is no survey of the
other High Risk groups.

Prof. Mathur disclosed that there had been a lukewarm
response from the state government on the AIDS detec-
tion and control programme although relevant facts had
been conveyed to the officials.

Battle To Stem Spread of AIDS Continues

Center’s AIDS Control Program

92WE0653A New Delhi INDIAN EXPRESS in English
25 Jul 92 p7

[Text] Express News Service, New Delhi—The Union
Government is quickly putting its AIDS control pro-
gramme in gear. The National AIDS Control Authority
(NACA), approved by the Cabinet on Wednesday, began
its formal functioning on Friday with P. R. Dasgupta
taking over as the project director.

A Maharashtra-cadre IAS officer who had served
between 1987 and 1990 as secretary to the State chief
minister, Mr. Dasgupta has relinquished his charge as
the WHO-sponsored Health Management Adviser to the
Ugandan Government to rejoin the Union Government
as an additional secretary.

NACA, which is empowered to implement an $85 mil-
lion AIDS-control project funded by the World Bank,
has been getting its action plan ready.

Mr. Dasgupta, who has the Ugandan experience (1%
HIV sero-positivity) fresh in his mind, apprehends the
Indian situation may be “a lot more complex.”

The latest data (up to June 30) before his department
puts the sero-positivity rate at 5.42 per thousand, out of
15,34,330 [as published] persons screened.

However, heterosexual promiscuity accounts for the
largest share of infections—46.20 percent. The use of
contaminated blood and intravenous drug intake are the
two other culprits, accounting for 18.46 and 18.28 per-
cent respectively.

Mr. Dasgupta is of the view that the indexation methods
followed in India are “inadequate,” and, as a result, the
“seemingly reasonable” rate of HIV sero-positivity in
India may be presenting an “incomplete picture.”

Mr. Dasgupta says the AIDS explosion in Uganda was
largely caused by an inordinately high level of sexual



IPRS-TEP-92-018
6 November 1992 3 AIDS

BULGARIA
Ministry of Health Regulation on AIDS /Sofia DURZHAVEN VESTNIK, 24 Apr 92] ....
LATIN AMERICA
ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA
Highest AIDS Rate in Caribbean Reaches 50 Deaths (Bonaire Trans World Radio, 27 Aug 92] .... 16
ARGENTINA

AIDS Carriers Reported [Buenos Aires TELAM, 29 Aug 92] .... 16
COLOMBIA
Public Surveyed on AIDS Awareness, Precautions
[Santa Fe de Bogota EL TIEMPO, 24 Aug 92] 16
CUBA
Blood Donations, Pregnant Women Tested for AIDS Virus
[Havana Tele Rebelde and Cuba Vision Networks, 10 Sep 92] ..... 17

GUATEMALA
Total of 124 AIDS Deaths [Panama City ACAN, 10 Sep 92] ...
HONDURAS

AIDS Cases Total 2,021 Nationwide /San Pedro Sula TIEMPO, 25 Aug 92]
Over 3,000 HIV Carriers {Panama City ACAN, 6 Sep 92] ....

JAMAICA

Netherlands Debt Foregiveness To Benefit Children With AIDS [Bridgetown CANA, 15 Aug 92] . 18
AIDS Education Program Encourages Condom Use [Bridgetown CANA, 23 Sep 92]

MEXICO
Over 10,000 Registered AIDS Cases (Madrid EFE, 22 Sep 92) ....
PANAMA

Total of 378 AIDS Cases /Panama City MAGAZINE DOMINICAL EL SIGLO, 6 Sep 92] ........+ 19
NEAR EAST & SOUTH ASIA
ALGERIA
AIDS: Medical Supplies, Funds Lacking /Ali Guissem; Algiers EL WATAN, 16 Aug 92] ....
INDIA

Weakness Seen in Fight Against AIDS
Discussion in Rajya Sabha [Calcutta THE TELEGRAPH, 16 Jul 92] ..
Neglect in Kashmir /Altaf Hussain; Bombay THE TIMES OF INDIA, 27 Jul 92] ..
Cases in Uttar Pradesh [Calcutta THE TELEGRAPH, 20 Jul 92]

Battle To Stem Spread of AIDS Continues .....
Center’s AIDS Control Program [New Del
Bombay Study /Calcutta THE STATESMAN, 31 Jul 92)



JPRS-TEP-92-018
6 November 1992

provinces and cities on China’s mainland, and 557, or 78
percent of the total came from Yunnan Province.

The latest figure released by the State AIDS Control
Centre showed 932 were proved HIV positive across the
country.

Between 1986 and 1991, some 946,800 people were
tested for AIDS. Eight AIDS control centres constantly
monitor several groups—especially prostitutes and drug
addicts—who are most susceptible to AIDS.

But researchers fear that the number of HIV carriers may
be much higher, and that the national statistics are
inaccurate.

The government has taken steps to control AIDS. It has
banned the import of blood products from abroad,
carried out strenuous efforts to stop drug smuggling,
issued a number of laws forbidding prostitution,
imposed compulsory medical check-up and AIDS tests
for people who have stayed abroad for more than six
months, and required that AIDS cases be reported to the
central government as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, experiments are under way to use traditional
Chinese medicine to help treat the deadly disease.

Researchers are worried about the lack of public knowl-
edge of AIDS. They are turning to surveys to accumulate
hard evidence to persuade the government to improve
public education.

Zhang’s research group targeted their first survey in
Beijing on two groups, taxi drivers and hotel attendants,
that have access to people—and information—from
across the country and around the world.

The questions covered what and how respondents knew
about AIDS and if they would change their sexual
practices to prevent being infected with the AIDS virus.

The survey showed that most of the drivers and hotel
employees, from 12 taxi companies and 14 hotels in
Beijing, know that AIDS is spread through sexual con-
tacts.

But 44.9 percent of the taxi drivers mistakenly believed
that all HIV carriers exhibit outward and noticeable
symptoms of AIDS.

CHINA 9

In addition, 23.8 percent of the hotel employees and 36.8
percent of the taxi drivers do not know that the AIDS
virus can be transmitted through blood transfusions, and
35.2 percent of the hotel employees and 42.2 of the taxi
drivers do not know that it can be transmitted through
intravenous injections.

While most of the respondents say they have used
condoms, only 44.4 percent of the hotel employees and
64.2 percent of the taxi drivers know that the use of
condoms can prevent the virus from spreading.

A similar study was conducted among 215 government
office workers, doctors and police officers in Yunnan, a
province where drug use is relatively high.

“These people play an important role in improving
public education,” the study says.

This study, jointly conducted by local researchers and by
the Yunnan Provincial Station for Disease Prevention
and the China Academy of Preventive Medicine, shows
most of the survey respondents take an interest in
learning about AIDS.

But about one-third of them have seriously mistaken
notions about how AIDS is transmitted. About 31.7
percent of them believe that mosquitoes also distribute
AIDS virus. And about 33 percent have no idea whether
the AIDS virus can be transmitted by shaking hands or
having dinner with HIV carriers.

More than half do not know the difference between HIV
carriers and people who have developed AIDS.

A similar survey was given to 51 gay men in Beijing by
the China Institute of Health Research and the China
Academy of Preventive Medicine. Almost every one of
them had heard about AIDS and knew about the special
groups of people who are most vulnerable to AIDS
infection.

But an appalling two-thirds were unaware that AIDS is
beginning to threaten China. They believe that AIDS is
something foreign and they are safe as long as they do
not have contacts with foreigners.

All three surveys indicate that China still has a long way
to go to strengthen its efforts to educate its people with
accurate information on AIDS and AIDS prevention.



SJPRS-TEP-92-018
6 November 1992

economy, has finally encountered a serious threat from
AIDS. Comparisons were then drawn between this situ-
ation and the consequences of a potential AIDS epi-
demic in the LPDR by economists Khamphon
Kounthapanya and Anthony Zola. Both speakers noted
that AIDS-afflicted persons will have a serious impact on
their families, because the families will have to shoulder
double burdens—the cost of medical treatment and the
loss of the fruits of labor due to illness or death.

Speakers also promoted a policy on developing a multi-
sectoral approach to the control of AIDS. The impor-
tance of changing behavior was discussed by representa-
tives of international agencies based on their experiences
in Thailand. They pointed out the need to foster educa-
tion and knowledge about the disease on a mass public
level so as to change public attitudes to prevent individ-
uals and their families from acquiring AIDS.

The particular impact of AIDS on women was outlined
by Mrs. Khamphet Phonsena of the Lao Women’s
Union. The legal and ethical issues of dealing with AIDS
in regard to discrimination were also addressed.

Throughout the proceedings, speakers emphasized the
need for a coordinated prevention campaign in the
LPDR. As AIDS remains incurable and continues to
spread in the region and the costs of dealing with an
AIDS epidemic increase exponentially, prevention is
therefore the only humane option.

The conference was sponsored by the United Nations
Development Program and the Swedish International
Development Authority.

At the conclusion of the conference, Dr. Sithat Insisian-
gmai, member of the Laos National AIDS Control Com-
mittee, assessed the outcome of the meeting and the
action plan to combat the disease:

[Begin Sithat recording] As you all know, in Laos, the
implementation of the anti-AIDS program nationwide
just began this year. I think that the results of this
two-day meeting will be positively applied to the work of
preventing the spread of the disease and tackling treat-
ment of those with AIDS in our country.

On the issue of the prevention and control of AIDS, first
of all, I think what needs to be urgently corrected is the
issue of organization. There is a need for improving the
organizational structure of the national committee,
which is the central anti-AIDS committee, as well as the
provincial anti-AIDS committees throughout the
country. Secondly, as you all know, AIDS is the most
devastating disease. Up to the present, AIDS remains
incurable, and there has been no vaccine found to
prevent the disease. Therefore, the most important work
now is in disseminating basic knowledge of AIDS to the
mass public—people all over the country. [end
recording]

EAST ASIA 11

WHO-Sponsored Seminar on AIDS Held in
Luang Namtha

BK1309053292 Vientiane Vitthayou Hengsat Radio
Network in Lao 0000 GMT 13 Sep 92

[Text] A two-day comprehensive seminar on AIDS con-
cluded in Luang Namtha Province on 11 September. The
seminar was jointly organized by the National Anti-
AIDS Committee and the Public Health Service of
Luang Namtha Province and funded by the World
Health Organization.

A total of more than 40 representatives from various
agencies in the province attending the seminar were
given general knowledge about AIDS, advice for AIDS-
afflicted persons and AIDS victims, and appropriate
attitudes and humanitarian treatment toward AIDS
patients.

The seminar also emphatically discussed ways and
means to prevent and control the spread of the deadly
disease in Laos.

MALAYSIA

Minister—Only 1000 Foreign Workers With
AIDS Virus

BK0608150692 Hong Kong AFP in English 0804 GMT
6 Aug 92

[Text] Kuala Lumpur, Aug 6 (AFP)—Malaysia’s health
minister has confirmed that only 1,000 foreign workers
in the country are carriers of the AIDS virus, correcting
a deputy minister who had bloated the figure by more
than a hundred times.

Minister Lee Kim Sai, returning from China late
Wednesday, said those detected carriers of the human-
immuno deficiency virus (HIV) that causes the deadly
acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) repre-
sented 0.25 percent of the 400,000-odd foreign workers
registered in Malaysia.

News reports Thursday quoted Lee as saying that the
finding was based on a random survey of 5,000 blood
samples tested in 35 private laboratories in eight states
where the foreigners registered for work during a seven-
month programme.

Lee’s disclosure came 10 days after Deputy Home Min-
ister Megat Junid Ayob shocked the nation by saying
three out of every 10 of the 337,000 who registered for
work permits recently were found to be HIV carriers.

But Lee said the actual HIV status of foreign workers
would only be known if blood samples of all the 400,000
were tested.

He said those tested HIV-positive would be reexamined
by the government-owned Institute of Medical Research
and deported if the result was confirmed.



IJPRS-TEP-92-018

6 November 1992 2 AIDS
ZAMBIA
Rural Hospital Reports Rising AIDS Deaths /Lusaka THE WEEKLY POST, 14-20 Aug 92]... 6
ZIMBABWE

Masvingo Highest HIV Among Pregnant Women [Harare THE HERALD, 31 Jul 92]
Estimated 650,000 Infected With HIV {Harare THE HERALD, 3 Aug 92]

CHINA

Official Describes Measures To Combat ‘Surge’ in HIV Cases
[Karen Cheng; Hong Kong SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST, 9 Sep 92]
Information on AIDS Scarce in China /Li Xing; Beijing CHINA DAILY, 28 Sep 92]
EAST ASIA

CAMBODIA

Health Education Unit Launches Anti-AIDS Campaign
[Phnom Penh Samleng Pracheachon Kampuchea Radio Network, 3 Sep 92] .....

INDONESIA

Official Denies Existence Of Workers With AIDS
[Jakarta Radio Republik Indonesia Network, Jul 92] ....

SOUTH KOREA

Eight Test HIV-Positive in August /Seoul YONHAP, 31 Aug 92] .....

National Conference on AIDS and Development Ends
[Vientiane Vitthayou Hengsat Radio Network, 4 Sep 92]

WHO-Sponsored Seminar on AIDS Held in Luang Namtha
[Vientiane Vitthayou Hengsat Radio Network, 13 Sep 92] ....

MALAYSIA

Minister—Only 1000 Foreign Workers With AIDS Virus [Hong Kong AFP, 6 Aug 92]
Minister Says 40 Malaysians Have Now Died of AIDS

[Kuala Lumpur UTUSAN MALAYSIA, 20 Aug 92] .... 12
Over 3,000 AIDS Carriers Detected, 40 Dead at End of July
[Wan Sabariah Shikh Ali; Kuala Lumpur BERITA HARIAN, 21 Aug 92] ..... 12
PHILIPPINES
Health Department Says Over 35,000 AIDS Cases
[Manila Far East Broadcasting Company, 16 Sep 92] 12

SINGAPORE

Health Ministry Releases Figures of HIV-Infected People
[David Miller; Singapore THE STRAITS TIMES, 5 Sep 92]

EAST EUROPE A
ALBANIA

Deputy Minister Reports Nation Free of AIDS /Tirana Radio Tirana Network, 11 Sep 92] ss... 14


32 WEST EUROPE

“Crisis help for the infected person can cut down on
unsafe sex. Psychological help needs to be provided
immediately. But it is very few who get treatment right
away. Often there are waiting lists for psychologists in
the nation’s hospitals,” said Jensen.

Larsen: Law Allows Doctors HIV Intervention

92WE0642A Copenhagen BERLINGSKE TIDENDE
in Danish 11 Aug 92 p15

[Article by Jorgen Keuchel: “Minister: Doctors Ought
To Report Those Who Spread Infection”)

[Text] Health Minister Ester Larsen (Liberal) has said
that the medical practitioners law already gives physi-
cians an opportunity to intervene if, for example, a person
infected with HIV refuses to inform their spouse/
unmarried partner.

“It is the physician’s responsibility if there is not timely
intervention with people who consciously transmit HIV
to others.”

So said Health Minister Ester Larsen in connection with
the case pending against a 36-year-old man from Haiti
who in the past week was accused of grievous bodily
harm after having had intercourse with women without a
condom even though he knew he was HIV-positive.

In the past few days several physicians have said that
they can only urge people who are HIV-positive to
practice safe sex. But the physician’s pledge of confiden-
tiality prevents them from warning the spouses or
unmarried partners of people who are infected with HIV
who do not consent to it.

The health minister believes that such a conception must
be based on a “misunderstanding.” She said that all
physicians are governed by the medical practitioners
law’s rules governing when there can be a deviation from
the pledge of confidentiality.

“It is clearly stated that it can occur in cases in which
children are exposed to danger and if consideration of
another person’s interests justifies it,” Larsen said.

So she cannot see why physicians can doubt that it is
possible for them to intervene. Uncertainty can arise
only in connection with the judgment of when a case is so
dramatic that there must be intervention.

“But if the physician should have doubts, he or she
should contact the National Board of Health, which can
provide advice,” the minister said.

Karen Hojte Jensen, the Conservative People’s Party’s
spokesman on health, believes the National Board of
Health ought to tighten the regulations governing physi-
cians if there are doubts.

“Even today the legislation makes it possible to contact
the sexual partner as well without the consent of the

JPRS-TEP-92-018
6 November 1992

infected person in situations which are life-threatening
for the partner,” the Conservative spokesman also
stated.

Nor does Birgitte Husmark, the Socialist People’s Party’s
health spokesman, believe the regulations need to be
changed. But she believes there should be a few more
guidelines regarding who the physician should contact,
for example, a choice between the public health
inspector and the police.

But Ester Larsen does not believe it is possible to come
up with specific instructions, because cases are often
very different and must be assessed from an overall view.

EC Report: Number of Sex Partners
Undiminished

92WE0642B Copenhagen BERLINGSKE TIDENDE
in Danish 11 Aug 92 p15

[Article by Hans Davidsen-Nielsen: “AIDS Has Little
Influence On the Number of Sexual Partners”)

[Text] Homosexuals and bisexuals have just as many
sexual partners as four years ago, a new EC study shows.

The AIDS epidemic has had an astoundingly small effect
on the number of sexual partners homosexual and
bisexual men have had in the past four years. In fact
today there are more men who have 50 partners a year
than there were in 1988.

So concludes a new EC study of the sexual habits of
Danish gay and bisexual men. The study was conducted
among 1,600 men here in Denmark. Comparable anal-
yses are currently being made in seven other European
countries, and together the studies will form the basis for
a more effective fight against HIV and AIDS in Europe.

Whereas Danish homosexual and bisexual men in gen-
eral have gotten better about protecting themselves
against the HIV infection, there has been a surprisingly
small change in the number of sexual partners. To be
sure, there were more among the 1,600 who were inter-
viewed who abstained completely from sex than there
were in 1988, But at the same time there was an increase
in the categories of 11-20 and 21-50 sexual partners in a
year.

The average number of partners for gays and bisexual
men in both 1988 and 1991 was two to five per year.

Doctor Jan Fouchard of the Institute for Social Medicine
at the University of Copenhagen, who worked on the
new EC study together with five other researchers,
explained the trend as follows:

“The decline in the number of sexual partners turned up
in 1988. A 1981 study showed that at that time there was
an average of 12 partners in Copenhagen and eight in
Arhus.”



20 NEAR EAST & SOUTH ASIA

ALGERIA

AIDS: Medical Supplies, Funds Lacking

92WE0655D Algiers EL WATAN in French
16 Aug 92 pp 1, 13

[Article by Ali Guissem: “AIDS in Algeria; Screening
Still Inadequate”—first paragraph is EL WATAN intro-
duction]

[Text] In Algeria, AIDS was long presented as an
“dmported disease.” From December 1985, when the
first reported case was detected, until now, figures
increased appreciably, and our scientific experts
acknowledged that the HIV infection has now gone
native.

The latest figures from the prevention department of the
Ministry of Health and Population mention 110 cases of
the disease and 300 seropositive individuals. Applying
the WHO [World Health Organization] method, which
estimates that for each case of AIDS there are 50 to 100
seropositive individuals, the number of virus carriers
could rise to 11,000 cases of infection.

If we take into account some indiscretions from medical
circles, which state that official figures can safely be
multiplied by 10 with no risk of exaggeration, the situa-
tion is alarming.

According to Dr. Fares of the National Public Health
Institute (INSP), while Algeria now belongs among pro-
file-III countries, because of its geographical location
between profile-I countries (West Europe) and profile-II
countries (Central Africa), it is not shielded from an
endemic process in years to come.

Dr. Fares sees no frontiers for sexually transmitted
diseases [STDs].

He maintains that AIDS is essentially an STD, and
mentions sources predicting that 90 percent of the trans-
mission will occur heterosexually by the year 2000. This
recision shows that the HIV infection moves largely
ym high-risk groups such as homosexuals and drug
addicts, to the population at large.

For his part, Dr. Chaker, an official of the prevention
department of the Ministry of Health, stresses contami-
nation through blood transfusions, which so far accounts
for 25 of the above-mentioned 110 cases.

What Kind of Prevention?

There were 27 reported cases of infection through hypo-
dermic needles, which clearly shows the inadequacy of
the public awareness campaign concerning the disease.

With no vaccine against the HIV infection currently
available, prevention and information are the only
means to slow down the progress of the disease. In our
country, the strategy to fight AIDS is almost entirely the
responsibility of the National Committee Against STDs

JPRS-TEP-92-018
6 November 1992

and AIDS, which was created in December 1986, Pro-
fessor Bouguermouh explained to us that the committee
had initiated a short-term control program consisting in
setting up as many screening centers as possible and
providing the first means of prevention and information
(brochures, meeting, etc.).

The intermediate-term program was to be financed in
part by the WHO, but its assistance was considerably
reduced as a result of the events in Algeria.

Eventually, the intermediate-term program was
launched with national resources. It covers essentially
transmission through blood and sexual transmission.
Thus, in the past year, the number of screening centers
increased from 30 to 107 laboratories. Unfortunately,
Professor Bouguermouh emphasized, the Pasteur Insti-
tute that imports the reagents is no longer in a financial
position to make these products available.

More precisely, Professor Bouguermouh mentioned that,
by next October, there will be a shortage of reagents at
the Pasteur Institute, which is also the national reference
laboratory, unless it can find 1.5 billion centimes.

Probably for that reason, screening for AIDS is still not
standard procedure in our country.

At present, this type of serologic analysis is performed
only at a physician’s recommendation. However, blood
donations and imported blood products are subject to
strict controls.

No Condoms

The second major problem that promotes transmission
of the virus through the blood has to do with the shortage
of hypodermic needles, even in hospitals. When such
medical devices are reused, there is ground to fear that
health structures may turn into AIDS Propagation
points, for which the ministry involved will bear full
responsibility.

Concerning the sexual transmission mode, Professor
Bouguermouh first regretted that condoms are not avail-
able in our country, and he recommended that this
means of protection be presented as part of all existing
efforts, so each individual could make his own choice
(between fidelity, chastity, and condoms).

Condoms, which should not be aggressively introduced,
should reappear in pharmacies and at health-care facili-
ties. It is an adequate protective means in 99 percent of
the cases, the professor pointed out.

For Dr. Fares of the INSP, who likes to repeat a
conclusion of Jonathan Mann (WHO), it is possible to
prevent transmission of HIV precisely because HIV is
transmitted as a result of individual and social behavior
patterns. For this reason, changing the behavior patterns
rather than the serologic condition of individuals is the
main objective of prevention. But how do you change the



Epidemiology
AIDS

JPRS-TEP-92-018 CONTENTS 6 November 1992

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

SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
BOTSWANA

HIV Virus Statistics for Francistown Given
[Daphne Motswakae; Gaborone BOTSWANA DAILY NEWS, 30 Jun 92]

ETHIOPIA

AIDS Cases Said on Rise in Eritrea [Asmera Voice of the Broad Masses of Eritrea, 28 Aug 92] .... 1
‘At Least 200’ New AIDS Patients Registered Monthly
[Addis Ababa Voice of Ethiopia, 15 Sep 92] .....

Minister on Measures To Deal With AIDS [Addis Ababa Voice of Ethiopia, 24 Sep 92] 2
GHANA ’
Renowned Herbalist, AIDS Specialist Dies
[Accra Ghana Broadcasting Corporation Radio Network, 26 Aug 92]... 2
KENYA
Over 23,000 AIDS Cases Now Confirmed
[David Maina and Jane Nguyai; Nairobi THE KENYA TIMES, 25 Jul 92] 2
MALI
AIDS Spreading in Bamako
[Accra Ghana Broadcasting Corporation Radio Network, 12 Aug 92] 2
NAMIBIA
Total HIV Cases Far Higher Than Estimate /Windhoek THE NAMIBIAN, 13 Jul 92] .. 2
NIGERIA
Enugu State Has 60 AIDS Virus Cases /Lagos THE GUARDIAN, 5 Aug 92 3
SOUTH AFRICA
Chemist Develops Product To Kill HIV Virus [Cape Town THE ARGUS, 21 Jul 92] 3
Eskom’s AIDS Campaign Criticized
[Mark Gevisser; Johannesburg THE WEEKLY MAIL, 7-13 Aug 92] 3
Government, ANC Discuss AIDS Policy /Johannesburg THE STAR, 27 Aug 92] 5
UGANDA
Report Notes Decline in Some HIV Categories
[Ndyakira Amooti; Kampala THE NEW VISION, 18 Jul 92] 5



28 CENTRAL EURASIA

refusal to do his duty—provide medical care—is unques-
tioningly a violation of deontological principles and
professional duty.

Considering the interdependence revealed by the
research between the level of knowledge of medical
workers and the nature of their attitudes toward HIV
carriers, the principal means of surmounting inadequate
attitudes may be defined. It consists of increasing the
level of professional knowledge of medical workers
embracing the basic aspects of the AIDS problem, and
providing them with the necessary means of protection
and state insurance against HIV infection in the course
of fulfilling their official duties. This will be a prerequi-
site of higher quality medical care and establishment of
a physician’s humane attitude toward the patient.

Bibliography

‘Herbert, E., OCCUP. SAFETY AND HEALTH, Vol
17, No 12, 1987, pp 22-23.

2Clak, A.-B., AMER. J. INFEC. CONTR., Vol 16, No 6,
1988, pp 272-273.

3Terblanche, J. and van der Merve, C. A., J. DENTAL
ASSOC. S. AFR., Vol. 43, No 9, 1988, pp 405-408.

*Merrill, J. M., Laux, L. and Thornby, J., SOUTH MED.
J., Vol 82, No 4, 1989, pp 426-432.

5Patterson, Russel, MOUNT SINAI J. MED., Vol 56,
No 3, 1989, pp 250-251.

®CDS AIDS WEEKLY, 7 Dec 1987, p 3.

70’Mahony, P., IRISH J. PHYCHOL., Vol 10, No 1,
1989, pp 21-38.

AIDS Case at Correctional Facility

92UN1972A Vilnius LETUVOS RITAS in Russian
14-21 Aug 92 p 1

(Unattributed article: “AIDS at Lukiskiai”’]

[Text] Comparatively recently, the 12th carrier of HIV
was discovered and now a 13th has appeared. The virus
was discovered in the blood of a man imprisoned in
Lukiskiai Prison.

When a consultant from the AIDS Center G. Bogusis
described the situation in the Lithuanian corrective
labor institutions, representatives of the MVD were
quite surprised and they wondered from where such
accurate information had been obtained? Clearly, they
themselves knew about the homosexuality flourishing in
the zones (often violent) and drug addiction, where for
the intravenous administering of drugs they reused the
only syringe and the only needle, they knew that only one
razor was issued to several men and tatooing was done
with completely unsterilized needles. In all the Lithua-
nian corrective labor institutions there are ideal condi-
tions for the spread of AIDS.

SPRS-TEP-92-018
6 November 1992

AIDS Rate Increases Among Adult Population

LD2808171292 Moscow ITAR-TASS in English
1104 GMT 28 Aug 92

[Article by ITAR-TASS correspondent Lyubov
Dunayeva]

[Text] Moscow August 28 TASS—AIDS among the adult
population of the country, especially among homosex-
uals, has shown a dramatic increase, Oleg Yurin, acting
head of the Russian Research and Methodological
Center for AIDS Prevention and Eradication, told
ITAR-TASS. One hundred AIDS infection cases were
registered in the first half of the current year, which is
about the same as in the whole of 1991. Eighty of them
have already died.

A sharp growth of AIDS incidence among homosexuals
can be explained by the fact that previously they were
practically underground, while now they are expanding
their connections and even organising symposiums and
meetings. Naturally, this increases the infection risk.

So far as children are concerned, almost no cases of HIV-
infection of children at hospitals and maternity homes
were registered because of the toughening of preventive
and hygienic regime there.

The situation is being made more complicated by the
expansion of contacts with other countries, Oleg Yurin
continued. Foreigners coming to Russia for a long time
have to present a special certificate or undergo an AIDS
medical checkup. At the same time, businessmen and
foreign tourists remain outside control. Cases of Russian
citizens contracting AIDS abroad have become more
frequent.

According to Yurin, no new anti-AIDS vaccines or
medicinal preparations have been developed so far.
Azidothymidine, the only medicinal preparation used
both in this country and abroad, does not cure AIDS. It
can only stop the reproduction of the virus in some cases
and slow down the development of the disease. The
effect of azidothymidine depends on the overall health
state of the patient, his age and other factors, Yurin
stressed.

Government Takes Measures To Prevent AIDS
Expansion

AU0709111592 Kiev URYADOVYY KURYER

in Ukrainian 28 Aug 92 p 9

[Unattributed commentary: “We Should Rather Avoid
Underestimating the Danger of AIDS”]

[Text] Taking into account the danger to the public
constituted by the disease of the 20th century, the
government has approved the “Rules for Conducting
Medical Examinations for the Purpose of Revealing and


Nr

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JPRS-TEP-92-018
6 November 1992

promiscuity, caused by the breakdown of taboos and the
age-old tribal customs as a result of a sudden exposure to
western culture.

But, according to him, the Indian reality is more
daunting because of rapid commercialisation of sex, and
the proliferation of brothels, pick-up joints and call-girls.
“The risk factor is much higher when sex is cheap and
quick,” he said.

In Bombay, which has been described at the recently
concluded 8th World AIDS Conference in Amsterdam as
the “vortex” of the disease in Asia, NACA has enlisted
the Bombay Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the
State Government to conduct a door-to-door community
survey in the brothel-infested Khetwadi area.

Earlier survey reports, based on findings at STD clinics,
have put the sero-positivity in the area at an alarming 35
percent. The community-based survey, to be completed
in early-September, may show a much lower rate as it is
being conducted on a wider base.

In Calcutta, a similar random survey in the flesh-trade
district of Sonagachhee, completed four months ago, has
found only five sero-positive cases after sampling 440.

The thrust of the control programme would be to pro-
mote safe sex and to improve blood safety, Mr. Dasgupta
explained. The level of sero-surveillance is also being
upgraded with the introduction of rapid diagnostic kits,
he added.

These kits, known as Serrodia, eliminate ELISA readings
and instead use a simpler blood agglutination test which
can display results within two hours. Besides, some
legislative measures are also on the anvil as a result of
which hospital authorities and medical practitioners
may come under a statutory obligation to provide treat-
ment to HIV-positive patients.

There have recently been half-a-dozen cases, including
one at the prestigious All India Institute of Medical
Sciences (AIIMS) in the Capital, where HIV-positive
patients have been denied treatment.

It is planned that 35.6 percent of the programme budget
will be spent on promotion of public awareness and
community support, whereas 32.9 percent will be used to
improve blood safety.

Bombay Study

92WE0653B Calcutta THE STATESMAN in English
31 Jul 92 p 12

{Text] New Delhi, July 30—Doctors have detected the
human immunodeficiency virus in patients with liver
cirrhosis, adding one more to the list of high-risk groups
for contacting AIDS, reports PTI.

The HIV infection was present in 3.8 percent of those
suffering from liver cirrhosis in a study of 130 patients
conducted by the BYL Nair Hospital and the T.N.
Medical College in Bombay.

NEAR EAST & SOUTH ASIA 2B

Reporting their findings in the Indian Journal of Medical
Research, Dr. D. N. Amarpurkar and his colleagues said
the virus was present in four live cirrhosis patients who
were chronic alcoholics and had never received blood
transfusion, and one who was a homosexual.

A recent study in Bombay identified promiscuous het-
erosexuals, homosexuals, prostitutes, professional blood
and kidney donors and recipients of blood transfusion
and organ transplants as high-risk groups for AIDS.

The HIV infection is transmitted in the same way as the
hepatitis-B virus, which is a major cause of liver cirrhosis
in India. Patients of liver cirrhosis are likely to receive
multiple blood transfusions in emergencies such as
severe bleeding.

Of the 130 patients, 11 had tested positive for AIDS with
the enzyme-linked Immunosorbent Assay (Elisa) proce-
dure. Of these 11, five tested positive again with a
supplementary Western Blot test.

Further studies are required on a large number of
patients to recommend HIV testing routinely for liver
cirrhosis patient, the report in the journal said.

Studies are also required to confirm the relationship of
the HIV infection in patients of cirrhosis with or without
histories of alcoholism.

AIDS in Northeast

92WE0653C New Delhi INDIAN EXPRESS in English
29 Jul 92 p 11

[Text] Express News Service, New Delhi—About one-
fifth of the total HIV positive cases in the country were
being reported from North Eastern states, the Union
Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Mr. M. L.
Fotedar, told the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.

Replying to a question from Mr. Probin Deka (Cong),
Mr. Fotedar said that the government had not come
across any investigation report from North Eastern Insti-
tute of Anthropological Research in Shillong, suggesting
that one-fourth of AIDS cases in the country were from
North East. He said even the Indian Council of Medical
Research had not come across such a report.

He said out of 8,309 HIV positive cases reported, 1,611
were from North Eastern states.

Listing various measures taken by the government to
check the spread of AIDS in the region, he said safety of
blood and blood products was being ensured by estab-
lishing zonal blood testing centres in all the seven states.

At present five zonal blood testing centres were oper-
ating in Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram,
Nagaland and Tripura while eight surveillance centres
where HIV testing facilities were available—three in
Assam, three in Nagaland and two in Manipur.



SPRS-TEP-92-018
6 November 1992

HIV-positive,” Dr. Stamps told about 300 A level stu-
dents at Harare High School in Mbare.

“Up to 42 percent of pregnant women in Masvingo have
tested HIV- positive. This is very frightening.”

Discouraging high school students from engaging in
sexual activities until they were ready and old enough for
marriage, Dr. Stamps said this was a “100 percent
guarantee” of not contracting the HIV virus while using
a condom was only 80 percent.

Zimbabwe had the fifth highest number of reported
AIDS cases in Africa with about 14,000 cases.

Estimated 650,000 Infected With HIV

92WE0687A Harare THE HERALD in English
3 Aug 92p5

[Text] The number of AIDS cases had reached 14,023 by
the end of June, up from 12,514 at the end of March this
year with 650,000 infected with HIV, the AIDS virus,
according to the AIDS Control Programme.

A spokesman, Dr. Everisto Marowa, said in an interview
that the majority of the AIDS victims are those in the
economically active groups.

There were 2,405 AIDS cases reported by the end of June
in the 0-4 age group; 88 aged five to 14 years; 317 aged 15
to 19 years; 4,035 aged 20 to 29 years; 3,841 aged 30 to
39 years; 1,433 aged 40 to 49 years; 592 aged 50 to 59
years; and 138 aged 60 years and over.

There were a total of 1,174 cases where it was difficult to
identify the ages.

SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA 7

Dr. Marowa said of the AIDS cases reported by the end
of June, 5,860 were females, 7,733 were males. There
were 430 people with the incurable disease whose sex
had not been recorded.

“There is a definite increase in AIDS cases and we
estimate that over 650,000 Zimbabweans have got the
HIV virus,” he said.

“We don’t have real data on HIV infection, but we think
650,000 is a realistic estimate, based on our studies on
the number of people with HIV-related conditions like
TB,” Dr. Marowa said.

Children diagnosed with AIDS were either infected
during pregnancy, or were sexually abused, particularly
girls in the five to 14-year age group.

The AIDS Control Programme was carrying out an
exercise to monitor the trend of HIV infection in the
country.

“We are also working out a community-based strategy to
take care of AIDS victims, particularly those who are in
and out of hospitals.

“We are trying to encourage family-based counselling to
provide moral, spiritual and cultural support to AIDS
victims,” Dr. Marowa said.

Indications were that the national health system would
not be able to cope with the increase in the number of
AIDS patients, particularly in the final and chronic
stages of the disease.

“It will be very difficult for the health institutions to
cope without assistance from the community. We have
to re-organise ourselves as a community and understand
that we have to consider AIDS as a disease which can
affect anyone,” Dr. Marowa said.



10 EAST ASIA

CAMBODIA

Health Education Unit Launches Anti-AIDS
Campaign

BK0409045392 Phnom Penh Samleng Pracheachon
Kampuchea Radio Network in Cambodian 0430 GMT
3 Sep 9.

[Text] On the morning of 3 September, Dr. Tan Tri,
head of the health education unit of the Center for the
Combat of Infectious Diseases and a member of the
Cambodian Anti-AIDS Commission, promoted educa-
tion on the contagion of AIDS at the Cambodian Radio
and Television General Department so as to motivate
our compatriots there to cooperate in launching an
anti-AIDS campaign. He gave an explanation and
showed a videotape on the world situation of AIDS,
which is currently spreading to our country.

Dr. Tan Tri also spoke about the symptoms and spread
of AIDS, which indiscriminately affects human health
and life ‘and about a number of preventive measures
against the disease. He emphatically pointed out, how-
ever, that the only way to effectively avoid AIDS is to use
condoms in any intercourse with an uncertain partner.
He also disclosed that the Health Ministry had con-
ducted a test on some 7,000 people in Cambodia and
discovered that 35 persons among them were infected
with Asian AIDS. He said the ministry was not capable
of curing those victims, adding that what is vitally
important is to prevent the spread of disease without
isolating the infected persons and to clearly know the
symptoms of AIDS and the way it spreads.

INDONESIA

Official Denies Existence Of Workers With AIDS

BK3107141692 Jakarta Radio Republik Indonesia
Network in Indonesian 1200 GMT 31 Jul 92

[Text] The Manpower Department’s director general of
development and use of manpower, Ismail Sumaryono,
has reiterated that none of the Indonesian workers sent
abroad was found to carry the AIDS virus.

Responding to news reports that several Indonesian
workers were infected with the AIDS virus, Director
General Ismail Sumaryono told newsmen in Surabaya
that so far the government had not foolishly dispatched
workers who are suffering from diseases, including those
with AIDS. This is because such an act would tarnish the
good reputation of the Indonesian Government and the
nation.

In the meantime, the governor of East Java, Sularso, is of
the opinion that the irresponsible reports could affect
East Java negatively because it is the province that sends
the biggest number of Indonesian workers to Malaysia.

JPRS-TEP-92-018
6 November 1992

SOUTH KOREA

Eight Test HIV-Positive in August

SK3108115392 Seoul YONHAP in English 0816 GMT
31 Aug 92

{Text] Seoul, Aug. 31 (YONHAP)—Eight people tested
positive for the virus that causes AIDS in August, the
Health and Social Affairs Ministry said Monday.

Two men, identified only as Choe and Yi, contracted the
human immunodeficiency virus [HIV] through homo-
sexual sex, ministry officials said.

Epidemiologic tests were being made to discover how the
other six, including a married couple, were infected, the
officials said.

One of the six has died of unknown causes.

This raises to 214 the number of Koreans who have
tested HIV positive. Of them, 21 have died and one has
left the country, leaving 174 men and 18 women cur-
rently under government watch,

National Conference on AIDS and Development
Ends

BK0809132692 Vientiane Vitthayou Hengsat Radio
Network in Lao 1200 GMT 4 Sep 92

[Text] A national conference—The Implications of HIV/
AIDS on Social and Economic Development in the Lao
People’s Democratic Republic [LPDR]: Strategies for
Preventing an Epidemic—concluded in Vientiane yes-
terday evening. During the two-day conference,
researchers and specialists jointly exerted efforts to
improve strategies for creating public awareness, and for
increasing prevention and control of this disease, which
has been spreading rapidly all over Southeast Asia. Also
attending the national conference were representatives
of various ministries, international organizations,
United Nations agencies, and non-govermental organi-
zations.

Both national and internation! speakers informed the
meeting participants of the serious consequences of the
epidemic of the devastating HIV/AIDS disease. During
the conference, Dr. Sithat Insisiangmai, member of the
Laos National AIDS Control Committee, and Dr. (Seok
Cikasen), representative of the World Health Organiza-
tion office in Manila, noted that at present there is only
a small number of detected cases of HIV/AIDS in Laos,
but conditions exist for its rapid spread in this country.
Prevention of the deadly disease, however, is still pos-
sible if appropriate measures are seriously implemented
from now on.

On this occasion, Dr. Virasit Ritthikrai from the Popu-
lation and Development Association of Thailand, spoke
on the direct and indirect economic costs of AIDS in
Thailand, where the disease has reached epidemic pro-
portions. Thailand, a country with a rapidly growing