JPRS-TEP-91-006
15 March 1991

were sick with the complete AIDS symptoms (20 are still
alive), and 235 had the initial symptoms or ARC (203
are still alive). There were 25,031 who had the virus but
no symptoms (24,797 are still alive).

While 25,342 people have been found to have the AIDS
virus, it is estimated that the number of people with the
AIDS virus who have not had blood examinations is
probably as high as 100,000 to 150,000. To summarize,
in seven years 25,342 Thai people have been found to
have the AIDS virus which is an incidence of 45 per
100,000.. There were 76 found to be sick with the
complete AIDS symptoms, and 322 have. died from
AIDS and other diseases. .

Of the 25,342 people with the AIDS virus 20,058 or 79
percent have been male while 5,286 have been female
(21 percent). The ratio of male to female was 3.8 to 1. Of
the total 9,719 were adolescents (38 percent); 5,765 of
the adolescents were male (59 percent) while 3,954 were
female (41 percent) which provided a ratio of male to
female of 1.46 to 1. This has caused concern because one
third of all those with the AIDS virus were adolescents,
and the incidence among female adolescents was almost,
equal to that among male adolescents.

There were 66 children discovéred to have the AIDS
virus (0.26 percent) of whom ‘17 were male and 49 were
female. This provided a male to female ratio of 1 to 2.88
(almost 1 to 3). This reflected the problem that female
children were three times more likely to get AIDS .as
male children because the demand for female. child
prostitutes’ has increased greatly. in the prostitution
market and the pleasure houses of which there are many
in this country..

In addition there have been 10 infants born of mothers
with AIDS, four male and six female, of whom seven
have the complete AIDS symptoms and three have the
initial symptoms. There have been another 146 infants
born of mothers with AIDS who are waiting for the
results of blood tests. Normally one must wait 15 to 18
months to test for AIDS in the blood. These figures are
derived just from the testing done, and the actual figures
for those with AIDS would probably be many times
higher if more had had blood tests.

AIDS among Thai women and children will probably
spread rapidly in the future similar to the rapid spréad via
sexual transmission experienced in other countries. Here it
will spread via heterosexual transmission and will spread
to 30 percent of the infants. If these infants do not get
AIDS, they will lose their parents because if one looks at
the percentages which make up the total for those with
AIDS at the end of 1990, 25,362, and compare that with
the end of 1989, it indicates that AIDS is spreading more
and more rapidly via sexual transmission.

The data derived from blood tests for AIDS (table 1) also
indicated the means of transmission and the form of the
disease. This data indicated the problem of AIDS spread
via sexual transmission which increased 290 percent in

EAST ASIA. 15

1990. In particular AIDS spread via heterosexual trans-
mission increased 612 percent in one year among men
and 236 percent among women. This caused concern
about the effect on women and children later on because
if we are not able to control the behavior of these men
and women with AIDS and prevent them from spreading
the disease to their sexual partners and spouses by
reducing promiscuity and by the use of condoms when-
ever necessary, AIDS will spread quickly to the family
andthe children,

3. How much have the battle to provide information and
the project to control AIDS slowed down its spread?

This is determined from examining the results of blood
tests taken every six months among high-risk individuals
throughout the country (every June and December) to
assess the severity of the AIDS problem and the effec-
tiveness of the battle to provide information to the
people and to change their behavior in order to combat
the spread of AIDS such as by reducing sexual promis-
cuity, using condoms when ‘necessary, not sharing nee-
dies among drug users or disinfecting the needle and
syringe after each use etc. At the same time the medical
profession is trying to supervise the blood supply and
medical equipment to avoid AIDS contamination.

The six month blood tests conducted in December and
June 1990 indicated the spread of AIDS among high-risk
groups. It was found that during the one year period
between June 1989 and June 1990 the various high-risk
groups experienced the increases or decreases in the
incidence of AIDS indicated in table 2.

The increases in the incidence of AIDS among female
prostitutes and men tested for venereal disease (men
using prostitutes) reflected an increase in the spread via
heterosexual transmission. AIDS began to spread to
pregnant. women and the whole family. Prisoners of
reproductive age were also experiencing an increase of
AIDS. The professions of the 25,342 persons of repro-
ductive age with the AIDS virus which had the greatest
number of victims in order: were: unskilled workers,
prisoners, prostitutes, merchants, farmers, workers, sol-
diers, fishermen and students.

4. Summary

This overview indicates that AIDS is spreading rapidly
and that there is a tendency for sexual transmission to
increase and spread AIDS to the family, which will
certainly effect Thai children in the future.

At the same time this overview reflects the search for
information about AIDS and for methods by which
people of all groups, ages and professions can protect
themselves. This must continue urgently. It is considered
to be a good sign that the leaders of various branches and
all levels of women’s organizations have joined forces
with this battle so that the family will help in changing
and controlling the promiscuous behavior of husbands
and children and in correcting the primary causes of the
trade in female prostitutes, male.and female child pros-
titutes and child sex slaves as well as the various pleasure



IPRS-TEP-91-006
15 March 1991

frustration, while her body and mind were greatly debil-
itated. Experts pointed out that in addition to such
means of contraction as intravenous injection of drugs
and blood transfusion, one must not be careless about
contraction through sexual contact. In Yunnan, two
cases were found in which the husbands’s AIDS antibody
was tested positive and so was their wives’. This explains
that contraction through sexual contact already exists in
China.

So far, there is still no medical record of AIDS patients
from China, but nonetheless there are records of VD
spread from outside the country. :

—On 23 June 1985, as an Argentinian-American was
touring China, he fell sick. Later, it was discovered
that while in the United States, he had been found to
have contracted AIDS. But he did not tell the truth
about his disease. He came to China by way of
Shanghai on 27 May 1985 and toured Nanjing, Xian,
and Beijing. As his health was deteriorating, he was
admitted to Beijing's Xiche Hospital, where he died
afterwards.

—On 13 February 1987, a 35-year-old AIDS patient was
found in Fuzhou. He was the patient whose disease
was diagnosed as AIDS by China for the first time. He
was a cook from Hong Kong, and he died in a
Provincial Hospital of Fuzhou.

—The third case was found in July 1987. The patient
was an American editor. He went back to the United
States in August the same year.

According to WHO, ‘from 1981, when men first under-
stood and made diagnoses of AIDS, to 31 October 1990,
the number of AIDS patients that were later affected by
it throughout the world reached 29.18 million, and they
were scattered in 157 countries and regions. So far, at
least eight million people throughout the world have
contracted the AIDS virus, and one third of them are
women. What is particularly unfortunate is that it has
been clinically proven that approximately 50 percent of
their babies may have contracted the AIDS virus. Most
of these innocent children will die before they reach five
years of age. On 28 November 1990, the UN General
‘Assembly passed a resolution, urging UN members to
take all kinds of measures to prevent and control AIDS.
According to statistics, the number of people that will
contract the AIDS virus in the next 10 years will range
from 25 million to 30 million, of which 10 million will be
babies and children. .

The reality is grim and the threat exists at all times.

B: We Should Make Every Effort To Keep AIDS Out of
China :

Several years ago, most Chinese people still thought that
AIDS was far from threatening them and was much less
scary than cancer. At present, experts remind us that
AIDS and hepatitis-B are spread basically through the

CHINA 9

same means and that China is a country where the
number of hepatitis virus carriers is extremely high.

Almost every scientist in China that are closely watching
AIDS and VD unanimously maintain: The spread of
AIDS into China is inevitable. It is only a question of
time. It is impossible for China to remain a closed
“paradise,” as the AIDS virus will not allow China to
remain a clean country. The view that the yellow race is
innately immune is extremely dangerous. What we can

. do is to make every effort to keep AIDS out of China.

The Chinese Government has mobilized all departments
and forces that should be mobilized to prevent AIDS and
VD.

In January 1988, with the approval of the State Council,
seven ministries, commissions, and bureaus promul-
gated the “Various Regulations on the Monitoring and
Control of AIDS.”

—We have banned the importation of blood and blood
products. Foreigners that plan to stay in China for one:
year must obtain a certificate certifying that they do
not carry the AIDS virus. Those without such certifi-
cates must have their blood tested. Those that pay a
short visit to China, though they are not required to
have their blood tested, must declare upon disembar-
kation that they do not carry the AIDS virus. The
Chinese that have stayed abroad for more than one
year must also have their blood tested. Hemophilic
patients and women that were once prostitutes must
also have their blood tested.

—The State Science and Technology Committee has
allocated nearly $100,000 for research on AIDS pre-
vention during the “Seventh Five- Year Plan.” Rele-
vant experts are exploring and studying Chinese
herbal prescriptions for the curing of AIDS.

In the past five years, we have monitored 325,375 pieces
of serum from major groups of people and discovered
that the AIDS antibody in 446 pieces were tested posi-
tive, of which five cases were diagnosed as AIDS. How-
ever, we should say that the scope of monitoring is still
very small and still cannot meet the demands of moni-
toring.

In January 1988, WHO marked out 1 December the
World AIDS ‘Day. The purpose of this is to heighten
people’s awareness of the danger of AIDS and mobilize
people to prevent this terrible virus disease.

Health Officials on Increased AIDS Monitoring
0W0103182391 Beijing XINHUA in English
1544 GMT 1 Mar 91

[Text] Shenzhen, March | (XINHUA)—In the past five
years, China has tested a total of 400,000 blood samples
to monitor AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syn-
drome), a senior public health official disclosed here
Thursday at a national meeting on AIDS monitoring and
testing.



JPRS-TEP-91-006
15 March 1991

“My name is Marek. I am an HIV carrier. I have no place
nor any money to live. Help me.”

His head lowered; a box with a handful of money in front
of him, he is kneeling right in the midst of throngs of
people passing by in front of the Dom Centrum [down-
town department stores] in Warsaw.

How much does he “take in?” Between 100,000 and
200,000 zloty daily. But he must “pay off a group of
skinheads” so they don’t beat him up. Besides this, some
threatening competition has suddenly appeared: Roma-
nian women begging with small children in their arms.

His story is commonplace. His friends in school taught
him to “inhale.” Then came the turn for “compote”;
running away from home; staying in various centers. The
result of an incidental test for HIV: positive. How did he
become infected? The naivete of the question provokes a
smile: “In Warsaw probably all drug addicts test posi-
tive...” [passage omitted]

Marek Kotanski is furious and bitter. He was beaten up
recently and the AIDS victims entrusted to his care evicted
by the local population from yet another center (he now
houses them in the basement of a MONAR [Young Peo-
ples Movement to Combat Drug Addiction] center). In
addition, the country’s head nurse has let loose a press
campaign against him accusing him of exorbitant profits,
autocracy, and “political ties to the former regime.”

“I simply happened to live in those times; I was no one’s
puppet and I did not take coupons to obtain a small Polish
Fiat nor did I accept any gifts...” he strains the words
through his teeth. “Despite all of this, I will not give up; I
have been taking care of people rejected by society for 20
years and I will continue doing this. If they do not allow me
to do this ‘officially,’ I will act on my own. I know that I am
needed because Poland has no traditions of working with
oddities. That is why, for example, I have recently opened
up a coffee house for homosexuals so that they have a place
to get together. We are in need of an intense campaign in
Poland showing that these people have the same needs as
everyone else; that Poles should be more tolerant, toward
HIV carriers as well as those who want nothing more than
some warm soup and a place to live. Since there are
shelters for animals, then I would think that these people
are also entitled to something like this...

“For the time being, between four and nine ‘positives’
have been placed in each of the 18 MONAR centers.
However, they are perfectly aware that they are staying
in ghettos surrounded by hatred.”

In reality, however, Kotanski does not believe in the
power of persuasion: “If some sort of legislation does not
come out to protect HIV carriers in Poland, their situa-
tion will continue to worsen. And it is only then that
some of them, treated like hounded animals, may
become dangeous....” [passage omitted]

Prof. Jacek Juszczyk, member of the Council for AIDS,
feels that we must maintain restraint and a rational
attitude toward the AIDS problem in Poland. In our

EAST EUROPE 19

country, the AIDS epidemic is late in coming in com-
parison with West European countries by about five
years according to estimates of WHO experts. And this
perhaps is the only delay of which we should be happy.

Therefore, we still have a little time which should be
used effectively. “Above all,” claims Prof. Juszczyk, “for
reforming the entire health service and creating new,
socially valuable goals for young people that would
encourage them to lead a healthier life-style and con-
sciously give up drugs, for example.

“For the time being, however, studies have shown that
despite the seeming ‘popularity’ of AIDS, the so-called
sexual behavior of Poles has not undergone any changes
whatsoever. Young people are engaging in sexual rela-
tions at an increasingly younger age and the number of
extramarital affairs is also increasing. The AIDS virus is
reaping its harvest unnoticably for the time being...”
[passage omitted]

World medical statistics report as many as 283,000
recorded cases of AIDS. In both of the Americas, there are
more than 170,000 of them; in African—over 71,000; in
Europe—over 38,000 whereas in Asia, AIDS has been
confirmed in only 785 people and in Oceania—in 2,134.

In Europe, AIDS is taking its greatest toll in France
where nearly 10,000 people are suffering from this
disease; more than 6,000 in Italy and Spain, and in the
former FRG there are more than 5,000 of them.

In Poland, 1,231 people infected with the HIV virus
have been recorded thus far. Of this number, 859 have
used drugs intravenously.

The register of those suffering from AIDS in Poland
encompasses 43 persons of whom 29 have already died.
Men are still dominant among those infected with the
virus but the number of infected women, especially drug
addicts, is growing rapidly.

Current HIV, AIDS Statistics

91P20218A Warsaw SLUZBA ZDROWIA
in Polish No 5, 3-9 Feb 91 p 2

[Prepared by Dr. Wanda Szata, Epidemiology Section of
the State Institute of Hygiene: “HIV Carriers and AIDS
Victims”]

[Text] Between 1-15 December 1990, 39 Polish citizens
were confirmed as HIV-positive; of this number, 32 were
described as intraveneous drug users. Between 16-31
December 1990, 23 Poles were confirmed as HIV-
positive, with 19 of them being intraveneous drug users.

In December 1990, three bisexual men, ages 46, 47, and
54, were reported as ill with AIDS.

Since the implementation of AIDS testing in 1985
through 31 December 1990, a total of 1,435 Poles have
been confirmed as HIV-positive, with 1,026 of them
classified as intraveneous drug users.

Fifty people have been registered as ill with AIDS, of
whom 30 have since died.



JPRS-TEP-91-006
15 March 1991 4

AIDS

AIDS Deaths, Drop in New HIV Cases in Toronto, Vancouver. :.

Report of 2,755 Deaths {Toronto THE TORONTO STAR, 11] Feb 91]
Drop in New HIV Cases

[Rod Mickleburgh; Toronto THE GLOBE AND MAIL, 14 Feb 91] ....
DENMARK

All-Time High Number AIDS Cases [Copenhagen BERLINGSKE TIDENDE, 28 Jan 91] ....
IRELAND

AIDS Deaths Total 176, More Statistics /Dublin IRISH INDEPENDENT, 4 Jan 90]



16 EAST ASIA

houses which encourage sexual contamination and pro-
miscuity. The time will probably come when all will need
to control their sexual desires, and those who derived
profit and pleasure and created these cruel problems for

IJPRS-TEP-91-006
15 March 1991

their descendents will have to control their desires and
solve these problems before it is too late.

“The children of today may all have the privilege of
having AIDS by the end of the decade”.

Table 1
Description’ As of December 1989 As of December 1990 Percentage increase
1. The total number of People 13,486 | 25,352 88
with AIDS
2. The number with the complete 34 75 120
AIDS symptoms
3. The number with the initial 103 235 128
AIDS symptoms
4. The means of transmission
4,1 Sexual transmission 1,918 (14.2 percent) 7,487 (29.5 percent) 290
- Homosexual men 87(0.6 percent) 118 (0.5 percent) 36
- Bisexual men 99 (0.7 percent) 5120 (0.5 percent) 21
~ Heterosexual men 386 (2.9 percent) 2,749 (10.8 percent) 612
~ Heterosexual women 1,346 (10.0 percent) 4,500 (17.8 percent) 234
4,2 Intravenous drug use 10,497 (77.8 percent) 15,395 (60.7 percent) 47
4.3 Blood transfusions 25 (0.2 percent) 40 (0.2 percent) 60
4.4 From the mother 4 (0.03 percent) 10 (0,02 percent) 150
4.5 Unknown 1,042 (7.7 percent) 2,410 (9.5 percent) . 131
Table 2
Disclosed female prostitutes Increase in the incidence of AIDS: 180 percent (from 3.5 percent to 9.8 percent)

Undisclosed female prostitutes

Increase in the i

nce of AIDS: 100 percent (from 0 percent to | percent)

Men tested for venereal disease

Increase in the incidence of AIDS: 250 percent (from 0 percent to 2.5 percent)

Intravenous drug addicts

Decrease in the incidence of AIDS: 23.4 percent (from 41 percent to 31.4 percent)

Male prisoners

Increase in the incidence of AIDS: 25 percent (from 8 to 10 percent)

Pregnant women

No nationwide statistics developed but there were 146 cases

Phayao AIDS Cases Profiled; Drug Factor Drops
91WE0223B Bangkok SIAM RAT in Thai
28 Jan 91 p 16

[Text] Dr. Prayong Temchawala, a public health offi-
cial in Phayao Province, said that 557 people with the
AIDS virus have been found in Phayao Province,
which places Phayao third in terms of number of cases
nationwide. Of these people, seven have AIDS-related
symptoms, and 550 have the virus but no symptoms,
although they can spread the disease. Of those who can
spread the disease, 190, or 34 percent, are prostitutes;
20 percent are drug addicts; 14 percent are men who
frequent brothels; 7 percent are blood donors; 1 per-
cent are people who contracted the disease from their
mother; and 24 percent are people whose risk factor is
unknown.

Dr. Prayong said that a survey of 386 prostitutes at 66
brothels in the province found that 190 prostitutes can
transmit the disease, which is a very alarming statistic.
Because based on statistics nationwide, on the average,
each prostitute serves four customers a day. But in

Phayao Province, each prostitute serves about nine
customers a day. In Chun District, for example, “based
on these data, if a prostitute serves an average of five
customers a day, with 190 prostitutes capable of
spreading this disease, 10 percent of the men who have
sex with a prostitute and who do not protect them-
selves by using a condom can contract AIDS. Thus,
each day, nine-10 men may contract AIDS,” said Dr.
Prayong.

The Phayao provincial public health official also said
that studies conducted in the area during the period
December 1989 to June 1990 showed that the rate of
incidence among prostitutes has risen from 26 percent to
42.5 percent. The rate of incidence among men who use
the services of prostitutes has risen from 14 percent to 16
percent. But the incidence among drug addicts has
declined from 45 percent to 40 percent. “These data
show that prostitutes are the largest group capable of
spreading AIDS, and they spread the disease very
quickly. Phayao Province is trying to control this by
holding seminars for the owners and managers of
brothels and prostitutes, with three people from each



n LATIN AMERICA

shape. But they went to a motel and she got pregnant—
even knowing that if she got pregnant she would not be
able to fight the disease, or that even if she resisted it,
there was no guarantee that the child would not be born
with AIDS as well. Where is the safe sex here?

Coutinho: Have you observed that people are better
informed about AIDS, even if they are not taking pre-
cautions? Are more people seeking information at the
Gaffree and Guinle Hospital?

Moraes de Sa: This has increased. Our patients are well
informed, but this is a very small portion of the popula-
tion. In general, people are badly misinformed. They do
not know the basics: that if they receive [contaminated]
sperm (in the anus or vagina) or contaminated blood
(either in blood transfusions or indirectly because an
injection of drugs could contain diluted blood), they run
the risk of contracting the disease.

The individual has to guard against this and not against
kissing, manicures or the dentist. There is so much
misinformation that I have already had a phone call
from a woman asking how many condoms she should be
swallowing per day.

Coutinho: Gaffree and Guinle is known as a referral
center for AIDS patients. What is the situation at the
hospital today?

Moraes de Sa: I am worried. We have about a thousand
people who test positive and I think we will have another
thousand in six months. We are not equipped to care for
all of them. The hospital is almost bankrupt. It is short of
nurses and we are expecting a request to retire 40
employees because of the Unified Civil Service System.
We are experiencing what I call the Pontius Pilate
syndrome. Both the private and public health systems
say they are not in a position to treat AIDS patients.
They say it is a complex disease and refer their patients
to Gaffree. It is impossible to accept that AIDS patients
cannot be treated by any doctor. The AIDS patient has
diarrhea, pneumonia, tuberculosis, infection of the cen-
tral nervous system—and he needs to be diagnosed and
given antibiotics. Any physician who says he does not
know how to treat these diseases should have his license
revoked. A hospital that says it cannot treat AIDS
patients should be shut down.

Coutinho: Why do you think the health system is
rejecting AIDS patients?

Moraes de Sa: Prejudice. Brazilian society is deeply
prejudiced. It is the only society in the world that has
coined a name for a patient who has AIDS: “aidetico.”
He is given a label that guarantees that he will be
identified and discriminated against everywhere.

JPRS-TEP-91-006
15 March 1991

Coutinho: The survey found that the fear of AIDS had
risen. But you assure us that preventive measures are not
being taken. Are the education campaigns not working?
Where is the problem?

Moraes de Sa: People are fearful, but they are not using
condoms because they do not consider themselves tar-
gets. We are experiencing a crisis of education and of
credibility. The health situation is chaotic. We are not
eradicating mosquitoes or barber bugs or snails. We are
not vaccinating our children, much less solving a sex-
related problem of such complexity that even the most
developed countries, which have eradicated the mosqui-
toes, barber bugs, and snails and have vaccinated their
children, have not been able to deal with it. The great
mistake of the publicists is in thinking they are educa-
tors. Very often they put out information that is techni-
cally incorrect—for example, saying that AIDS is trans-
mitted by females. There was a campaign that presented
a picture of a woman, with the words: “You cannot see
AIDS by looking at a face.” It should have been a picture
of a man, with a man’s face. The latest campaign ad
shows a couple with targets superimposed on their sex
organs, although, in heterosexual relations, the primary
means of transmission of the virus is by anal sex. The
risk is five times as great as it is in the case of vaginal sex.
This does not come out in the campaign.

Coutinho: Has there been an increase in requests for test
to detect AIDS?

Moraes de Sa: Yes. The rise in the number of people
seeking tests is proportional to the rise in cases. An
increase of 15 percent per month.

Coutinho: Is it common for an individual to take the test
several times?

Moraes de Sa: Yes. We call it AIDS phobia. We are doing
about 100 tests a month. If people do not curb the
demand, the system will founder. Education is necessary,
but the method has fostered the spread of the disease. It
is a perfect culture medium for the continued growth of
the virus. If people are not properly educated, within five
years there will be no one who does not have a friend,
relative, or neighbor who has contracted the AIDS virus.

Over 14,000 Victims in 10 Years

91WE0184C Rio de Janeiro O GLOBO in Portuguese
13 Jan 91 p 11

{Text] Brasilia—From 10 years ago, when it first
appeared in Brazil, to the end of last September, 14,549
people have contracted AIDS. The first case was
reported in 1980, in Sao Paulo. Today Brazil ranks
fourth in the number of AIDS cases, after the United
States, Uganda, and Zaire. Of the 30 cities with the
highest incidence of the disease, 13 are in Sao Paulo
State.



18 EAST EUROPE

POLAND

AIDS Threat Greater Than Stated
91WEO192A Poznan WPROST in Polish No 50,
16 Dec 90 pp 21-25

[Article by Janusz Michalak: “HIV Hastens the Course
of Death”]

[Excerpts] “If nothing changes within’several years, then
everyone who reads this book,” writes Dr. Patrick Dixon
in “Youth and AIDS,” “will most likely personally know
someone who has died from AIDS.

“Everyone who has the disease can infect the next person
in a long chain reaction. For example, in the first year
there are only two infected persons in a club but within
10 months, this number increases to four. By the end of
the following year, the number of infections increases to
eight and a year later, there are already 16 of them.
Everyone feels and looks great. No one suspects that
something is wrong.

“After a lapse of another 18 months, 40 persons from the
same club are already infected and a year later, nearly
100. And then, a well-known member of the club comes
down with some sort of mysterious, viral disease. He is
out of circulation for six weeks. When he appears on the
social scene, he looks very tired but within a week or two,
he is back to normal. A half a year later, his friends
notice that he is losing weight and one evening, after
supper he is taken to the hospital because of difficulty in
breathing. He has had this problem for several days
already and has been coughing as well.

“The next day, a friend who has come to visit him finds
out that the patient has died from pneumonia in the
intensive care ward, A week later, the brother of the
deceased mentions in a bar that the doctors suspect the
death was due to AIDS.

“That same night the 102nd person from the club
became infected; she took a risk with someone who was
potentially ‘safe.’

“Thus, now you know that if 10 people in your city or
town have died from AIDS, it is possible that 1,000
people are walking about the streets feeling fantastic but
carrying the deadly virus.”

Dr. Zbigniew Halat, an epidemiologist from Wroclaw:
“At least 100,000 people are walking around spreading
the HIV virus. The epidemic is growing ‘silently and
somehow no one notices it. However, this is not sur-
prising since we are not conducting appropriate tests. We
know, for example, that 70 percent of the thus far
confirmed carriers of the virus are drug addicts. Mean-
while, only 7,787 tests have been conducted (one out of
every 20 tests has proven positive for the virus) of the
200,000 Polish drug addicts. Or.let us take the case of
Prostitutes. In our country only those who cause a
disturbance are tested. In 1986, we had 12,500 prosti-
tutes on record, and in 1989, 5,600 HIV tests were
carried out and only nine infections found.

SJPRS-TEP-91-006
15 March 1991

“People submit themselves to testing only in truly com-
pelling situations. Even though the tests are already
available to everyone, the fact that they are not anony-
mous acts as a deterrent. Furthermore, an aggressive
attitude toward carriers of the virus causes those who
may suspect that they are infected to avoid having this
fact confirmed or they rule it out. Consequently, they are
extremely dangerous to society.

“In our country, just as great a danger lurks in the blood
bank. Unfortunately, it is not customary to mention that
the blood test of an HIV infected individual does not
reveal the development of antibodies until the third
month from the day of infection and perhaps even until
the sixth month; there are cases where nothing is
detected for up to a year. In the United States, the risk of
becoming infected with the HIV virus as a result of a
blood transfusion from a donor not exhibiting antibodies
has been estimated as one in 36,000. Thus, if someone
Teceives six units of blood, the risk is one in 6,000.

“I know drug addicts who go to places where they are not
known to donate blood and obtain specific privileges from
this. No wonder, therefore, that even when the frequency of
discovering infected donors is dropping in European coun-
tries of the WHO [World Health Organization] region, in
Poland their number has been growing in recent years.

“Besides this, the anti-AIDS propaganda in Poland is
disastrous. Erroneous instructions are given out in which,
for example, the role of condoms is glorified (whereas they
are only 90 percent effective worldwide); it is not being
stated outright that anyone who has had a casual sexual
encounter can realistically eliminate the possibility of
infection only after testing conducted at least a half-year or
even a year later. Money is lacking for protective measures
for medical personnel. Consequently, in Poland as in
Africa, there exists the serious threat of transferring the
HIV infection during medical treatment.

“Instead, the funds which one hears at every turn are
being allocated for the battle with AIDS, are perhaps
being spent on nonsensical leaflets or visits abroad by
professors. In any case, somehow this money does not
reach us in the provinces.” [passage omitted]

Zbigniew Lew-Starowicz, sexologist: “As far as AIDS is
concerned, the Polish medical authorities have a decidedly
overly positive frame of mind... There is talk in our
country about drug addicts infected with the virus. Mean-
while, it follows from my discernment of things, that the
majority of carriers of the virus are to be found among
Polish homosexuals. According to my estimates, out of 1
million Polish homosexuals, 60,000 are carrying the virus.

“Attention is also not paid in our country to the very
alarming phenomenon of growing heterosexual prostitu-
tion among young men. Very many provide sexual
services abroad or entertain foreign partners here at
home. This is the basis for the third cause of the spread
of infections (from other countries) in Poland which
places us in a similar situation as Latin American and
Mediterranean countries.” [passage omitted]



SJPRS-TEP-91-006
15 March 1991

Care Concern, Jane Tedbury, said the group included
doctors, housewives and business professionals.

The telephone service will run on Thursdays and Satur-
days until permanent premises are found. The telephone
number is 525-3433 and all calls are guaranteed confi-
dential.

[Passage omitted]

Women Warned Over Rise in AIDS
91WE0209 Hong Kong SOUTH CHINA MORNING
POST in English 19 Dec 90 p 2

[Article by Caitlin Wong]

[Text] Another woman has been found with the HIV
virus leading to AIDS, prompting new warnings that
women in Hongkong are becoming increasingly suscep-
tible to the fatal disease.

Government figures released yesterday showed that
seven men and one woman had been found to be HIV
positive in the past two months, bringing the total
number of HIV carriers in the territory to 157.

The eight new carriers are five Chinese and four hetero-
sexuals.

In addition, two new cases of AIDS have been confirmed
in expatriate men this month and one of them is already
dead.

Both victims were infected sexually and the dead man
was known to have been infected in the past year.

Together with these two new discoveries, 44 cases of
AIDS have been found in Hongkong. Only eight of the
victims are still alive in the territory—30 have died and
six have left Hongkong.

In releasing the figures yesterday, government AIDS
expert Dr. Patrick Li Chung-ki said they showed women
and heterosexuals were increasingly prone to AIDS.

He said the incidence of HIV infection among hetero-
sexuals was increasing while that among homosexuals
had gone down in the past year.

The figures showed that the number of HIV infections
among homosexuals had increased from 11 in 1985 to 23
last year. But the trend had dipped significantly in the
past 11 months, with only 10 cases recorded.

Among heterosexuals, however, HIV infection had
steadily increased from none in 1986 to 14 in the first 11
months of this year.

Dr. Li predicted that as many heterosexuals as homosex-
uals would be infected by the year 2000. At present,
however, the number of homosexual carriers of the HIV
virus is twice that of heterosexual carriers.

Guidelines on AIDS Are Ignored by Companies

91WE0220 Hong Kong SOUTH CHINA MORNING
POST in English 10 Jan 91 p 1

[Article by Sue Shaw]

EAST ASIA 13

[Text] Leading Hongkong companies are ignoring World
Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines by testing poten-
tial employees for AIDS to avoid large claims for med-
ical expenses.

Hutchison Whampoa, whose subsidiaries include Wat-
son’s and Park’n Shop, is set to follow the example of
HongkongBank and Jardine Pacific.

Despite government disapproval and international
moves to reduce discrimination against people with
AIDS, the testing is likely to become more widespread.

A spokesman for Hutchison Whampoa said employees
were afraid of catching AIDS from co-workers—a
groundless fear, according to scientific evidence.

“After all, it is infectious. Any healthy person would not
like to catch it. There is a psychological effect if you
know someone working next to you has got AIDS,” she
said.

HongkongBank introduced AIDS testing as part of its
pre-employment medical two years ago.

Senior personnel manager, Mr. Brian Renwick, said it
was not impossible but extremely unlikely the bank
would employ someone testing positive for the HIV
virus which causes AIDS.

The bank’s doctors give those to be tested a form listing
all tests.

But Jardine Pacific, which tests expatriates taking up
jobs in Hongkong, says it does not make “‘a big thing” of
it, and the person tested would not specifically be told of
it without asking.

The support group, Comfort Care Concern, which runs
an AIDS helpline, has condemned the testing as blatant
discrimination and wants government legislation to pre-
vent it.

Government policy opposes discrimination against
people with AIDS but it does not have the legislative
power to prevent the testing, unlike countries such as
Australia where legislation is being strengthened to spe-
cifically cover AIDS.

SOUTH KOREA

Husbands Conceal AIDS Infection From Families

SK1203004191 Seoul THE KOREA HERALD
in English 12 Mar 91 p 3

[Text] Pusan—Twenty-two married men here still keep
their AIDS infection a secret even to their spouses or
their family members, increasing the possibility of
spreading the killer disease, health authorities said.

According to Pusan City, 24 citizens in this southern
port city have been reported to have contracted the
human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which causes the
killer disease AIDS.

Out of the total, 22 married virus carriers would not
divulge their infection to their spouses capitalizing on a
legal ban on the leakage of information on AIDS victims,



IJPRS-TEP-91-006
15 March 1991

said those specialists are now based in different health
facilities in Swaziland which are being used as sentinel
sites for STD Surveillance.

The Epidemiologist went on to reveal that as from
October last year twenty seven persons were fully blown
AIDS cases in Swaziland, of which 17 had already died.
She said their ages range from age group 0-4 to 50-59.
Ms. Dlamini said over 60 percent of those AIDS cases
are males and a majority of them reside in Mbabane.

Ms. Dlamini said the documented numbers are not com-
plete which simply means that there are still more AIDS
cases that have not come to the attention of health offi-
cials. She also notes a frightening factor that a number of
HIV positive people do not know that they are carrying the
virus and therefore continue to pass it on.

Ms. Diamini estimated that for every case of AIDS there
are 100 HIV positive individuals, which means that
there are over 3,000 HIV positive people in Swaziland.

She said the people mostly affected are the sexually
active group ranging between the ages 12-45.

Ms. Dlamini recalled that in the October November
Serosurvey students were asked when they started
having sex, and the minimum age given was nine years.

TANZANIA

Kenyan Paper on AIDS in Kagera Region

EA1802205591 Nairobi SUNDAY STANDARD
in English 17 Feb 91 p 1

[Article by Wachira Kigotho]

[Excerpts] Be warned bedbugs are capable of transmit-
ting the dreaded Acquired Immune Deficiency Syn-
drome (AIDS). The startling revelation was made
recently by Dr. J.B. Rugemalila, a leading Tanzanian
virologist at the National Institute for Medical Research
in Mwanza, Tanzania.

He said it has become clear to researchers that bedbugs
were closely associated with household AIDS patients.
He explained that in the Kagera region there were some
cases of HIV which could not be attributed to other
categories of transmission apart from bedbugs. Some
families have been completely wiped out, he said.

Dr. Rumegalila revealed this in a paper he presented at
the 12th annual medical scientific conference held at
Kenya Medical Research Institute (Kemri), Nairobi, on
the “Epidemiology of the Acquired Immunodeficiency
Syndrome in the Kagera Region of Tanzania.” He told
medical researchers that the findings were based on
research he and others carried out at Kagera region at the
shores of Lake Victoria. [passage omitted]

Interestingly, he said, the Kagera region had been special
attraction to bio-medical researchers over the years due
to the high prevalence of AIDS in the area. Two years
ago, the region had over 2,000 cases of AIDS out of the
national figure of 9,216, he said. He observed that

SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA 5

Kagera was only second to Dar es Salaam which had a
slightly higher AIDS cases. [passage omitted]

Dr. Rugemalila said that was when it became clear
bedbugs were closely associated with households AIDS
patients: “For quite a time now, bedbugs have been
known to have potential for mechanical transmission of
Hepatitis B Virus (HBV), which has similar similarities
with HIV.” The two viruses, Dr. Rugemalila said, were
commonly transmitted through sexual intercourse,
blood transfusion and skin penetrating injections. In this
regard, bedbugs were considered to have the potential
for intrahousehold transmission of HIV.

He noted that in Kagera there had been an interesting
story of “bedbugs which together with other household
pests have long been known to be public health problems
in the region.” He, however, observed that scientists
were unable to connect “fleas and soft ticks with the
spread of AIDS in Kagera or elsewhere in the country.”
[passage omitted]

UGANDA

Vice President on Fighting AIDS
EA0903224091 Kampala Domestic Service in English
0700 GMT 9 Mar 91

[Text] The vice president, Dr. Samson Kisekka, has
called on the medical professionals to meet the challenge
of AIDS, HIV infection, and the suffering victims of.
AIDS in the management of health services. Dr. Kisekka
was addressing surgeons on the occasion of the opening
of a two-day seminar of the association of surgeons of
Uganda at Kitovu Hospital in Masaka yesterday.

The vice president said that the medical challenges of
AIDS and HIV infection to this country are terrifying.
He said the disease has become a countrywide epidemic
of unprecedented magnitude. The government, he said,
recognizes the social, cultural, ethical, legal, and eco-
nomic consequences of this epidemic. The government
has already established a national ministerial commis-
sion to fight and control this disease, called the Uganda
AIDS Commission. He called on everyone to join these
efforts to fight AIDS.

He explained that the constituted ministerial body will
have a secretariat to be headed by a director general who
will also be the secretary to the commission. The func-
tions of the commission include, among other things,
coordination and facilitation of all activities related to
AIDS control throughout the country. Dr. Kisekka cau-
tioned against weaknesses in implementation of policy
decisions and looked forward to the fruitful work by the
commission which he has himself been closely associated
with.



28 WEST EUROPE

tested at all. I also believe it’s a very hazardous game to
make guesses as to when people who test positive became
infected.”

Mr. Mindell cautioned that the Toronto numbers are still
“dismal.” However, he said the decrease shows that inten-
sive AIDS-awareness and safe-sex-education programs are
starting to have some impact on Toronto’s gay population.
“We are the most aggressive city in Canada in fighting
AIDS.”

He said the drop in HIV-positive results is far more
accurate and important than an even more dramatic
reduction in the number of new cases of AIDS reported
so far in Toronto for 1990.

Although the number of AIDS cases reported by doctors has
fallen nearly 50 percent, from 211 in 1989 to 110, Mr.
Mindell said, the drop is misleading because HIV patients
are now taking longer to develop AIDS. As well, many AIDS
doctors do not report new cases until their patients die.

“Physicians are so overworked and they have so much
paperwork that there’s a serious under-reporting” of
AIDS, Mr. Mindell said.

AIDS doctor Philip Berger said he knows of no general
physician in downtown Toronto who routinely reports
newly diagnosed cases of AIDS. “It just takes too much
paperwork. Usually, the report doesn’t go into the health
department until the cause of death goes on the death
certificate.

“I had a patient come in today who had a presumptive
case of AIDS. Am I going to report it? Forget it. The
paperwork is to exasperating and frustrating.”

Meanwhile, Mr. Mindell also reported that the number
of women and intravenous drug users who contract
AIDS continues to be very low in Toronto.

Only seven women and nine intravenous drug users are
included in the 1,018 cases of AIDS recorded in the city
since 1981.

DENMARK

All-Time High Number AIDS Cases

91WE0203A Copenhagen BERLINGSKE TIDENDE
in Danish 28 Jan 91 pI'5

[Unattributed article: “Rising Number of AIDS
Cases”—first paragraph is BERLINGSKE TIDENDE
introduction]

[Text] At year’s end, a total of 718 cases of AIDS had
been diagnosed here in Denmark. Medical Director Palle
Juul-Jensen: “There is a tendency toward an increased
spreading of the infection among heterosexuals.”

The total number of recorded cases of AIDS in 1990 was
the highest ever in Denmark.

In all, 179 people were diagnosed with the incurable
disease, and it is possible that the figure will rise further
because there is a lag between the time the disease is
diagnosed and the time notification of it is received.

SJPRS-TEP-91-006
15 March 1991

However, the precipitous rise in newly recorded AIDS
cases from year to year appears to have tapered off. In
1989, 171 cases were recorded, in 1988, 125 cases, and in
the year before that, 100 cases.

Altogether, 718 cases of AIDS had been diagnosed in
Denmark by the end of the year.

Medical Director Juul-Jensen writes in the latest issue of
the administrative newsletter, AIDS-NYT, that the HIV
virus continues to spread in the population.

“There is a tendency toward an increased heterosexual
spreading of the infection. This occurs principally
through contact with men who also have sex with other
men, to people from areas with a large incidence of the
virus, and to needle users,” writes Juul-Jensen.

He adds that the spreading of the infection among
homosexual and bisexual men seems to have slowed
down, but, he points out, at the same time, the largest
number of infected—including newly infected—is still
found among men who have sex with other men.

Of the 718 AIDS cases in Denmark, 47 are women. Of
these, 21 caught the disease through heterosexual contact
(sex with men), making it the most frequent way women
become infected with the life-threatening virus.

Of the men, 545 received the disease through homo-
sexual contact, making this by far the most common way
men become infected. Only 41 men were infected
through sex with women.

The highest number of AIDS cases was recorded in the
municipality of Copenhagen, where 336 people have
acquired the disease. The municipality of Frederiksberg had
92, and the County of Copenhagen had 91. AIDS, which
come from the HIV virus, has been recorded in all Danish
counties.

IRELAND

AIDS Deaths Total 176, More Statistics
91WE0214A Dublin IRISH INDEPENDENT

in English 4 Jan 91 p 12

[Article: “AIDS Killed 13 Last Year”)

[Text] AIDS killed 13 people in Ireland over the past
year, bringing the country’s total number of AIDS-
related deaths to 176.

Fifty-two new cases of AIDS were confirmed by the
Department of Health over the same period. Some 176
Trish people now have AIDS.

A further 1,014 people out of 41,997 tested have the HIV
virus and of this number 568 are drug abusers, the
IRISH MEDICAL TIMES reports.

National AIDS Co-ordinator Dr. James Walsh said that of
16,129 unspecified heterosexuals tested, 87 had the HIV
virus.

As in other countries, the virus was being spread from
drug abusers into the heterosexual community.

Controlling the spread of HIV among drug abusers would
save the country from the worst effects of the epidemic.



JPRS-TEP-91-006
15 March 1991

INDIA

Doctor Says 14 AIDS Cases in West Bengal
91WD0499 Calcutta THE STATESMAN in English
10 Jan 91 p3

[Text] Dr. Sandip Mukherjee of the School of Tropical
Medicine said in Calcutta on Tuesday that a recent
survey has revealed there are 14 people affected with

NEAR EAST & SOUTH ASIA 25

the AIDS virus in West Bengal. Dr. Mukherjee who
was speaking at the 12th national conference of the
Indian Rural Medical Association and the 9th Convo-
cation of the Indian Institute of Health Training, said
he hoped that an AIDS vaccine would be discovered
soon. The function was attended by a large number of
delegates including a four-member team from Bang-
ladesh.



2 SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

“comes as a result of government backing to the anti-
AIDS crusaders and efficient reporting procedures.”

Dr. Muga pointed out that if other Third World coun-
tries established better reporting systems then the “true
ranking” would emerge. He moved participants to tears
as he explained the growing dimension of children with
AIDS in Kenya and Africa as a whole.

“The question of paediatric infections provides a great
dilemma to family planning,” he said, and explained that
the medical profession was divided on whether a mother
should breast-feed her HIV infected child. “Given that
breast-feeding increased risk, éven to a child who is born
negative—but of a positive mother—we are in a real
dilemma,” Dr. Muga said, and appealed to a global effort
“to solve this problem.”

“So far, we can only trace the source of the virus to
traditional birth attendants (TBAs) whose instruments
could have been used on a HIV positive person,” he said,
and pointed out that “there still exists a contention on
how the mother can be protected from being infected by
her child through breast feeding.”

Dr. Muga said Paediatric AIDS “present a new and
scaring dimension to the killer disease.” He told the
KENYA TIMES that the Kenyatta National Hospital
admits 20 children with AIDS every month.

An American paediatrician, Dr. Yvonne Bryson, told the
congress that scientists had not established the modes of
transmission. He said “it is not clear at the moment the
extent to which intra-uterine transmission plays in the
transmission of the virus from the mother to the child.”

Mombasa AIDS Cases Triple Over 3 Years

WE0229A91 Nairobi SUNDAY NATION in English
13 Jan 91 p$

[Article by Francis Mwaka]

[Text] More than 2,565 positive cases of AIDS were
detected at the Coast Provincial General Hospital alone
last year, the Mombasa District Medical Officer of
Health, Dr. G. Oyoo, said on Friday.

Dr. Oyoo said cases of AIDS in Mombasa District were
increasing every year since 1987 when the hospital
reported 680 positive cases. He said in 1988 the hospital
had 1,249 positive cases and 1,821 in 1989.

Dr. Oyoo was speaking during the official closing of
AIDS counselling training seminar at the Oceanic Hotel
in Mombasa. He reported that over 200,000 Kenyans
today were potential carriers of the HIV virus that causes
AIDS and they continued to infect their sex partners.

He observed that the World Health Organisation esti-
mated that there were over 6 million cases of AIDS in
Africa and that approximately 2 million, or one third,
were women.

Dr. Oyoo said that by the end of next year, an accumu-
lative total of over 350,000 AIDS cases would have
occurred among women, or three times as many as had

JPRS-TEP-91-006
15 March 1991

occurred by the end of 1980s. Dr. Oyoo said the disease
continued to kill millions of people adding that however
unpleasant the disease is Kenyans cannot afford to
ignore it, especially when it kills those who were econom-
ically productive (20-49) years and innocent young ones
(0-2 years).

“The disease has no cure and the only option left at the
moment is how to prevent it,” he said, adding that only
prevention could keep the people from contracting the
virus,

MOZAMBIQUE

AIDS Kills Four in Tete Province, 18 Test
Positive

MBO103131691 Maputo Domestic Service in Portuguese
1030 GMT 1 Mar 91

[Text] AIDS has killed four people in Tete Province.
This was reported at a meeting of the Tete Province
Health Coordination Council.

The report on the provincial AIDS program revealed
that 18 positive AIDS cases have been identified in Tete
Province.

Manica Health Council Reports 41 AIDS Cases
in 1990

MB0403094491 Maputo Domestic Service in Portuguese
0800 GMT 4 Mar 91

[Text] A total of 41 AIDS cases were reported in Manica
Province last year. This was revealed at a recent meeting
of the Manica Province Health Coordination Council.
The meeting assessed the work done in 1990 and
planned tasks for this year.

The meeting also found that malaria, diarrhea, and
malnutrition are the most common health problems in
Manica ‘Province and that they greatly affect war-
displaced people.

NIGER

Over 200 New AIDS Cases Reported in 1990

AB1802150291 Paris AFP in French
1757 GMT 15 Feb 91

[Text] Niamey, 15 Feb (AFP)—Some 209 new AIDS
cases were reported last year in Niger, which however
remains one of the least affected African countries, with
less than 1 percent of seropositive patients, according to
the Niger news agency today. According to forecasts
from the Niger ‘Anti-AIDS Program headed by Dr.
Ousseini Hamadou, about 400 new cases could be
reported in 1991. Of 293 AIDS patients detected
between 1987 and 1990, 80 have died. The spread of the
disease is attributable to the fact that many Nigerois,
who are convinced that AIDS is “‘an invented disease,”
have not altered their sexual habits, Dr. Hamadou
explained.

The increase in the number of reported AIDS cases is
also due to the progress in AIDS detection. Three new



JPRS-TEP-91-006

15 March 1991 SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA 1
REGIONAL AFFAIRS KENYA
UK Parliament Says AIDS Not ‘Answer to Medical Officer Gives AIDS Figures
Africa’s Problems’ EA2002153191 Nairobi KNA in English
1523 GMT 19 Feb 91

'MB0303065691 Johannesburg SAPA in English
0038 GMT 3 Mar 91

{Embargoed by SAPA until 0800 GMT 4 March 1991]

[Text] London March 3 SAPA—The growing incidence
of AIDS and HIV infection was not a cruel answer to
Africa’s problems, a British parliamentary committee
investigation into UK policy on South and Southern
Africa warned in its report released in London on
Monday.

“AIDS may reduce the population explosion, but it will
also severely set back Africa’s capacity to grow out of
poverty,” the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Com-
mittee said.

The disease would certainly put pressure on over-
stretched and under-resourced health centres and above
all, it affected predominantly young and middle-aged
people in their prime productive years.

The committee dealt at length in various sections of its
report on the socio-economic and political problems
caused in southern Africa and South Africa, particularly
by the population explosion.

“The rapid growth of the population of Sub-Saharan
Africa forms the most urgent of its problems ... The
growth is the highest seen anywhere, at any time, in
human history.

“The rise is inexorable: even if fertility fell tomorrow to
two children for each African family, the population of
the continent would continue to expand for the next 60
to 70 years.

“Some would point to the growing incidence of AIDS
and HIV infection as a factor which may render current
projections of population growth inaccurate. It may.”

The committee said government estimates of population
growth in Zimbabwe, for example, had already been
radically revised downward largely because of AIDS.

“We came across few reliable estimates of the extent of
infection, but many horrifying anecdotes.

“In Harare, Zimbabwe, for example, AIDS is now the
highest single cause of death in children under five. We
were told that 60 percent of the Zimbabwean Army is
said to be infected.

“One estimate suggests that HIV infections for the
Sub-Saharan region as a whole may be as high as five
million people, but AIDS is not even a cruel answer to
Africa’s problems.”

[Text] Nairobi, 19 Feb (KNA}—The director of medical
services, Prof. Joseph Oliech, said there were about
9,000 AIDS cases in Kenya between 1984 and 1990. He
however noted that a number of this total figure 9,000
had since died, adding that the Ministry of Health had
undertaken a thorough research to update the current
number of AIDS cases in the country. In a telephone
interview with the director Prof. Oliech disclosed that
there were about 200,000 cases of HIV positive, out [of]
which (242) [words indistinct] percent were children,
with males and females equally accounting for the
remaining percentage.

Professor Oliech said that a team of researchers led by
the director of Kenyatta National Hospital Dr. Naftali
Agata, in collaboration with the director of Kemri
[Kenya Medical Research Institute], Dr. Davy Koech,
were carrying out an intensive research to determine the
side-effects of the Kenyan-discovered AIDS drug Kem-
ron. The research is being carried out at provincial
hospitals where AIDS patients are being tested on the
drug, Kemron.

Kenya Ranks Third in AIDS Cases
WE022791 Nairobi KENYA TIMES in English
27 Dec 90 p 17

{Article by Daniel Kamanga: “AIDS: W.H.O. Ranking
Places Kenya Third”]

[Text] Kenya is now the third country with the highest
number of AIDS cases according to the latest World
Health Organisation statistics made available to the
KENYA TIMES at an International Congress on AIDS
held in Bangkok, Thailand.

The five-day congress was organised by the Chlabhorn
Research Institute and focused on the Impact of AIDS
on Developing Countries.

In an interview with the KENYA TIMES, a WHO
consultant, Mr. Roger Bernard, said the latest statistics
indicated Kenya was third after Malawi and Uganda in
the number of AIDS per 100,000 of the population.

The ranking consists of 26 countries meeting various
criterion, among them consistency in availing statistics
to WHO.

During the 1 December World AIDS Day the minister
for health, Mr. Mwai Kibaki said the country had over
11,000 AIDS cases. Mr. Kibaki said the country has over
200,000 HIV carriers and pointed out that “this disease
is with us whether we like it or not.”

Kenya’s representative to the Bangkok congress, Dr.
Richard Muga, said the new ranking “should not be
merely seen as a scaring figure, but should be taken to
reflect the seriousness of the disease.” He said the rank



14 EAST ASIA

and health authorities have so far failed to let their
healthy wives know their husbands’ infection with HIV
as a precautionary measure to prevent the spread of the
deadly disease.

The AIDS victims, including a 37-year-old seaman, have
spurned Pusan City’s repeated request to tell their
spouses about their infection, health officials said.

They said Pusan City will inform the families of the
AIDS victims of their infection with the AIDS virus if
they refuse to divulge their infection.

Last Friday, the Health Ministry ruled that it is not
against current law for health authorities to inform
people about their prospective spouses’ infection with
HIV under the need to prevent the spread of the killer
disease.

PAPUA NEW GUINEA

Health Minister Concerned Over ‘Alarming’
AIDS Rate

BK1103082491 Melbourne Overseas Service in English
0500 GMT 11 Mar 91

[Text] Papua New Guinea’s health minister, Mr. Gerald
Beona, says AIDS is spreading at an alarming rate in the
country with people appearing to ignore the warnings
about the disease. Mr. Beona urged people to change
their sexual practices or Papua New Guinea would face
an AIDS crisis similar to many African countries. From
Port Moresby, Brian Abbot reports.

{Begin Abbot Recording] A total of 35 people, including
three children and four babies infected by their mothers,
have AIDS in Papua New Guinea. But Mr. Beona said
the figures are a gross underestimation of the true
situation. By conservative World Health Organization
estimates, there are more likely to be 3,000 people
infected with the AIDS virus, and that figure following
the experience in African countries should double'and
then double again in the next 60 [words indistict]
months.

Mr. Beona says there are as many women as men
affected, most in the 20 to 30 age group, which is the
most productive and sexually active portion of the
population, and many are highly educated and hold
skilled positions in both the public and private sectors.
The health minister said it appeared the media messages
about the danger of AIDS had yet to trickle down to the
community level. [End Recording]

THAILAND

Department Chief Gives AIDS Overview

91WE0198A Bangkok MATICHON in Thai
14 Jan 91 p3

[Article by Director General of the Communicable Dis-
ease Department Dr. Thira Ramasut]

[Text] One more children’s day has come. The children
of today will be the adults of tomorrow, but when one

SJPRS-TEP-91-006
15 March 1991

considers the problem of AIDS now, one cannot help but
be concerned that the children of today will catch AIDS
either now or in the future because AIDS has spread
everywhere. The transmission is generally caused by the
sexual activities of promiscuous men who use prostitutes
and-who unwittingly catch AIDS and give it to their
wives or partners and finally to their children.

1, AIDS among women and children throughout the
world.

At the end of 1990 the World Health Organization
estimated that there were 8 to 10 million people of
reproductive age throughout the world with the AIDS
virus. Of these 1.3 million were sick with AIDS of whom
300,000 or'one third ‘were women. There were 300,000
people of reproductive age from more than 150‘countries
who had been tested and were sick with AIDS, When the
women with AIDS became pregnant, 30 percent of the
infants acquired the AIDS virus from the mother while
in the womb or after birth. They died quickly. At present
there are approximately 400,000 infants and children
sick with AIDS throughout the world. The 70 percent of
the infants born from mothers with AIDS who did not
contract AIDS will become orphans because their par-
ents with AIDS will eventually die. About half or 50
percent will develope AIDS symptoms within 10 years
and will die within orie to two years after becoming sick.
Therefore it is estimated that by the year 2000, at the end
of this decade, there will be 10 million of these orphans
under 10 years while at the same time there will be 15 to
20 million people of reproductive age with the AIDS
virus.

These figures were estimated using present trends for the
spread of AIDS and from blood samples and disease
reports. The actual figures might be higher than this.

It is well known that AIDS is transmitted by the “four
contacts” of “blood transfusions”, “sharing needles”,

'sex” and “pregnancy.” In 1990 it was found that with
regard to the means by which AIDS was spread
throughout the world 60 percent resulted from hetero-
sexual transmission. This was found generally to be
increasing a great deal especially in developing countries.
Even though in developed countries heterosexual trans-
mission was increasing slowly, it was still increasing
more than homosexual transmission and transmission
by intravenous drug use. By the end of the year 2000, 75
to 80 percent of all AIDS will be the result of hetero-
sexual transmission. This will have the effect in the
future of spreading AIDS to the family, and AIDS will
increase greatly among women and children.

2. AIDS among Thai women and children.

AIDS has been spreading in Thailand since 1984. When
the AIDS prevention project was urgently undertaken,
more and more people with the AIDS virus were found;
only one was discovered in 1984, but the figure increased
to 11, 18,.and 191 in the years from 1985 to 1987. In
1988, 5,076 were found; in 1989, 10,770 were found; and
in 1990, 9,277 were found. By December 1990 Thailand
had discovered 25,362 with the AIDS virus. Of these 76



4 SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

“The present problem in South Africa is relatively small,
but growing rapidly,” Mr. Hartwig said, “but towards
the end of the decade the problem will become increas-
ingly visible”.

“The impact on the economy will be small in the next
five years, but during the second half of the decade, the
drain on resources, possibly a lack of manpower and
certainly loss of confidence could have a serious eco-
nomic effect,” he said.

“We cannot even begin to assess the impact of AIDS in
terms of human suffering,” Mr. Hartwig concluded.

Medical Adviser Says 100,000 Infected With HIV
irus

MB2702074891 Johannesburg SABC TV 1 Network

in English 2030 GMT 26 Feb 91

[Text] One hundred thousand people are infected with
the HIV virus in South Africa. And this figure is
expected to double within a year.

That’s according to Dr. Wilson Carswell, the newly
appointed medical adviser to the AIDS unit of the
department of national health and population develop-
ment,

The unit plans to assist people infected with the HIV
virus, and will be asking for an increase in its budget to
fight the dreaded disease.

Government To Discuss National Strategy To
Combat AIDS

MB2201100791 Johannesburg BUSINESS DAY

in English 22 Jan 91 p 2

[Report by Tania Levy: “315,000 Will Be HIV-Positive
By End of Year”]

[Text] Government’s inter-departmental committee for
AIDS prevention meets for the first time tomorrow to
discuss a national strategy to combat the disease which
government now estimates will infect 315,000 South
Africans by the end of this year.

National Health director-general Dr. Coen Slabber said
yesterday the department had adopted an estimate by
Johannesburg senior deputy medical officer of health Dr.
Nicky Padayachee that more than 315,000 people would
be HIV-infected this year.

Predominantly young and economically active, nearly all
these people could be expected to die of AIDS in the next
10 years, said Slabber, who also chairs the committee.

Slabber’s department has drawn up a draft strategy
dealing with the economic and administrative repercus-
sions and prevention of AIDS.

He added government was considering subsiding private
hospices which would be expected to care for most of
those who would die from AIDS.

The committee was not expected to draw up any new
legislation and would hopefully finalise a national
strategy by the end of June, he said.

IJPRS-TEP-91-006
15 March 1991

The proposed AIDS strategy addressed the management
of patients with AIDS, admission of HIV-infected people
into SA, contact with infected individuals as well as
AIDS education and awareness programmes.

Slabber said the committee would not change rules
regarding the testing of patients by private or provincial
medical personnel. HIV-testing and other ethical issues
surrounding AIDS would be left to professional councils.

Slabber said the committee’s main function would be to
identify areas where different departments could play a
role in AIDS prevention and to co-ordinate their activ-
ities. SAPA reports that an editorial in Sanlam’s (South
African National Life Assurance Company] AIDS Scan
calls for the decriminalisation of prostitution so that
public health authorities could exercise control over the
sex industry and the spread of AIDS.

Referring to rapid heterosexual spread of HIV infection,
the editorial said cultural attitudes keeping women in
subservience should be challenged.

It called on SA [South African] women to form educa-
tional supportive and councelling organisations, and to
follow the example of homosexual men, who had shown
solidarity in their fight against HIV.

SWAZILAND

Epidemiologist Details Sexual Disease, AIDS
Statistics

MB1702092291 Mbabane THE TIMES OF
SWAZILAND SUNDAY in English 17 Feb 91 p 12

[Report by Bongiwe Dlamini: “STD’s Rank Fourth”]

[Text] An Epidemiologist attached to the Ministry of
Health, Miss Wazi Dlamini has said that sexually trans-
mitted diseases (STD’s) rank the fourth among com-
plaints of communicable diseases at governments hospi-
tals outpatient departments throughout the country.

She was presenting a paper on the STD, HIV/AIDS
Situation in Swaziland at a conference held at the
Mountain Inn.

Ms. Dlamini told the delegates that Gonorrhoea is the
most frequently diagnosed STD in the kingdom, where
there are over 50,000 STD attendances per year at
governments units and at least 20,000 of those have a
gonorrhoea infection.

She disclosed that other STD’s diagnosed are syphilis,
non-specific urethritis, balatinisi, trichomonas vaginalis,
venereal warts and others that are not yet classified.
According to Ms. syphilis become a problem when a
mother is pregnant.

She warned that it was very important that an expectant
mother has ante-natal care and what is even more
important these days is to have an HIV test before a
woman decide to be pregnant as there is a 50-50 chance
of passing on the virus to the unborn baby.

She recalled that towards the end of last year six nurses
were trained in Zambia as STD Specialists. Ms. Dlamini



20 LATIN AMERICA

BRAZIL
AIDS: Behavior, Fears, Figures Examined

DataFolha Poll Findings
91WE0184A Rio de Janeiro O GLOBO in Portuguese
13 Jan 91 pp 10, 11

{Excerpts] The fear of AIDS has risen in the last three
years, according to a poll conducted by DateFolha
between 14 and 21 December in Rio de Janeiro, Sao
Paulo, Belo Horizonte, and Recife. In interviews with
2,533 people in the four capitals, the institute learned
that 71 percent of the respondents were afraid of con-
tracting the disease. The last DataFolha survey on AIDS,
taken in February 1987, indicated that 67 percent of
those interviewed were afraid of being infected with the
AIDS virus.

In Sao Paulo, DataFolha also conducted a behavioral
survey among three specific segments of the population,
interviewing 240 young people from 15 to 24 years of
age, 201 homosexuals and bisexuals, and 102 street
prostitutes. The fear of AIDS was greatest among the
young people; 71 percent of the respondents said the
primary reason for their fear is that the disease is
incurable and fatal.

Among those who said they did not fear AIDS (28
percent of the respondents), 38 percent assured that they
were well informed, used prophylactics and took a series
of preventive measures. Another 17 percent said they
were monogamous, and 15 percent of the respondents
said they were not afraid because they were not homo-
sexual and were not in high risk groups.

Trust in their partners and selectivity in sexual relations
were mentioned by 13 percent of the respondents who
said they did not fear AIDS; 11 percent of the respon-
dents said there was no point in worrying, adding: “If
you catch it, you catch it.”

Although 72 percent of those interviewed by DataFolha
said they were well informed about the disease, many of
them still believe in methods of infection that have been
tuled out scientifically: 78 percent of the respondents
believed that AIDS could be contracted through dental
treatment; 68 percent were afraid of being infected by a
manicure or a shave; 52 percent feared mosquito bites;
44 percent thought they could be infected by toilets; and
38 percent believed that the AIDS virus could be trans-
mitted by a kiss on the mouth.

However, most of the respondents (98 percent and 97
percent [as published]) correctly identified the three
methods of infection: sexual intercourse, blood transfu-
sions, and contaminated needles.

Selectivity in Partners

Some 35 percent of the respondents in the four capitals
said they had altered their behavior and sex habits
because of AIDS. Selectivity or limitation of the number
of partners was the primary change reported by 49
percent of the respondents who acknowledged a change

JPRS-TEP-91-006
15 March 1991

in their sex habits. The use of prophylactics has become
a part of life for an average of 36 percent of the
respondents in each of the four capitals. Sao Paulo had
the highest percentage (50 percent) of respondents who
said they were using condoms for protection against
AIDS, as against 22 percent in Rio de Janeiro, 20 percent
in Belo Horizonte, and 18 percent in Recife.

Rio residents put less emphasis on using prophylactics
than on exercising caution with regard to blood transfu-
sions, injections and hospital contamination (31 percent
indicated a change in their habits in this area). In Sao
Paulo, only 5 percent of those interviewed were con-
cerned about this. Among the Sao Paulo residents, the
third most important change in habits to prevent AIDS
(mentioned by 10 percent of the respondents) was to cut
down on or stop having sex with male or female prosti-
tutes or transvestites. This was cited by the same per-
centage of respondents in Recife. Only 5 percent of the
respondents in Rio and 2 percent of the respondents in
Belo Horizonte mentioned this change in habits.

In the four capitals, 8 percent of the respondents said
that fear of AIDS had led them to limit their sexual
activity to their boy friend/girl friend or spouse. AIDS
led 6 percent of the respondents to be more careful about
personal hygiene. In Sao Paulo, 7 percent of those
interviewed had become more selective about the places
they frequented. The population of Belo Horizonte is the
most fearful about AIDS; 9 percent of the respondents
are not engaging in any type of sexual relations, as
against 7 percent in Recife, 4 percent in Rio de Janeiro,
and 2 percent in Sao Paulo. [passage omitted]

Mystery to Many

[Passage omitted] Young people from 15 to 24 years of
age admit they are poorly informed about AIDS. Only 51
percent said they were well informed, whereas 17 percent
said they had little information about AIDS and 4
percent admitted they were misinformed.

Prostitutes Changing Habits

According to most of the prostitutes in Sao Paulo, AIDS
and the Government Economic Policy are primarily
responsible for their reduced clientele last year. Among
those interviewed, 53 percent pointed to AIDS as the
reason for the drop in demand for their services. How-
ever, 73 percent of the prostitutes said the Collor Plan
was responsible for the loss of clients.

Almost all the prostitutes—93 percent of those inter-
viewed in Sao Paulo—particularly mentioned the use of
condoms as a precaution to avoid contracting AIDS.
Gynecological consultations and periodic examinations
were the second most important precaution named for
the prevention of venereal diseases.

The choice of clients—preferably those known to the
prostitutes and considered cleaner—and care to avoid
kissing on the mouth were precautions taken by 18
percent of the respondents. Some 10 percent said they
took the precaution of washing themselves and their



JPRS-TEP-9 1-006
15 MARCH 1991

Foreign
Broadcast
Information
Service

ANNIVERSAR
1941 - 1991

PRS Report—

Epidemiology

AIDS

19980506 109

aso QUALITY BISPROTED ©

| REPRODUCED BY _
| U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
NATIONAL TECHNICAL INFORMATION SERVICE

SPRINGFIELD, VA. 22161
SUTION ST. &
for ‘public release; ~
-""pistrivation Unlimited,



JPRS-TEP-91-006
15 March 1991

Rooting Out a Cure for AIDS
91WE0201 Hong Kong SOUTH CHINA MORNING
POST in English 12 Dec 90 p 20 .

[Report by Patricia Tse; first paragraph introductory
comment]

[Text] Chinese herbal medicine is being used in trials as
a treatment for AIDS and to remain youthful:

Medical researchers from China are conducting clinical
trials on AIDS sufferers in Africa to test the effectiveness
of Chinese herbs in stemming the fatal disease:

The trials, conducted with the co-operation of the Tan-
zanian Government, are still a long way from finding a
complete cure, but AIDS sufferers in Tanzania have
been found to live longer after treatment with medicinal
extracts from herbs, according to Professor Xiao Peigen,
director of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences in
Beijing.

“The T-cells produced by white blood cells in the body as
a defence against other diseases increase quite dramati-
cally when extracts from the herb’s root are taken
orally,” he said.

“The medicine also helps to inhibit the HIV virus.”

The medicine is made from the root of Trichosanthes
Kirilowii Maxim (Latin name: Trichosanthes uniflora).
Having passed initial test tube trials and tests on ani-
mals, it is now being tried on people.

At least 11 other Chinese herbs classed as “herbs with a
function to dissolve poison and dispense heat from the
body” are now being tested in laboratories. One,
Lomicera japonica, is a common drink in Chinese herbal
tea shops.

Professor Xiao said if further tests also produced favour-
able results, new anti-AIDS drugs, much ‘more reason-
ably priced than the drugs in use in the moment, might
be developed in China.

Conducting clinical AIDS trials in Asia is not easy.
Professor Xiao said the Ministry of Health in China
sought the co-operation of the Tanzanian Government
as only about 10 cases of AIDS and: 500 HIV carriers
have been discovered in China in the last decade.

Trials in Tanzania are being conducted on people and
animals with AIDS. A team of Chinese doctors and
medical researchers, trained in both Western and Chi-
nese medicine, has been selected from all parts of China
for the mission.

Few drugs have been approved for use on people to
combat AIDS. One is AZT, but this is so expensive that
one patient’s treatment is equivalent to hundreds using
Chinese herb extracts.

“Chinese medicine has thousands of years’ history. The
philosophy is to heal the whole body and let it then fight
the virus instead of focusing on the head for a-headache,
or the foot for a foot pain. Seems to be the perfect theory
as far as AIDS is concerned,” said Professor Xiao.

CHINA 1

Back in China, developing food and medicine from
herbs is now recognised by the Beijing Government as
being of great economic value to the country.

In Southeast Asia, Chinese herbal medicine already has a
big following and Europe and America are just beginning
to latch on to it. In France and Germany Western
research methods have proved the value of traditional
herbs.

Herbal extracts’ treated as’ food often pass the required
tests more easily than those subjected to the regulations
of drugs’ -boards. One essence of ginseng, made from
American-grown ginseng extracts, is being marketed as
food-and has met with a good response.

Many herbs that Chinese people have known to be useful
for centuries have been proven valuable in stringent
laboratory tests in the last decade, said Professor Xiao.

International attention has focused on anti-cancer and
anti-AIDS herbal medicine but Professor Xiao said
another area with vast potential is the anti-senility
market. He is organising a new Beijing laboratory with
over 300 staff to investigate anti-ageing medicine.

“This is based on centuries-old prescriptions in China,
including some used exclusively by imperial: families.”

The project could turn out to be a big money-spinner for
China in the coming years. “We believe the right kind of
Chinese food and herbs will not only boost youthful
looks. They will actually make you young within.

“We are researching formulae that delay the deteriora-
tion of bodily functions such as the digestive system,
sexual mechanisms, and memory, and boost the body’s
natural resistance to diseases.”

Ginseng, one popular ingredient found in many anti-
ageing prescriptions, contains many active ingredients
which strengthen different bodily systems and delay the
ageing process. .

“We are also developing ginseng oral capsules. They will
be very good for pumping up ageing blood vessels, and
stimulating a: healthy cardio-vascular capacity,” said
Professor Xiao.

In treating cancer patients, the Chinese have made
several breakthroughs. Many patients from all over the
world come to China to buy anti-cancer drugs or stay for
treatment. Its “comprehensive approach” means both
Western-developed radiology and traditional Chinese
herbs are used.

Professor Xiao is in Hongkong to help launch Commer-
cial Press’ 13-part Encyclopaedia of Chinese Medicinal
Herbs, a modern version of the Compendium of Chinese
Materia Medica written in the Ming dynasty.

‘Social Report’ Views AIDS Epidemic
HK2202134091 Beijing RENMIN GONGAN BAO
in Chinese 22 Jan 91 p 4

[“Social report” by Liu Guiming (0491 2710 2494):
“China Is Not Free From AIDS”]



6 SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

ZAIRE

Over 13,000 Confirmed AIDS Cases Recorded

AB1402103091 Dakar PANA in French
0921 GMT 13 Feb 91

[Text] Kinshasa, 13 Feb (PANA)—More than 13,000
confirmed AIDS cases were recorded in Zaire as of 31
December 1990, it was learned on 11 February at the
opening of an orientation seminar organized for new
regional coordinators of the anti-AIDS program of the
Central Coordinating Bureau [CCB-AIDS] in Kinshasa.
To check the spread of the pandemic disease, the CCB-
AIDS program aims at giving a new impulse to anti-
AIDS activities during this seminar, the CCB’s national
director, Mr. Nkulu Mpoke, stated. A new medium- term
program will start soon, he added.

At: the first session, a WHO expert, Dr. Andre
Ndikuyeze, pointed out that five new vaccines, devel-
oped by research scientists of the United States, France
and Zaire, are available to the WHO and that an appeal
has currently been launched to countries prepared to
experiment them. Zaire, it is specified, has a current
population of 34 million.

ZAMBIA

Health Ministry Reports 3,000 AIDS Cases
1986-90

MB2002124691 Johannesburg International Service
in English 1100 GMT 20 Feb 91

[Text] The Zambian Ministry of Health says just more
than 3,000 cases of AIDS and more than 12,000 inci-
dents of AIDS-related cases were reported between 1986
and last year.

A Lusaka report said of the known cases, 328 patients
had died. Other reports said the figures could be higher

SJPRS-TEP-91-006
15 March 1991

than official statistics indicated. The reports said some
health centers did not provide statistics to the Ministry
of Health,

The official figures showed that Lusaka Province had
reported the highest incidence of AIDS, while the
Northern and Western Provinces recorded the lowest
numbers, at 97 and 95.

ZIMBABWE

More Than 200 AIDS Deaths in Bulawayo

91WE0205 Harare THE HERALD in English
14 Jan 91 p3

{Text] Bulawayo—More than 200 people died of AIDS
in Bulawayo Urban during the past 12 months, a report
by the City Health Services Department has revealed.

The report, made public last week, noted that from
January to October last year, 214 people—men, women
and children—died of the dreaded AIDS or HIV-related
diseases. In the month of October alone 37 people—29
males and 8 females—died of the disease.

“It is not known when the virus entered the city but the
past few years have been marked by a phenomenal
increase in the number of residents known to be infected
with HIV or suffering from AIDS or who have died of
AIDS,” said the report.

It said that the killer disease had, in fact, overtaken
traffic accidents as the main cause of death among
people in the 25-44 age group.

Information obtained from the Ministry of Health, said
the report, showed an upward trend of healthy blood
donors in Bulawayo who are now found to be HIV
positive.

“But the number of people already suffering from AIDS

is unknown mainly because the reporting is weak and
optional.



JPRS-TEP-91-006,
15 March 1991

CANAD

AIDS Incidence, Method of Reporting Discussed
91WE0228 Vancouver THE SUN in English
23 Jan 91 p Al6

[Article by Nicholas Regush]

{Excerpt] Montreal—As the spread of AIDS slows in
North America and the syndrome shows no sign of
threatening the general heterosexual population, health
authorities are bungling the chance to discover why the
epidemic remains restricted to certain groups, a U.S.
science historian charges. :

Health Officials are bean-counting cases and lIéarning
little about the people behind the AIDS statistics they
tally, said Robert Root-Bernstein, associate professor of
physiology at Michigan State University.

“The approach does not shed light on what makes people
(in the AIDS risk groups) so vulnerable,” he said in a
telephone interview from East Lansing, Mich.

And it serves to stir unnecessary fears in many ordinary
people that they might be as much at risk as members of
the risk groups, he said.

A total of 4,647 cases have been reported to the Federal
Center for AIDS in Ottawa since 1982 and about
155,000 cases to the Centers for Disease Control in
Atlanta.

Male homosexuals and bisexuals represent about 80
percent of AIDS cases in Canada.

Small groups affected include recipients of blood trans-
fusions and blood products, intravenous drug users and
people from so-called “Pattern II” countries such as
Haiti, where acquired immune deficiency syndrome is
believed to be transmitted heterosexually. Almost half of
the 57 Canadian children who developed AIDS had
parents born in those countries.

Canadian doctors who report AIDS cases usually check
off a box on a form indicating the group to which the
patient belongs. Several risk factors are sometimes
checked or written on the form.

The reports are sent to provincial health departments,
which pass them on to Ottawa, where seven people track
and analyze AIDS statistics.

Asked why the Ottawa center doesn’t ask doctors to create
medical and lifestyle profiles of AIDS patients, Maura
Ricketts, a medical consultant at the center, replied: “Our
job is to do basic surveillance and not investigation of
cases. We leave that work to investigators.”

The Ottawa center also knows little about the people
infected with HIV and speculates the number is 25,000
to 50,000.

WEST EUROPE 21

AIDS Deaths, Drop in New HIV Cases in
Toronto, Vancouver

Report of 2,755 Deaths
91WE0233 Toronto THE TORONTO STAR in English
11 Feb 91 p A4.

[Text] Between 1981 and 1990 in the United States,
100,777 people died of AIDS, and almost one-third of
the deaths occurred last year, says the Centres for Dis-
ease Control in Atlanta, Georgia.

By 1988, Acquired immune deficiency syndrome had
become the second-leading cause of death among Amer-
ican men aged 25 to 44.

In Canada, as of 7 January, 2,755 AIDS deaths had been
reported to Ottawa’s centre for AIDS research.

In both countries, 59 percent of AIDS deaths were
homosexual or bisexual men. But in the United States,
21 percent of the victims were drug users of both sexes,
whereas in Canada that figure is only 1.3 percent.

Drop in New HIV Cases

91WE0233 Toronto THE GLOBE AND MAIL
in English 14 Feb 90 pp Al, A2

[Article by Rod Mickleburgh: “New HIV Cases Drop in
Toronto”)

[Text] Toronto public health authorities are reporting their
first significant drop in the number of gay men testing
positive for HIV, the virus considered to lead to AIDS.

“After five years of fairly steady numbers, this is the first
turndown we’ve seen for gay men,” said William Mind-
ell, a researcher for the city health department.

By the time all the data for 1990 are compiled, Mr.
Mindell said, the number of positive tests for human
immunodeficiency virus is expected to be 25 percent
lower than that for the previous year.

“We first began noticing this trend last summer,” Mr.
Mindell said. “We didn’t say anything at the time, but it
seems to have continued all year.

“It’s significant when you consider that one out of every
four cases of AIDS in Canada is reported right here” in
Toronto.

The most recent figures indicate 688 men tested positive
for HIV in the city during 1990. Mr. Mindell said that
figure may change slightly as a few more results are
reported, but he does not think it-will change significantly.

In Vancouver, another city with a large number of cases
of acquired immune deficiency syndrome, there has also
been a drop in HIV-positive test results. But Ted
McLean, the city’s communicable-disease consultant,
said he was wary of interpreting the reduction from 617
persons testing positive in 1989 to 446 last year.

“I find the numbers interesting but I’m not sure what value
should be put on them,” Dr. McLean said. “I know there
continue to be [high-risk] people out there who refuse to be



26 SOVIET UNION

AIDS Cases Increase by Three

LD2802213791 Moscow Domestic Service in Russian
1430 GMT 28 Feb 91

[Summary] In the past week the number of diagnosed
cases of AIDS in the USSR ‘has risen by three, all
homosexuals. The totals now diagnosed are 605 Soviet
citizens and 582 foreigners. Also, in the past week three
children were born of infected mothers. They have a 20
- 30 percent chance of having AIDS: but this only will be
clear after a year.

Foreigners remain the main source of infection in the
USSR. All foreigners coming to the USSR for three
months or longer are tested for AIDS. A positive test
results in immediate deportation.

Turkmen SSR Enlists Private Sector in Fight
Against AIDS ~ _
0W0702081191 Moscow Central Television First
Program and Orbita Networks in Russian

1900 GMT 5 Feb.91

[Report by O. Mekhtiyeva from” Ashkhabad; from the
“Utro 120 + 30” program]

[Text] The private sector is finding its way into the
medical field, even into such a specific sphere as the fight
against AIDS. [video shows several people operating a
PC computer, diagnostic equipment]

Mekhtiyeva: An automated control system. A special
program—Epidspid—has been loaded into the com-
puter’s data bank. Its application will organize the
records of people already tested for the HIV infection
and give an opportunity to make statistical calculations

JPRS-TEP-91-006
15 March 1991

to determine risk groups. [Video shows computer screen
graphics, then cuts to show G. Karmanova, chief of the
organizational methods department]

[Begin Karmanova video recording] We very much want
the Union Ministry of Health to organize the introduc-
tion of this° programmed information package in all
republican centers for preventive measures in the fight
against AIDS. Then we could exchange information
between republics in a very operative way. [end
recording]

Mekhtiyeva: Of course only then will there be a practical
opportunity to begin forecasting the development of the
epidemic. In the meantime the plague of the 20th cen-
tury is advancing. Now this disease has even reached
happy Turkmenia where the first case of AIDS has been
recorded. This has caused alarm throughout the popula-
tion.-[Video show. Mekhtiyeva interviewing O. Sorokin,
chief of the epidemiology research department]

[Begin Sorokin video recording] Our center is well pro-
yided with diagnostic equipment, which cannot be said
about the other 32 laboratories in the republic. To supply
them with imported equipment—our domestic equip-
ment is of very poor quality—convertible currency is
needed, and our center has none. Many enterprises in
our republic have it and often waste it-on less important
goods while we cannot introduce the reagent (Immuno-
blotik) that confirms AIDS, because we have ‘no cur-
rency. This is why we must continually ship our tests to
Moscow. This often takes a very long time and delays
establishment of a final diagnosis.

So I think we should all.unite in the fight against AIDS.
[end recording]



JPRS-TEP-91-006
15 March 1991

health centers provided with AIDS detection equipment
have been created and another thrée are expected to be
opened by the end of the year. Early this year, Niger had
five AIDS detection centers. An anti-AIDS program has
been drawn up in conjunction with the WHO for 700
million CFA francs.

NIGERIA

UK Grants Funds for AIDS Control :
WE0231A91 Kaduna NEW NIGERIAN in English
28 Jan 91 p 17

[Article by Daniel Obi]

[Text] The United Kingdom has granted Nigeria a total
sum of 1.5 million Pounds Sterling (about 25.26 million
Naira) to help the Federal government further execute its
national AIDS control programme.

The grant agreement was signed in Lagos Friday by the
Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Alhaji
Abubakar Alhaji for Nigeria while the British Minister
for Overseas Development, Mrs. Lynda Chalker signed
for Britain. :

The Minister thanked the United Kingdom for its timely
intervention to assist the Nigerian government in her
efforts to execute the AIDS control programme which
was currently focussed on 24 HIV Screening Centers in
mostly government tertiary health facilities.

The minister said that the federal government had
mapped out plans to spread the screening activities to all
the state hospitals adding that by the end of this about 52
HIV laboratories would be set up.

The minister recalled that in 1980, Britain disbursed a
total grant of 59.6 million Pounds Sterling in support of
SAP.

Similarly, he said in 1990 the federal government
received a grant of 25 million Pounds Sterling from the
United Kingdom government.

While appreciating Britain’s assistance to Nigeria so far,
the minister solicited for Britain’s continued support for
Nigeria’s future efforts.

In her response, Mrs. Lynda Chalker said that her
government was happy to reduce the effects of AIDS in
any country.

She pledged Britain’s continued assistance to-Nigeria’s
efforts to solve her economic problems. i

SEYCHELLES

AIDS Tasks Force Visits Australia

WE0226A91 Victoria SEYCHELLES NATIO)

in English 25 Jan 91 pp 1,2 # .
[Article: “Seychelles Task Force on AIDS in Australia”]

{Excerpt] Five members of the Seychelles Task Force on
AIDS visited Australia recently to study HIV/AIDS
services there.

SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA 3

The two weeks study programme was spent visiting
facilities and services in the Eastern Sydney Area Health
Service’ where most services related to HIV/AIDS are
conducted, a press release from Australia said. The press
release reached SEYCHELLES NATION yesterday but
the delegation was in Australia in December. No mem-
bers of the delegation was available for comment on their
return.

The delegation was welcomed by Sister Patricia
Grantham, a member of the area health service who said
that only by sharing the knowledge gained in the six
years since the virus which cause AIDS was identified,
could the world hope to contain the disease and prevent
an epidemic of catastrophic proportions.

The chairperson of the Task Force Mrs. Medgee Pra-
gassen told the hosts that although AIDS had so far not
caused an impact on the small islands nation in the
Indian Ocean, there was a threat created by the 100,000
tourists visiting Seychelles every year.

“The AIDS task Force was established by the Seychelles
Government to develop education programmes aimed at
reducing the risk of infection, and to formulate policies
for dealing with the disease should it follow world
patterns and become a health problem in the Sey-
chelles”, Mrs. Pragassen told the Australian hosts.

Mrs. Pragassen thanked the health professionals
attached to the Eastern Sydney Area Health Service who
had helped to increase the delegations’ knowledge about
preventive programmes and treatment methods in rela-
tions to HIV/AIDS,

The delegation also included medical practitioner Dr.
Andrew Kitua, nurse Christine Webber, health educa-
tion officer, Flory Gill and journalist Patrick Mathiot.
[passage omitted]

SOUTH AFRICA

Population Growth May Cease Due to AIDS

MB1202153191 Johannesburg SAPA in English
1437 GMT 12 Feb 91

[Text] Johannesburg Feb 12 SAPA—By the turn of the
century, it is estimated that the population growth will
have ceased, due to the impact of AIDS.

This was predicted by Mr. T.E. Hartwig in an address at
an investment conference at a Johannesburg hotel on
Tuesday [12 December], as he explained the use of data
to construct ‘4 theoretical computer-based model which
projects future infection, illness and deaths due to AIDS.

“By 1995, about 10 percent of the working population of
South Africa will be infected with the AIDS virus. Thirty
thousand people will be sick and 25,000 will die during
the year,” Mr. Hartwig said.

“And by 1998, the percentage positive will have risen to
40 percent, with 175,000 sick and 130,000 that will die.
Thereafter, the picture gets progressively more disas-
trous. We would prefer not to quote figures beyond this,”
he said. © |



IJPRS-TEP-91-006
15 March 1991

place, and urging them to tell customers to use condoms;
otherwise, they won’t serve them and will gladly return
their money.”

Dr. Prayong also said that 40 of the prostitutes are hill
tribesmen. Of these, 24 have the AIDS virus. Three come
from Pond District. The rest come from Chiang Rai
Province.

Red Cross Specialist Comments on AIDS Spread
91WE0210A Bangkok THAI RAT in Thai
20 Jan 91 pp 1, 22

[Excerpts] [passage omitted] In an interview on 19 Jan,
Dr, Wirasit Sitthitrai, the deputy director of the AIDS
Project of the Thai Red Cross, said that initially, AIDS
spread in Thailand among homosexuals and intravenous
drug users. Then, in 1989, the disease began spreading
among heterosexuals, that is, people in general. In 1990,
the disease began appearing among family members,
that is, spouses and children, which is something that
had never happened before. Studies conducted by the
Thai Red Cross have found that approximately 1-3
percent of today’s pregnant women have the AIDS virus.
Thus, of the 1 million children born each year, at least
10,000 are in danger of contracting the AIDS virus, and
of these, at least 2,500 will definitely contract the disease
each year. These children will pose a heavy burden on
society, because their parents will probably die of AIDS
and their other relatives will probably refuse to raise
them. Most of these children will die by the age of two,
and they will suffer terribly.

Dr. Wirasit said that the studies have shown that 47
percent of the Thai male population has sexual relations

EAST ASIA 17

for the first time between the ages of 15 and 17, and
approximately 40 percent contract a venereal disease for
the first time at this age. Another 38 percent have sexual
relations when they are 18-20 years old, and 36 percent
contract a venereal disease for the first time at this age.
Eleven percent have sexual relations for the first time
when they are 21-24, and 23 percent contract a venereal
disease. Something to note is that 5 percent have their
first sexual relationship when they are only 12-14 years
old, and 1 percent contract a venereal disease. This
shows that our younger generation runs a great risk of
contracting AIDS, particularly those in the 15-17 year
old age group. They contract contagious venereal dis-
eases because they don’t wear condoms, and 40 percent
contract AIDS. Thus, it is the duty of educational
officials to inform youths about AIDS, particularly those
age 15, before they have sexual relations for the first time
so that they understand the AIDS disease and refrain
from having sex or protect themselves by using a
condom each time. As for children below the age of 12,
officials should provide them with basic knowledge
about AIDS so that these children refrain from engaging
in sexual relations and don’t contract the disease through
ignorance. Because 5 percent of the male youths have sex
for the first time around this age. [passage omitted]

Mr. Kowit Woraphiphat, the director-general of the
Department of General Education, said that it is difficult
to believe these statistics. He said that he plans to review
this study, because there are now very different statistics
about AIDS. He said that secondary school students
throughout the ‘nation are very well informed about
AIDS, because they have all written essays about this. In
school year 1991, he will have them write about this

again.



IJPRS-TEP-91-006
15 March 1991

Brazilian Cities Most Affected by AIDS

Municipio Number of Incidence*
Cases
Sao Paulo 6,299 64
Rio 1,792 32
Santos 468 103
Porto Alegre 438 35
Salvador 217 12
Belo Horizonte 213 10
Recife 190 15
Santo Andre 152 24
Ribeirao Preto 148 39
Campinas 146 18
Osasco 144 25
Guarulhos 136 20
Fortaleza 135 9
Curitiba 128 10
Brasilia “ 124 8
Sao Jose do Rio Preto 15 52
Sao Bernardo do Campos Mm 20
Goiania 94 10
Sao Vicente 84 36
Campo Grande 19 21
Guaruja 8 42
Sao Jose dos Campos 75 21
Cuiaba 70 26
Niteroi 70 15
Sorocaba 61 19
Maceio 33 W
Florianopolis 49 23
Natal 48 10
Sao Luis 47 9
Juiz de Fora 46 13
Total 14,549 u

* Number per 100,000 inhabitants

Rio de Janeiro, which ranks second in absolute numbers
of AIDS cases, did not record its first case until 1982,
whereas Sao Paulo already had four AIDS patients by
then. Limited initially to homosexuals, Acquired
Immune Deficiency Syndrome began to affect Brazilian
women in 1983. Drug use was the principal cause of
infection among women. In 1986, there were 54 women
with AIDS in Brazil and 16 percent of them were drug
addicts. Today, 36 percent of female AIDS patients are
drug addicts.

“It is necessary to work especially with the addicts,
because the number of cases has risen greatly in this
group,” said Eduardo Cortes, director of the Division of
Sexually Transmitted Diseases, of the Ministry of
Health.

LATIN AMERICA 23

He believes that Brazil will continue to have about 700
new cases of AIDS a month. By the end of 1991, between
25,000 and 30,000 people who are already HIV-positive
will present symptoms of the disease. According to
Cortes, at the beginning of the 1980’s, AIDS was
affecting people in a higher economic bracket, but now
most of the caSes are appearing among the population
with less purchasing power.

CUBA

HIV Carriers Total 551; Sanatorium Program
Expanded

FL2102142091 Havana Tele Rebelde Network

in Spanish 1400 GMT 21 Feb 91

[Text] More than 9,600,000 tests have been made from
1986 to date in search of carriers of the AIDS virus;
250,000 of these tests have been made this year. As of
yesterday, 551 people had been diagnosed as carriers of
the human immunodeficiency virus. Of these, 400 were
men and 151 were women. Of the above figure, 70 have
become ill with AIDS and 40 others have already died.

During 1990 and so far in 1991, a trend has been
observed of an increase in carriers of the virus among
persons under age 20. Currently, treatment in sanato-
tiums, which began in Havana, has been expanded to
Sancti Spiritus, Granma, Ciego de Avila, Villa Clara,
and Guantanamo Provinces. The Ministry of Public
Health also plans to open similar centers in Holguin,
Santiago de Cuba, and Pinar del Rio Provinces.

GUYANA

Rights Group Says Prison Conditions ‘National
Crisis’

FL 1302222191 Bridgetown CANA in English

2008 GMT 13 Feb 91

[Text] Georgetown, Guyana, Feb, 13, CANA—The
Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) on Tuesday
said prison conditions here constituted a national crisis,
with starvation and AIDS producing high levels of
deaths.

In a statement, the GHRA said there was “a dangerously
high incidence” of the AIDS virus among inmates of the
Georgetown prisons. Quoting unnamed experts, the
human rights group further described the prison as a
“bridge” taking the AIDS virus from high risk groups in
an environment with high homosexual activity to fami-
lies and contacts of prisoners on their release.

“Continued complacency by the government, judiciary,
and the population at large over sub-human conditions
prevailing in prison will result in a similar incidence
spreading to the general population”, the GHRA said.
The human rights group called for a series of emergency
measures to reduce the prison population to manageable
porportions.



JPRS-TEP-91-006
15 March 1991 3 AIDS
EAST EUROPE
POLAND
AIDS Threat Greater Than Stated [Janusz Michalak; Poznan WPROST, 16 Dec 90] 18
Current HIV, AIDS Statistics /Wanda Szata; Warsaw SLUZBA ZDROWIA, 3-9 Feb 19
LATIN AMERICA
BRAZIL
AIDS: Behavior, Fears, Figures Examined 20
DataFolha Poll Findings /Rio de Jai O GLOBO, 13 Jan 91] 20
Rising Rate Among Women _/Tesla Coutinho; Rio de Janeiro O GLOBO, 13 Jan 91) 21
Over 14,000 Victims in 10 Years [Rio de Janeiro O GLOBO, 13 Jan 91] 22
CUBA
HIV Carriers Total 551; Sanatorium Program Expanded
[Havana Tele Rebelde Network, 21 Feb 91] . 23
GUYANA
Rights Group Says Prison Conditions ‘National Crisis’ [Bridgetown CANA, 13 Feb 91] ..... . 23
JAMAICA
New AIDS Cases, Survey Results Revealed [Bridgetown CANA, I Mar 91] . 24
NICARAGUA
New AIDS Clinic Established
[Gilberto Rodriguez Rugama; Managua EL NUEVO DIARIO, 14 Jan 91] ... . 24
URUGUAY
Ministry Reports 10,000 Test Positive for AIDS
[Montevideo Radio El Espectador Network, 9 Mar 91] ....... . 24
AIDS Deaths Total 85 Since 1983; 26 in 1990 /Madrid EFE, 19 Feb 91] .. . 24

NEAR EAST & SOUTH ASIA
INDIA
Doctor Says 14 AIDS Cases in West Bengal [Calcutta THE STATESMAN, 10 Jan 91]

SOVIET UNION
AIDS Cases Increase by Three [Moscow Domestic Service, 28 Feb 91]
Turkmen SSR Enlists Private Sector in Fight Against AIDS
[O. Mekhtiyeva; Moscow Central Television First Program and Orbita Networks, 5 Feb 91] ....
WEST EUROPE
CANADA

AIDS Incidence, Method of Reporting Discussed
[Nicholas Regush; Vancouver THE SUN 23, Jan 91] ....



10 CHINA

As of last September, the serum tests had identified 446
AIDS virus carriers including five AIDS patients, said
Dai Zhicheng, director of Sanitation and Antiepidemic
Department under the Ministry of Pubic Health.

Among the five AIDS patients two were Chinese citi-
zens, Dai said at the meeting, which was held February
26-28 in Shenzhen, south China.

Those AIDS virus carriers were distributed over 11
provinces and autonomous regions, he said.

redid, bes Ub

hos

‘JPRS-TEP-91-006
15 March 1991

Dai said the country would step up AIDS prevention
efforts, especially in special economic zones, open
coastal cities and tourism areas.

Ku Wenyuan, vice-director of the Public Health Depart-
ment of south China’s Guangdong Province, revealed
that nine AIDS virus carriers had been found in the
province. Eight of the nine people were overseas visitors,
he said, adding that the other one was infected with
AIDS virus during an overseas trip.



12 EAST ASIA

of representatives from various departments and that
duties have been distributed. He said the committee will
meet every three months.

Reporting on the AIDS situation in Myanmar [Burma],
he said blood tests for AIDS had been conducted since
1985 and that no case of AIDS was found up to the end
of 1987. However, the first case of AIDS-infected blood
was found during 1988 and that as of the end of 1990,
1,358 persons were found to have AIDS-infected blood.

The tests conducted by the Drug Addiction Treatment
Department between May and December 1990 found
that 81 percent of intravenous drug users tested were
infected with AIDS. Dr. U Tin U said extensive mea-
sures are being taken to fight AIDS and that the role of
health education is very important. He added that since
AIDS cannot be treated it is important to take preven-
tive measures against this disease. [passage omitted]

HONG KONG

Insurers Start AIDS Policies

91WE0212 Hong Kong HONG KONG STANDARD
in English 8 Dec 91 p 5

{Article by Denise Wong: “Insurers Start AIDS Poli-
cies”)

[Text] The threat of AIDS has provided a potential new
market for insurance brokers in Hong Kong.

An insurance broker last month introduced a new policy
for people exposed to AIDS at work, including medical
professions, ambulance service personnel and police.

The new policy would offer a client, who was AIDS free
when purchasing the policy, a lump sum if he or she
contracted AIDS during the policy period.

Anthony Mitchell, assistant director of Jardine Insur-
ance Brokers Limited, which launched the policy, said
some hospitals had already shown great interest.

Another broker, OHRA Asia Pacific, will introduce an
AIDS policy early next year.

But from next month the company will apply a new
restriction to all its medical insurance policies, limiting
their AIDS cover.

At the moment OHRA, a Dutch company, is one of the
few insurers in Hong Kong that does not exclude AIDS
from its medical insurance cover.

“Starting from 1 January, our medical insurance will
only cover AIDS if it is detected after the 5th year of the
policy period,” said OHRA Director Frank van Ginkel.

‘In Holland, we have the data for calculating the risk
into our insurance policy. But in Hong Kong, the infor-
mation is rare and makes it impossible to calculate such
epidemic kind of risk.

“The treatment for AIDS is very long and costly. Even if
just a few clients file claims for having the disease, you
will quickly run into losses because of the low premium
charge in general.”

JPRS-TEP-91-006
15 March 1991

But instead of paying medical claims, Mr. van Ginkel
said the new AIDS policy would be run on the theory of
personal accident insurance—paying a lump sum.

The new AIDS policies of Jardine and OHRA are
underwritten by Lloyd’s of London. The maximum
coverage is US$500,000 (HK$3.9 million), or double
one’s annual salary if it is less. The average annual
premium is between $7.80 and $23.40 for every $7,800
coverage.

Mr. Mitchell said the new policy was popular in medical
professions in the United States, Britain, South Africa,
Europe, Thailand and Mexico.

But in Hong Kong, he said, “it will not be a big growth
area of money” as AIDS had not yet affected much of the
population.

AIDS Figure Put at 5,000
91WE0208 Hong Kong HONG KONG STANDARD
in English 2 Dec 90 p 1

[Article by Stuart Becker]

[Excerpt] A leading government expert says 5,000 Hon-
gkong people may have the virus that causes AIDS, more
than 33 times the official estimate of 149.

Dr. Patrick Li, of the AIDS Counselling and Health
Education Service at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, said
this was a conservative estimate of how many people
might test positive for the Human Immuno-deficiency
Virus (HIV) which causes AIDS.

This was a more realistic figure than the official one,
according to which there are 149 “officially” diagnosed
HIV carriers and 43 with the full-blown AIDS disease, he
said.

Another AIDS expert, Dr. Vincent Lam, predicted that
the number of HIV carriers would increase five-fold to
25,000 by 1995. This was also conservative.

“Assuming that AIDS in Hongkong follows a similar
course to that of countries where it has been prevalent
since 1981, we can expect to see a substantial increase in
HIV-infected people, both male and female, adults and
children, over the next three to five years, with most of
these going on to develop full-blown AIDS in that time
span.

“This will mean that these carriers, their families and
friends, literally tens of thousands of individuals, will
have to come to terms with AIDS.”

If Hongkong does not wake up to the problem, AIDS will
take the territory by surprise, according to a group of
volunteers, the Comfort Care Concern project.

The disease is spreading much faster among heterosexual
women than previously thought, according to Lam, vice
president of Comfort Care Concern.

The group used World AIDS Day yesterday to launch a
helpline, enabling Chinese and English speakers to make
confidential calls about AIDS. The chairman of Comfort



SJPRS-TEP-91-006

15 March 1991 2 AIDS
UGANDA
Vice President on Fighting AIDS /Kampala Domestic Service, 9 Mar 91] .... 5
ZAIRE :
Over 13,000 Confirmed AIDS Cases Recorded [Dakar PANA, 13 Feb 91] 6
ZAMBIA
Health Ministry Reports 3,000 AIDS Cases 1986-90
[Johannesburg International Service, 20 Feb 91] ... 6
ZIMBABWE .
More Than 200 AIDS Deaths in Bulawayo {Harare THE HERALD, 14 Jan 91) ..... 6

CHINA
Rooting Out a Cure for AIDS
[Patricia Tse; Hong Kong SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST, 12 Dec 90] ....
‘Social Report’ Views AIDS Epidemic [Beijing RENMIN GONGAN BAO, 22 Jan 91]
Health Officials on Increased AIDS Monitoring [Beijing XINHUA, 1 Mar 91]
EAST ASIA : ; ;
AUSTRALIA
Insurance Industry Says AIDS Being Contained [ack Taylor: Hong Kong AFP, 8 Mar 91] esses. it
BURMA
Health Officials Discuss AIDS Situation /Rangoon Domestic Service, 14 Feb 91] ....
HONG KONG
Insurers Start AIDS Policies [Denise Wong; Hong Kong HONG KONG STANDARD, 8 Dec 90] ... 12
AIDS Figure Put at 5,000 (Stuart Becker; Hong Kong HONG KONG STANDARD, 2 Dec 90} «......
Women Warned Over Rise in AIDS
[Caitlin Wong; SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST, 19 Dec 90]
Guidelines on AIDS Are Ignored by Companies
[Sue Shaw; SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST, 10 Jan 91) .....
SOUTH KOREA
Husbands Conceal AIDS Infection From Families [Seoul THE KOREA HERALD, 12 Mar 91] ... 13
PAPUA NEW GUINEA :

Health Minister Concerned Over ‘Alarming’ AIDS Rate oa

1

[Melbourne Overseas Service, 11 Mar 91] 14
THAILAND

Department Chief Gives AIDS Overview [Thira Ramasut; Bangkok MATICHON, 14 Jan 91] 14

Phayao AIDS Cases Profiled; Drug Factor Drops /Bangkok SIAM RAT, 28 Jan 91] 16

Red Cross Specialist Comments on AIDS Spread /Bangkok THAI RAT, 20 Jan 91] 17



SJPRS-TEP-91-006
15 March 1991

clients before intercourse. Another precaution, noted by
9 percent of the prostitutes, was the avoidance of drugs
and drug users; 6 percent of the respondents chose not to
engage in oral and anal sex.

While listing the precautions they had adopted for fear of
AIDS, 51 percent of the prostitutes said they had not
noticed any change in the behavior of their clients. Only
29 percent said their customers were insisting on the use
of prophylactics and 8 percent said their clientele had
been avoiding oral sex and kissing on the mouth. How-
ever, 4 percent said there were still clients who had not
changed their habits and did not want to use condoms.

An absolute majority of the prostitutes (63 percent) said
they had already been tested for the AIDS virus; 7
percent had been tested once, 25 percent said they had
taken the test twice, and 23 percent said they had been
tested three times or more. Unlike the prostitutes, most
(87 percent) of the young people interviewed in Sao
Paulo had not been tested. Among homosexuals and
bisexuals, 49 percent had not been tested for AIDS.

Fewer Partners

The DataFolha survey found that between December
1985 and December 1990, a growing number of young
people and homosexuals or bisexuals in Sao Paulo
became concerned about limiting the number of partners
with whom they had sex. Five years ago, only 18 percent
of the young people said they had cut back on the
number of partners. In 1990, this was true of 46 percent
of the young people in the Sao Paulo capital.

In 1985, among homosexuals and bisexuals, 38 percent
had decided to limit the number of partners. By 1987 the
figure had reached 57 percent; it dropped to 52 percent
in April 1988 and to 46 percent in December 1990.

Rising Rate Among Women

91WE0184B Rio de Janeiro O GLOBO in Portuguese
13 Jan 91 p 10

[Interview with Carlos Alberto Moraes de Sa, director of
the National AIDS Referral Center, by Tesla Coutinho,
place and date not given: “Growing Infection Among
Women”; first two paragraphs are O GLOBO introduc-
tion]

[Text] Carlos Alberto’ Moraes de Sa, director of the
National AIDS Referral Center of the Gaffree and
Guinle University Hospital, points to the number of
women infected with AIDS as an indication that the
virus is continuing to spread, especially through bisex-
uals. In 1983, the proportion was one women for every
14 men infected with AIDS. Today the ratio is one
female to every eight males.

Today, partners of bisexuals are the third largest group in
incidence of infection, after homosexuals (40 percent of
the cases) and bisexuals (30 percent). Moraes da Sa does
not believe the Brazilian population has altered its habits
because of the disease and is critical of the education
campaigns. In his opinion, the crisis of credibility of the

LATIN AMERICA a

authorities and the weakening of the institutions are
directly affecting the program for prevention and treat-
ment and that discrimination against AIDS patients
begins in the health system.

Coutinho: In a recent DataFolha survey, 35 percent of
the respondents said they had altered their behavior and
sexual practices because of AIDS. This is larger than the
incidence observed by the same research institute in
1987. Are you seeing this change in your work?

Moraes de Sa: People say they have changed their sex
habits, but they haven’t. They may take preventive
measures occasionally, but they should be taking them
all the time. There is one analysis of official sexual
behavior and another one for unofficial sexual behavior.
It is the latter that is responsible for the spread of the
disease. People are not practicing safe sex. The result of
this is what we call the “Latinization” phenomenon: the
spread of the virus from men to women. The incidence
of infection has increased since 1988. In 1988, about 50
to 60 percent of the bisexuals were infected. Today the
rate is 78 percent.

Coutinho: What is the Latinization phenomenon?

Moraes de Sa: There are homosexuals who marry, either
because they fear AIDS or to give the public impression
that they are heterosexual. This is one side of bisexuality.
The other is the individual who is basically heterosexual,
but may occasionally engage in homosexual sex. He
makes a slip and contracts the virus. Between these two
extremes, there is the typical bisexual, the Don Juan who
carries on with all the women, not because he likes
women but because he cannot find his sexual identity
with any one of them. So he goes looking for a man. And
he ends up having relations with both men and women.
Actually, this big macho type not only takes the active
role in sex, but also the passive role. But he does not
admit to it. It is through this type of relations that the
bisexuals are passing the virus on to the women.

Coutinho: But are-bisexuals showing a preference for
women because of AIDS? Are women now seen as a way
of escaping the disease?

Moraes de Sa: I do not get this feeling. The bisexuals may
be having sex with men less frequently and more often
with women. But I have no data on which to base this.
Infection has risen in the risk groups. Sex without love
leads to a multiplicity of partners, and in this case the
risk of encountering an infected partner is very high.
People claim: “I trust him.” And I say: “You trusted; you
got taken.” Because fidelity exists only in theory; it does
not exist in practice.

Coutinho: The prevention campaigns have not altered
the sexual behavior of the Brazilians? You do not believe
people are taking preventive measures?

Moraes de Sa: I think not. We have the case of a young
girl who is in love with a bisexual. I use bisexual as a
conceptual term, because, to her, he is heterosexual, but
to his sex partner, he is homosexual. He has AIDS and he
has infected two girls. She is one of them and is in serious



Epidemiology
AIDS

JPRS-TEP-91-006 CONTENTS 15 March 1991

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

issue.]
SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
REGIONAL AFFAIRS
UK Parliament Says AIDS Not ‘Answer to Africa’s Problems’ [Johannesburg SAPA, 3 Mar 91] ...- 1
KENYA
Medical Officer Gives AIDS Figures [Nairobi KNA, 19 Feb 91] 1

Kenya Ranks Third in AIDS Cases [Daniel Kamanga; Nairobi KEN’
Mombasa AIDS Cases Triple Over 3 Years

[Francis Mwaka; Nairobi SUNDAY NATION, 13 Jan 91]... 2
MOZAMBIQUE
AIDS Kills Four in Tete Province, 18 Test Positive /Maputo Domestic Service, 1 Mar 91] .. 2
Manica Health Council Reports 41 AIDS Cases in 1990 {Maputo Domestic Service, 4 Mar 91] 2
NIGER
Over 200 New AIDS Cases Reported in 1990 Paris AFP, 15 Feb 91] 2
NIGERIA
UK Grants Funds for AIDS Control {Daniel Obi; Kaduna NEW NIGERIAN, 28 Jan 91] .... 3
SEYCHELLES
AIDS Tasks Force Visits Australia [Victoria SEYCHELLES NATION, 25 Jan 91] 3
SOUTH AFRICA
Population Growth May Cease Due to AIDS [Johannesburg SAPA, 12 Feb 91] 3
Medical Adviser Says 100,000 Infected With HIV Virus
[Johannesburg SABC TV 1 Network, 26 Feb 91] .... 4
Government To Discuss National Strategy To Combat AIDS
[Tania Levy; Johannesburg BUSINESS DAY, 22 Jan 91] 4
SWAZILAND
Epidemiologist Details Sexual Disease, AIDS Statistics
[Bongiwe Dlamini; Mbabane THE TIMES OF SWAZILAND SUNDAY, 17 Feb 91 p 12] 4
TANZANIA
Kenyan Paper on AIDS in Kagera Region
[Wachira Kigotho; Nairobi SUNDAY STANDARD, 17 Feb 91] .... 5



24 ‘LATIN AMERICA

Efforts to contact home affairs minister, Stella Odie-Ali,
proved futile, but permanent secretary, Fairbairn Liver-
pool, said the GHRA’s statements were “erroneous and
misleading.” Liverpool said that he'was preparing a
response which will be released this weekend.

The GHRA, which has close connections with the
Church, accused the Home Affairs Ministry of violating
laws, international instruments, and prison rules. The
prisons fall under the Ministry.

The recommendations included immediate suspension
of mandatory remand for persons charged with drug-
related offences, clearing a backlog of remand prisoners,
and allowing prisoners to receive food from family and
friends. The GHRA also called for permission for a
feeding programme to be mounted by reputable chari-
table and humanitarian organisations for inmates whose
relatives and friends are unable to provide them with
adequate nutrition.

JAMAICA

New AIDS Cases, Survey Results Revealed

FL0103161791 Bridgetown CANA in English
1301 GMT 1 Mar 91

[Text] Kingston, Jamaica, Mar 1, CANA—Six new cases
of AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) were
reported in Jamaica in January, bringing the national
total to 205, health officials said. Kingston and St.
Andrew recorded the highest number, with 119, followed
by the parish of St. Catherine, with 23,

At the end of February, 131 persons—including three
teenagers, and 23 children under five—had died here
from the disease, which attacks the body’s immune
system.

A survey conducted by the Ministry of Health showed
that 78 percent of Jamaicans were sexually active. The
survey also revealed that 26 percent of interviewees were
misinformed about whether men could contract AIDS
from women.

Some 44 percent of respondents said they had changed
their sexual habits because of what they know about
AIDS.

NICARAGUA

New AIDS Clinic Established

91WE0206 Managua EL NUEVO DIARIO in Spanish
14 Jan 91 p5

(Report by Gilberto Rodriguez Rugama}

[Excerpt] Esteli—The Nimehuatzin, a nongovernment
organization, will open its regional offices in Esteli on 15
January to promote specific actions against AIDS.

IPRS-TEP-91-006
15 March 1991

They selected this city because there could be a high
incidence of the disease in the First Region owing to the
great many citizens who have returned home from the
United States, Honduras, Costa Rica, and other nations
in which there have been numerous cases of this 20th
century virus.

Susy Martinez, the director of the Nimehuatzin Founda-
tion, said that the offices at TELCOR EL Calvario, 75
yards west, would treat all persons who would like to
have the AIDS blood test.

She said that the office would provide services to the
public in psychological treatment, social research, public
education, and counseling for AIDS patients, besides
promoting AIDS prevention campaigns directly with
individuals,

First Victims

Three persons died of AIDS in the First Region from
July to December 1990. They acquired the disease in
Honduras and the United States, where they had lived
for several years, according to reports from the Ministry
of Health of the Segovias.

The Nicaraguan foundation Nimehuatzin has the sup-
port of international organizations. In the Indian lan-
guage its name means Nahualtz, which translates as “We
rise up for a just cause.”

Better Than Others

Dr. Ernesto Salmeron, the minister of health, said
recently that Nicaragua is the country with the fewest
cases of AIDS, as so far only nine persons have died of
the disease while it has been detected in 12 other
individuals who are still alive. [passage omitted]

URUGUAY

Ministry Reports 10,000 Test Positive for AIDS

PY0903200491 Montevideo Radio El Espectador
Network in Spanish 1600 GMT 9 Mar 91

[Summary] The Public Health Ministry has reported
that some 10,000 people have tested positive for AIDS in
Uruguay and that some 50 percent of the 165 AIDS
patients have already died.

AIDS Deaths Total 85 Since 1983; 26 in 1990
PY2102130991 Madrid EFE in Spanish
0015 GMT 19 Feb 91

[Summary] Montevideo, 17 Feb (EFE)—It was officially
reported today that so far this year five people have died
of AIDS in Uruguay. The Ministry of Public Health
reported that since 1983 when the first case of AIDS was
discovered in Uruguay, 174 people have developed the
illness and 85 of them have died. In 1990, 85 cases of
AIDS and 26 deaths were reported. In 1989, 38 cases and
22 deaths were reported.



8 CHINA

{Text] A very small virus has sparked off a great turbu-
lence throughout the world.

The AIDS virus, whose size is only 1/16,000 of a pin, has
cast the shadow of death on hundreds of thousands of
AIDS patients throughout the world,

World Health Organization Director General. Dr.
Hiroshi Nakajima and former Director General Halfdan
T. Mahler held that AIDS prevention has become the
“number one issue” in the world and a great nagging
question on earth.

In the face of this global issue and of this “supercancer”
that affects people of different sexés, ages, nationalities,
and countries, the world must mobilize its best forces to
resist it.

China is a traditional country.

China is heading from a closed-door society toward
opening up.

Today, China is beginning to face the threat posed by
AIDS, a plague.”

AIDS is a new member in the family of venereal diseases
[VD], and VD are as ubiquitous as flies. Therefore, as
Portuguese merchants came to trade in Guangzhou,
China’s important port, at the beginning of the 16th
century, they brought with them the European civiliza-
tion as well as syphilis into China. So, when we are
enjoying the air and sunshine today, we must inevitably
face the reality that VD are probably spreading.

A. The Reality That We Have No Choice

On 1 October 1949, when New China stood up from
among the ruins, we came to know what old China had
left with us was: 10 million venereal patients, brothels
everywhere, and tens of thousands of prostitutes.

After 15 years of arduous efforts, in 1964, Hu Chuankui,
director of the Research Institute of Dermatosis of the
Chinese School of Medicine and Sciences announced to
the world on behalf of the Chinese Government that
China had basically eliminated VD.

Nevertheless, perhaps no one would have expected that
after approximately another 15 years, VD spread to
China again. And they tend to spread from coastal areas
to inland areas and from cities to rural areas. According
to incomplete statistics from 1982 to 1987, on average
the incidence of VD in China had a 3.13-fold increase
each year. In recent years, venereal patients in Beijing
have been increasing year by year.

Since 1964, people have gradually forgotten VD. Now
most people under the age of 40 do not know VD exist.
The revival of these diseases, which have been extinct for
years, have caught medical circles unprepared: Medical
Personnel in general do not know the methods of diag-
nosis and treatment of VD. And the majority of medical
organizations lack or have not mastered laboratory
examination methods in their laboratories, and lectures
on VD are no longer given in many medical schools.

SPRS-TEP-91-006
15 March 1991

Thus, almost everyone, whether doctor or patient, has to
learn to understand VD from scratch.

The Xicheng District Venereal Disease Prevention and
Monitoring Center, located in Beijing’s Changqiao has
set a precedent.

They held an exhibition called “Venereal Diseases and
Sex Knowledge,” giving explanations through words,
photographs, and videotapes, In this way, they have put
an end to the taboo on VD, which has existed for years in
Beijing.

They have set up a VD counseling and outpatient center,
the first in Beijing, According to the center’s two respon-
sible persons Xu Ruixing and Liu Taiping, since the
outpatient center began operation, increasingly more
Patients have come for consultation despite the fact that
they still feel embarrassed, indecisive, or even too shy to
talk about their diseases. .

—A certain male, aged 32, a native of Beijing, married,
and engaged in homosexual acts for half a year. Chief
complaint: Rash on palms and and soles for two
weeks. The body check result: Dark reddish macular
eruption. Desquamated. Syphilis serologic examina-
tion was positive. The disease was diagnosed as sec-
ondary syphilis.

—A certain female, aged 25, married. Chief complaint:
Having cloudy urine for two weeks. Medical history:
Four to five days after having sexual intercourse with
her husband, she began to complain of urethritis and
cloudy urine. Two months later, the joints in her knees
ached and became weak: Her husband had contracted
pointed condyloma and gonorrhea. The body check
result revealed that her labia were red and swollen,
and that small neoplasm were found around her
meatus urinarius. Thick secretion and blood oozed
from her uterine neck. The diseases were diagnosed as
pointed condyloma, complicated gonococcal vaginitis,
cervicitis, and arthritis.

—A certain male, aged 38, married. Chief complaint:
Pus oozed out of his meatus urinarius, and for five
days he suffered pain when urinating. Medical history:
During his business trip to Changbaishan in the north-
east, he had sexual contact with a lady. Approximately
two weeks later, his urethra became red and swollen.
Symptoms were urgency, frequency, and pain of uri-
nation. The body check result: Red and swollen in
meatus urinarius. Thick yellowish secretion existed
and gonococcus were found in secretion smear. The
disease was diagnosed as gonorrhea.

The two responsible persons put special emphasis on the
misery that VD bring to families. A certain actress
contracted early syphilis, but she denied it. Her doctor
advised her husband to come for a physical check and
ideological counseling. It was later discovered that the
man was manager of a certain hotel, had had sex out of
wedlock, contracted syphilis, and passed it to his wife.
The lady was discriminated against by her seniors and
colleagues. She suffered a great deal of unredressed



IPRS-TEP-91-006
15 March 1991

AUSTRALIA

Insurance Industry Says AIDS Being Contained
BK0803131591 Hong Kong AFP in English 0649 GM’
8 Mar 91 .

[Article by Jack Taylor]

[Text] Sydney, March 8 (AFP)—AIDS is being contained
more successfully in Australia than in many other coun-
tries, Australia’s insurance industry believes.

Data just released by the National Centre in HIV Epi-
demiology show new AIDS cases may have dropped or at
least reached a plateau in 1990, when previous research
had indicated the disease would still have been spiralling
upwards.

In the 12 months to December 31, 1990, 525 new cases
of full- blown Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome
(AIDS) were reported in Australia, compared to 568 for
the previous 12 months.

However, the number of AIDS deaths was still climbing:
406 for 1990 compared to 373 for 1989.

In 1988, Australia had the fourth highest per capita
incidence of AIDS among developed countries, but is
now estimated to have dropped to eighth, with the
United States still top.

Because of the trend, the insurance industry may be able
to reduce the amount earmarked for payment of AIDS
death claims from about 150 million dollars (115 million
US.) to perhaps 120 million (92 million U.S.), actuary
David Kerr said Friday.

Mr. Kerr, chairman of the AIDS subcommittee of the
Institute of Actuaries of Australia, said that although a
reduction had been forecast in growth of the disease, it
was now apparent it had come earlier than anticipated.

Only three years ago, insurance industry actuaries were
projecting 6,360 AIDS deaths by mid-1992. But on the
basis of recent research this forecast has been almost
halved—to 3,400.

“It is very hard to get worthwhile data from some
countries, in Asia and elsewhere in the Pacific region for
instance, but we believe the reduction is more marked
here than in other Western countries,” Mr. Kerr added.

“Australia still has the worst rate for the Western Pacific
region with New Zealand coming second.”

“One of the problems in some countries is the under-
reporting or non-reporting of the disease,” Mr. Kerr said.

“Malaysia is shown in the data to have a trivial inci-
dence, maybe one case per million compared to 148 per
million for Australia.”

He said two or three factors were significant in Australia
which he believed might provide lessons for other coun-
tries.

EAST ASIA 58

One was the exténsive educational programs, particu-
larly in the high risk homosexual community, urging
safer sex habits and use of condoms. Hoe

Earlier projections did not anticipate the success of these
educational progranis in changing behaviour pattérns.

Another, he said, is the apparent success of a free needle-
exchange program for intravenous drug users.

Research in recent ‘years make clear the spread of AIDS
among Australia’s heterosexuals and among women has
been minimal compared to earlier predictions.

Of the 568 new cases reported for 1989, 13 were women,
and of the 525 for 1990 only 11 were women.

Said Mr. Kerr: “In africa, AIDS has been around for
much longer and is much more predominant in hetero-
sexual contact.

“Once it has taken hold in the heterosexual community,
it can spread much more rapidly.”

However, AIDS researchers and doctors believe there is
no room for complacency about AIDS and say it must
still be regarded as deadly.

One of Australia’s leading specialists in AIDS statistics,
university Associate Professor John Kaldor, chairman of
a government working party researching its incidence
said infections were still occurring at “an unacceptable
rate”.

“{ don’t think you can say (from the statistics) the
incidence is falling, but it seems to be flattening out,” he
said.

However he believed many other countries are showing
a similar pattern.

Mr. Kaldor attributed the plateauing to educational
programs among high-risk groups and the use of drugs
such as AZT.

AIDS, which destroys the body’s immunity to infection,
can be spread through sexual relations, infected syringe
needles or transfusion of infected blood.

BURMA

Health Officials Discuss AIDS Situation

BK1502113791 Rangoon Domestic Service in Burmese
1330 GMT 14 Feb 91

[Excerpt] A meeting of the Central Committee for Pre-
vention of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome
[AIDS] was held today at 1000 in the No. 1 Conference
Hall of the Health Department. The meeting, attended
by committee members, was presided by Dr. U Tin U,
chairman of the Central Committee for Prevention of
AIDS and director general of the Health Department.

Speaking at the meeting, Dr. U Tin U said this is the first
meeting to be held since the committee was reorganized
on 4 February 1991. He said the committee is composed.