Only four countries in Asia and four in Latin America and the Caribbean have condom use rates of 10 per cent or more. The highest rate of condom use is in Japan with 46 per cent and in Europe where Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Spain and Slovakia all show a rate over 20 per cent. The US condom usage rate is 13 per cent and Britain's is 18 per cent, behind Singapore at 24 per cent. Treatment is nearly non-existent in developing nations with the highest infection rates, apart from Brazil, which has a comprehensive health programme and has cut its death rate by half during the last decade. In Africa, no more than 10,000 people in advanced stages of the disease are being treated with expensive antiretroviral drugs, AIDS experts say.
Impoverished nations have few basic health services.