While the epidemic among MSM in these areas of south Asia and Oceania peaked in the mid- to late 1980s, the same apparently has not yet occurred in this population in other Asian countries. The response to drug injection-related HIV epidemics has traditionally been inadequate.
Most countries depend on prevention efforts that emphasize criminalization and abstinence.
Since HIV came later to Asia in general, the region has had the opportunity to learn from the experience of other countries. It seems that some lessons are indeed translating into successful prevention efforts, although prevention failures can also be found. In Thailand, condom use programs have been very successful. Significant reductions in HIV infection have been noted among women at antenatal clinics and among female sex workers, and it is believed that the epidemic is stabilizing in the heterosexual population. Thailand's neighbor, Cambodia, however, has seen HIV spread rapidly since the early 1990s.