And experts worry over trends in China, where outbreaks have erupted among drug users in the mountains of Yunnan and in coastal provinces. About 400,000 people are estimated to be living with AIDS in the mainland. But accurate statistics are hard to come by. Many countries barely acknowledge the possibility of an AIDS epidemic and efforts to track the disease are elementary. An unfortunate confluence of social and economic forces are driving up the rates of HIV transmission.
Women are often more vulnerable.
Her parents refused to talk to her about sex, and when she married two years ago, no one suggested that her husband should use a condom. The Chiang Mai housewife paid horribly for her ignorance. He never told me that he was HIV-positive as he felt he would be ostracized and nobody would marry him. Most Cambodians know of the existence of AIDS, but few realize that sufferers can carry the virus without showing the full-blown symptoms, said a spokesperson of the Cambodian Women's Crisis Center in Phnom Penh. That's how HIV-infected men claiming the contrary sometimes pressure girls to have unprotected sex with them.