HIV/AIDS, drug use and human trafficking

HIV/AIDS, drug use and human trafficking
http://hivaidsclearinghouse.unesco.org/ev.php?URL_ID=2635&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201&reload=1063096259

The GMS is the epicenter of Asia’s HIV/AIDS pandemic. At the end of 2002, of the estimated 42 million people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) worldwide, more than 7 million were from Asia and the Pacific. Of the Asia and the Pacific numbers, more than 1.6 million were from the 5 GMS countries Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand, Viet Nam and including Yunnan, Province of China

Several factors have converged in the GMS to provide this fertile breeding ground for the spread of HIV/AIDS. First, injecting drug use is a serious problem throughout the region. The “Golden Triangle,” encompassing parts of Burma, China, Lao PDR, and Thailand, represents a leading supplier of opiates, particularly heroin. Drug trafficking routes dissect the GMS and provide easy access to illicit drugs.

Another contributing factor is the degree and nature of mobility both within and between countries in the region. Refugees escaping political instability and displacement and economic migrants in search of improved opportunities are but 2 of the many examples of mobile populations.

HIV/AIDS is not confined to national borders. Much of southern Viet Nam, for example, is bordered on the west by Cambodia, where HIV prevalence is high, but dropping among the general population. The borders between Viet Nam, Lao PDR, and the People’s Republic of China are porous, as are those between China and Myanmar. As goods, services, and people move in large numbers among neighbouring countries, in some cases border points record a higher incidence of HIV. In other cases, people migrate across borders from nearby poor districts, acquire HIV infections, and, when they return, serve as bridges of HIV transmission in their home border districts, causing prevalence levels to rise.

These border and urban areas are also sites for the booming sex industry in Southeast Asia. Related to this industry is the problem of human trafficking, which involves the transport of people (women, children, and men) - generally by coercion or deception – for the purpose of exploitative labor in a new location. The mobility of people to and from areas providing access to sex work and illicit drugs increases the potential risk for HIV infection.

For more information about UNESCO's responses and initiatives on human trafficking and HIV/AIDS in the Mekong Subregion, please visit the UNESCO Bangkok Trafficking Project website at http://www.unescobkk.org/culture/trafficking