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Continued from http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/alfayoko2002/folder/377682.html
One of the hardest hit places in the region is New Guinea. Both the Indonesian portion of the island in the west, and the independent country of Papua New Guinea in the east have infection rates of over 1%. This seems to be linked to Papuans' relative promiscuity: the majority of Papuan men report multiple sexual partners. Yet New Guinea's awkward geography, poor infrastructure and myriad ethnic divisions make it difficult to mount an effective prevention campaign.
Myanmar presents even more daunting challenges. There too, AIDS has already spread beyond the most susceptible groups to the general public. In the city of Hpa-an, for example, 7.5% of pregnant women test positive for HIV. High rates of drug abuse (Myanmar is the world's second biggest producer of heroin) help spread the disease. So does the civil war that rages in much of the country, displacing many people and making others difficult to reach. There is no independent media, so a frank discussion of the country's problems is impossible. The junta is suspicious of NGOs and activists, while donors and aid agencies are leery of it. The generals are not good administrators at the best of times, and the health system is a shambles. Indeed, as bad as things sound, no one really knows how bad: the government conducted only 28,000 HIV tests last year, in a country of more than 50m.
http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displayStory.cfm?story_id=4134059
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