AIDS low down on Asians' concerns

Little more than one in 10 people from the region believed the disease was a major concern in their countries, says a survey.

AIDS is way down the list of health concerns for most people in East and Southeast Asia, according to a survey published today to coincide with World AIDS Day.

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Little more than one in 10 people from the region believed the disease was a major concern in their country, according to the findings of a joint survey by market research companies TNS and Gallup.

The entire survey questioned more than 50,000 people in 60 countries.

Just 11 per cent of those surveyed in nine East and Southeast Asian countries were worried about AIDS, compared to 53 per cent for cancer and 19 per cent for heart attack, the global Voice of the People survey commissioned by the World Economic Forum found.

AIDS concern was greatest in Vietnam where 89 per cent of respondents named it as their greatest health concern, while the lowest level was recorded in the Philippines, where just six per cent of respondents listed it as their main worry.

Among other nations surveyed, 14 per cent of respondents in Taiwan put AIDS at the top their list, seven per cent in Singapore, 23 per cent in Malaysia, 15 per cent in South Korea, eight per cent in Japan, 14 per cent in Indonesia and eight per cent in Hong Kong.

UN AIDS programme chief Peter Piot said yesterday that Asia was on the verge of an AIDS crisis with rising numbers of cases in China, India and Indonesia threatening to kill tens of millions of people.

Most people around the world named cancer as the biggest illness facing their country, the report found, with AIDS topping lists in India, Africa, Latin America, Pakistan and Afghanistan.