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Many Youths in East Asia, Pacific Lack Knowledge on HIV/AIDS: UNICEF Survey
Many children and adolescents in East Asia and the Pacific appear woefully unprepared to deal with the rapidly growing threat of HIV/AIDS in the region, according to the results of a United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) survey released Monday.
The survey was conducted among about 10,000 children and adolescents aged 9-17 years in 17 countries and territories in the region.
Some 60 percent of those 9-13 years old and 25 percent in the 14-17 age group say they know "absolutely nothing" about HIV/AIDS or know "only the name."
Countries and regions with the highest rate of children and adolescents saying they know "absolutely nothing" or "only the name" in regard to knowledge about HIV/AIDS were East Timor (98 percent), Laos (68 percent), Indonesia and Philippines (62 percent), Mongolia (54 percent), China (48 percent) and the Republic of Korea (47 percent).
In countries such as Thailand, Cambodia and Malaysia, the number of respondents lacking basic knowledge on HIV/AIDS ranges from 23 percent to 36 percent.
Statistics show that some 2.4 million people are already infected with HIV/AIDS in East Asia and the Pacific, and it is projected that the level of new infections will increase dramatically in the region over the coming years.
The survey employed face-to-face interviews with young people in their homes, without the presence of parents or other third parties that might have influenced their responses, according to a UNICEF officer.
"The results of this survey should serve as a wake-up call to the governments and societies in this region on how much more needs to be done to educate young people, especially about HIV and AIDS," said Mehr Khan, regional director of UNICEF's East Asia and Pacific Regional Office.
"AIDS knows no borders and no country can consider itself immune. If this region is to avoid the fate of sub-Saharan Africa, where the spread of the epidemic has been truly catastrophic, we need decisive and urgent action," Mehr Khan said.
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