New infections on rise among adolescents in Asia-Pacific

New infections are on the rise among some groups of adolescents in the Asia-Pacific region and globally, reveals a report released by UNICEF. The report titled ‘Adolescents: Under the radar in the Asia-Pacific AIDS response’ was released a day before the World AIDS Day that is celebrated on December 1 every year. According to the report, more than half of the world’s adolescents live in the Asia-Pacific region, out of which five hundred million adolescents live in just four countries — China, India, Indonesia and Pakistan, with HIV prevalence concentrated in big cities like Bangkok, Mumbai and Jakarta. It further reveals that 1,000 adolescents are newly infected with HIV every week in the region. “Adolescent age group is a cause of concern. We are trying to have an awareness programme where we want to spread information on safe sex, HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. We are also giving special counselling to...