Commonwealth Uth

In Asia and the Pacific, evidence indicates that 95% of all new HIV infections in young people in the region are among young people from key affected populations—young people who buy and sell sex, young men who have sex with men, young transgender persons and adolescent drug users.

Specific data on young people at higher risk of HIV in the region is sparse. But estimates that do exist give cause for concern. In some Asian countries, three out of five female sex workers, and almost half of all men who have sex with men, are younger than 25 years. In the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, 82% of sex workers are in that age group. In Nepal, half of all people who inject drugs start injecting in their late adolescence, when they are between 15 and 21 years old. By the time someone has been injecting for a year, there is a 33% chance that they will have acquired HIV.