Social networking technologies and mobile apps that allow young people to meet to engage in risky sexual practices are being cited as a key reason for an increase in HIV infections in the Asia-Pacific region, with Bangkok, Jakarta and Hanoi hubs of new infections.
A United Nations study released on Monday found that mobile dating apps increasingly allow for spontaneous casual sex and that the age of those using the technology for this purpose is dropping. People are setting up fake Facebook profiles where groups are formed purely to arrange for sex. The increased availability of mobile apps has fuelled the rise [in] infections. Official figures suggest that there are now around , adolescents living with HIV in the region.
But a lack of data means that the true figure is likely to be much higher. In fact, the United Nations estimates that there were 50, new infections among to year-olds in alone. Those adolescents at a higher risk of contracting HIV include gay males, transgender people, injecting drug users, sex workers and the clients of sex workers. W hile AIDS-related adult deaths dropped by 28 percent from to , AIDS-related deaths among to year-olds in the Asia-Pacific region rose by percent during the same period.
In the Philippines, new HIV infections among to year-olds rose by 50 percent between and A late diagnosis of HIV with a resulting delay in starting often-inadequate treatment, as well as a lack of diagnosis and treatment altogether, have fuelled rising fatalities. These people are so young, we are struggling to reach them. Social stigma, certain religious teachings and inadequate sex education all contribute to the shortfall in information about safe sex and HIV transmission.
Taboos and legal restrictions around same sex relationships also serve to push the private lives of some young people into a secretive world, sometimes stopping them from accessing available health services.
