HIV在亞太地區青少年中悄悄蔓延

Children's Fund (UNICEF) report backed by two years of research says increasing HIV infections among adolescents has triggered alarms of a new epidemic.

聯合國兒童基金會根據兩年的研究發佈報告說，青少年中間HIV感染率的上升，觸發了一個新的流行病，令人警覺。

The researchers warn that Asia Pacific nations in particular are facing a sharp rise in the incidence of HIV among adolescents, especially among key populations in urban centers, marking a worrying step back at a time when the global incidence of HIV has been falling.

聯合國兒童基金會(UNICEF)警告說，亞太各國面臨青少年艾滋病病毒(HIV)感染率急劇上升的現象。特別是都市中心的關鍵人口羣體。在全球HIV感染病例一直在下降之際，亞太各國不降反升，這一倒退趨勢令人擔憂。

Wing-Sie Cheng, a regional UNICEF adviser on HIV and AIDS, says the cause for concern lies with the dramatic 120 percent increase in deaths among adolescents since 2000.

聯合國兒童基金會HIV和艾滋病項目的亞太地區顧問鄭詠詩(Wing-sie Cheng)說，令人擔憂的原因是，自從2000年以來，青少年的死亡病例增加了120%之多。

"Asia Pacific is facing a hidden epidemic of HIV among teenagers and it is hidden because testing cannot really be put on teenage people under the age of 18, primarily because there's a guideline that they have to obtain parental consent," he said.

她說：“亞太地區正面臨HIV在十幾歲青少年中間隱蔽流行的問題，之所以隱蔽，是因爲十幾歲的人實際上不能接受測試，主要原因是有關指導原則要求測試必須徵得家長同意。”

While the vast majority of people under the age of 20 are at low risk for HIV, prevalence is reaching double digits among key adolescent populations in Hanoi, Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Mumbai and cities in China.

這份報告說，雖然20歲以下人口中的絕大多數感染HIV的風險較低，但在河內、曼谷、清邁、孟買以及中國的一些城市，關鍵的青少年人口羣體中的發生率卻極高，達到兩位數。

Cambodia, China, India, Myanmar, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines and Vietnam are where the HIV burden among adolescents is most significant.

柬埔寨、中國、印度、緬甸、巴基斯坦、巴布亞新幾內亞、菲律賓和越南是都市青少年人口中HIV感染問題最嚴重的。

According to the study, the number of adolescents living with HIV in Indonesia has reached more than 40,000, followed by Thailand at almost 10,000.

在印度尼西亞，聯合國的這份報告估計，攜帶HIV病毒的十幾歲的青少年超過4萬人，其次是泰國，人數近1萬。

Across the region the U.N. says there are around 220,000 adolescents altogether living with HIV.

在亞太各地，聯合國說，總共有大約22萬名二十歲以下的青少年攜帶HIV。

Wing-Sie Cheng says the trend points to an epidemic among the adolescent age group in new infections.

鄭詠詩說，這一趨勢表明，青少年人口羣體中的新增感染例已成爲一種流行病。

"(The)50,000 number tells you that there is an epidemic among this age group," she said. "So therefore the challenge is really to get governments to really come up with adolescent sensitive response to this group."

她說：“他們構成的比例相當大，有15%，數字達5萬，這樣的事實告訴大家，在這個年齡段的人口羣體中，出現了流行病。因此，真正的挑戰是讓政府能夠體會青少年的特殊情況，針對這一羣體拿出相應的迴應方式。”

The report is calling on governments to develop better data on adolescents, strategies for HIV prevention and adolescent-specific laws and policies. The report adds that just 10 countries in the region have laws and policies that enable independent consent for young people to access HIV testing and other services.

這份報告呼籲政府更好地收集有關青少年的數據，並制定出更好的預防HIV的戰略以及專門針對青少年的法律和政策。報告還說，亞太地區只有10個國家有相關的法律和政策允許青少年自行同意接受HIV檢測和其它服務。