NADI, Fiji, March 22 (UPI) -- HIV/AIDS must be controlled in the islands of the south Pacific before it sparks an epidemic, a U.N. official said Monday.
"The stage is set for an expanding and widespread HIV epidemic in the region due to a dramatic increase in sexually transmitted infections and risky sexual behavior among young people ages 15 to 25," said Dr. Peter Piot, executive director of the Joint U.N. Program on HIV/AIDS, said in a statement prepared for a conference on the subject on the island of Fiji.
HIV prevalence remains relatively low in the region, however, Piot added.
Papua New Guinea has the highest reported rate of HIV infection in the Pacific, with an estimated 1 percent prevalence among pregnant women attending clinics in urban sites around Port Moresby.
Over 20 percent of women checked at prenatal clinics in Samoa and Vanuatu have tested positive for a sexually transmitted infection, while the Cook Islands, Kiribati, Micronesia and Palau reported high rates of teenage pregnancy.
Piot said prevention programs should be scaled up to focus on young people, particularly girls, who are most vulnerable to HIV.
